Thanks for the link.
France has $36,500 GDP/Capita and works 1,453 hours per year. This equates to a GDP/Capita/Hour of $25.10. Americans, on the other hand, have $44,150 GDP/Capita but work 1,792 hours per year. Thus Americans only achieve $24.60 of GDP/Capita/Hour.
Our standard of living is 21% higher.
You can work less if you'd like.
The reason I have mentioned productivity was to refute the clam about more social transfers making everyone poor. They don't.
They do actually decrease overall economic activity. Those who had money, now taken can't invest and expand, which decreases jobs, which decreases economic activity, which accelerates poverty, which accelerates the need for government assistance, which creates a need to tax more, which slows the economy more by making it more expensive to do business, which decreases demand, which decreases money for workforces causing layoffs, which increases need, which increases government dependence, which requires more money, which raises taxes....
Seeing a small pattern here?