Working more hours vs. being more productive. Duh.

I got a laugh this morning after reading an article about Americans becoming lazy and not working enough hours anymore.  Are there lazy Americans?  Of course there are.  Could some Americans work harder?  Probably.  But what got me was the author's conclusion that more hours worked (he cites examples of a global workforce working more hours than Americans do) equals more productivity.  Is he serious?  Isn't the point of work to try to accomplish more in less time?  I'm not the only one who sees that we are getting better at working SMARTER rather than HARDER and with more hours, right? 

If he's right about the majority of Americans taking more vacation time than we used to, then he should next try to find out what those workers accomplish when they are on the job.  That would be the true indicator of where our country is headed.  I don't care if people in South Korea and Peru (the two hardest working countries according to the article) are working more hours than me.  I care about what I am accomplishing versus what they are accomplishing.  

It's just like in real estate.  Any agent will tell you that their goal is to increase productivity while still being able to take the weekends off to spend with their family or friends.  Maybe I missed something in the article, but this seems so blatantly obvious to me.  

Any thoughts?