Is Working From Home Providing The Work-Life Balance That We’ve Been Promised For So Long?

Our office work culture has dramatically shifted in the last month. All over the world kitchen tables, spare rooms, and nooks have been transformed into working spaces. The people I’ve spoken to really enjoy the perks of working from home. That’s not to say that there aren’t difficulties, but there are a lot of benefits that go with the challenges.

For most white-collar jobs, working from home has provided the work-life balance that we’ve been promised for so long. Once things return to normal and kids return to school, we shouldn’t rush back to the office if we don’t have to.

Being at home has allowed people to actually focus on their tasks without being interrupted by quick questions or sidebar chats. People are able to plan their workday on their own schedule and maximize their productivity. Without a daily commute, people are finding more time in the day and are less burnt out.

And let’s face it, the office was never a great place to work, it was just our only option.

There are a lot of flaws with our office culture that we’ve just learned to put up with. The biggest negative to the office environment is that it kills creativity. In order for people to be creative, they need space to think. When your day is filled with back to back meetings, email interruptions, and chatty co-workers it can be hard to find some time to yourself. I’ve always tried to take short walks a few times a day so that I’m able to let ideas sink into my brain. That can be a no-no in office culture since it’s believed you can only be productive when you are sitting at your desk.

Sitting in a chair for 8 hours regardless of workload is standard across all sorts of industries. This is an antiquated idea leftover from the industrial revolution to maximize efficiency in a factory. While there are jobs that require this schedule, a knowledge worker is not one of them. A good portion of our day is answering emails, editing documents, reviewing work, and reporting numbers. Ever since the smartphone became mainstream we’ve known that this work can be done anywhere in the world, and now we know it can be done on a large scale. Maybe your best meetings happen when you can do 10 pushups right before it starts. It could be that a quick afternoon nap enables you to focus through the afternoon. I do my best thinking while pacing, but it’s hard to concentrate when everyone is giving you sideways glances.

Working at your own pace will allow you to work your best.

As many people are also finding out, working at your own pace requires discipline. Setting your own schedule means you have to understand your own work habits and work within them. I can be my own worst enemy when it comes to distractions. I’ve had to re-learn how to extract the best work from myself by self-evaluating my work.

Not only are people getting more done, but they are happier about it, and learning more about themselves so they can be more productive in the future.

When the COVID-19 risk lowers enough for offices to re-open, I suggest managers take a long hard look at reverting back to 40 hours a week in a chair. We’ve put a lot of effort into developing new skills during the quarantine and we shouldn’t waste it. There is an opportunity sitting before us to radically change what work is, and how we do it. Let’s embrace the lessons we’ve learned along the way and come out of this pandemic stronger than ever.

Zac Trolley

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DOGE discovered $330M in Small Business loans awarded to children under 11

Published on March 30, 2025

Todayville

MxM News

Quick Hit:

In a bombshell revelation at a White House cabinet meeting, Elon Musk announced that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had uncovered over $330 million in Small Business Administration (SBA) loans issued to children under the age of 11.

Key Details:

Elon Musk stated that DOGE found $330 million in SBA loans given to individuals under the age of 11.
The youngest recipient was reportedly just nine months old, receiving a $100,000 loan.
SBA has now paused the direct loan process for individuals under 18 and over 120 years old.

Diving Deeper:

At a cabinet meeting held Monday at the White House, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk detailed a staggering example of federal waste uncovered by the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency. Speaking directly to ongoing efforts to eliminate corruption and abuse in federal agencies, Musk explained that the SBA had awarded hundreds of millions in loans to children—some of whom were still in diapers.

“A case of fraud was with the Small Business Administration, where they were handing out loans — $330 million worth of loans to people under the age of 11,” Musk said. “I think the youngest, Kelly, was a nine-month year old who got a $100,000 loan. That’s a very precocious baby we’re talking about here.”

DOGE’s findings forced the SBA to abruptly change its loan procedures. In a post on X, the department revealed it would now require applicants to include their date of birth and was halting direct loans to those under 18 and above 120 years old. Musk commented sarcastically: “No more loans to babies or people too old to be alive.”

The discovery was just the latest in a series of contract cancellations and fraud crackdowns led by DOGE. According to Breitbart News, DOGE recently canceled 105 contracts totaling $935 million in potential taxpayer liabilities. The agency’s website currently lists over 6,600 terminated contracts, accounting for $20 billion in savings.

The president praised Musk and DOGE for rooting out government inefficiencies, noting his administration was focused on “cutting” people and programs that were not working or delivering results. “We’re not going to let people collect paychecks or taxpayer funds without doing their jobs,” Trump said.

Also during the cabinet session, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins revealed her department had eliminated a $300,000 program aimed at teaching “food justice” to transgender and queer farmers in San Francisco. “I’m not even sure what that means,” Rollins said, “but apparently the last administration wanted to put our taxpayer dollars towards that.”

These revelations highlight what many conservatives have long suspected—that during prior administrations, including under President Joe Biden, massive amounts of federal funding were funneled into unserious, ideologically-driven projects and mismanaged government programs. Under the Trump administration’s second term, DOGE appears to be living up to its mission: trimming fat, exposing fraud, and putting American taxpayers first.

Business

Cuba has lost 24% of it’s population to emigration in the last 4 years

Published on March 30, 2025

Todayville

MxM News

Quick Hit:

A new study finds Cuba has lost nearly a quarter of its population since 2020, driven by economic collapse and a mass emigration wave unseen outside of war zones. The country’s population now stands at just over 8 million, down from nearly 10 million.

Key Details:

Independent study estimates Cuba’s population at 8.02 million—down 24% in four years.
Over 545,000 Cubans left the island in 2024 alone—double the official government figure.
Demographer warns the crisis mirrors depopulation seen only in wartime, calling it a “systemic collapse.”

Diving Deeper:

Cuba is undergoing a staggering demographic collapse, losing nearly one in four residents over the past four years, according to a new study by economist and demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos. The report estimates that by the end of 2024, Cuba’s population will stand at just over 8 million people—down from nearly 10 million—a 24% drop that Albizu-Campos says is comparable only to what is seen in war-torn nations.

The study, accessed by the Spanish news agency EFE, points to mass emigration as the primary driver. In 2024 alone, 545,011 Cubans are believed to have left the island. That number is more than double what the regime officially acknowledges, as Cuba’s government only counts those heading to the United States, ignoring large flows to destinations like Mexico, Spain, Serbia, and Uruguay.

Albizu-Campos describes the trend as “demographic emptying,” driven by what he calls a “quasi-permanent polycrisis” in Cuba—an interwoven web of political repression, economic freefall, and social decay. For years, Cubans have faced food and medicine shortages, blackout-plagued days, fuel scarcity, soaring inflation, and a broken currency system. The result has been not just migration, but a desperate stampede for the exits.

Yet, the regime continues to minimize the damage. Official figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) put Cuba’s population at just over 10 million in 2023. However, even those numbers acknowledge a shrinking population and the lowest birth rate in decades—confirming the crisis, if not its full scale.

Cuba hasn’t held a census since 2012. The last scheduled one in 2022 has been repeatedly delayed, allegedly due to lack of resources. Experts doubt that any new attempt will be transparent or complete.

Albizu-Campos warns that the government’s refusal to confront the reality of the collapse is obstructing any chance at solutions. More than just a demographic issue, the study describes Cuba’s situation as a “systemic crisis.”