A historian I'm fond of, Walter McDougall, is writing a trilogy of American history books where a key theme is how the notion of "hustle" is central to what America is. For him, though, the word's dual American meanings of "work hard/move quickly" and "mislead/scam" are closely joined.

I think he's right. So many of these companies that value hustle are up to something ethically suspect. But if you go fast enough and apply enough pressure, nobody really has time to stop and say, "Wait, are we doing the right thing here?"

So although it'd definitely bad for worker health and generally also harms productivity, I think it's great for the profitability of whoever's at the top. And also for sweeping any ethical questions under the rug until after their pockets are filled.