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The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health Care, and Retirement–And How You Can Fight Back

The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health Care, and Retirement–And How You Can Fight Back America’s leaders say the economy is strong and getting stronger. But ordinary Americans aren’t buying it. They see what the rosy statistics hide: We are all struggling under the weight of terrifying economic instability. No matter how well educated and hard working we are, we know that the bottom can fall out at any moment. Meanwhile, the safety net that once protected us is fast unraveling. With retirement plans in growing jeopardy while health coverage erodes, more and more economic risk is shifting from government and business onto the fragile shoulders of the American family. In The Great Risk Shift, Jacob S. Hacker lays bare this unsettling new economic climate, showing how it has come about, what it is doing to our families, and how we can fight back. Behind this shift, he contends, is the Personal Responsibility Crusade, eagerly embraced by corporate leaders and Republican politicians who speak of a nirvana of economic empowerment, an “ownership society” in which Americans are free to choose. But as Hacker reveals, the result has been quite different: a harsh new world of economic insecurity, in which far too many Americans are free to lose. The book documents how two great pillars of economic security–the family and the workplace–guarantee far less financial stability than they once did. The final leg of economic support–the public and private benefits that workers and families get when economic disaster strikes–has dangerously eroded as political leaders and corporations increasingly cut back protections of our health care, our income security, and our retirement pensions. Hacker concludes by advocating an “insurance and opportunity society” that would safeguard economic security and expand economic opportunity, ensuring that all Americans have the basic financial security they need to reach for and achieve the American Dream. Jacob Hacker brings into focus as never before the pressures that the Great Risk Shift exerts on our pocketbooks and on our lives. Blending powerful human stories, big-picture analysis, and compelling ideas for reform, this remarkable volume will hit a nerve, serving as a rallying point in the vital struggle for economic security in an increasingly uncertain world.
Customer Review: Solid argument, short on rhetorical power
I give this book credit for advancing ideas that maybe a lot of people wouldn’t have thought of before, and for tying together a lot of strands that people might have seen as elements of different problems. In a word, Hacker brings together much of post-1960 American life under the heading of “risk”: increasingly, our economic fates are being thrown back on the cruelties of the market. Getting sick can cost us tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars; losing our jobs can mean economic devastation. The market thrives on Schumpeter’s “creative destruction”, and it is by common understanding the very hallmark of a dynamic capitalist economy. What it means, though, is that none of us can expect our jobs to be around in 10 years: they may be creatively destroyed just as easily as the next guy’s.

Of course most middle- and upper-income readers will immediately try to defend their own sense of self, by supposing that their own level of education insulates them from the shocks of the new global economy: surely creative destruction is creatively destroying manual laborers’ lives, not ours. Hacker says no, and submits a mountain of data to prove his point: over time, we’re all becoming more subject to economic crises. The standard economic statistics don’t point this out; they focus on economic growth or inequality, but not risk. If Hacker’s book is valuable for nothing else, it is valuable for focusing attention on risk where previously few people did.

To deal with this risk, we need to return to an insurance society. Like a lot of people, Hacker advocates health insurance similar to Medicare. He advocates not only unemployment insurance, but unemployment insurance that helps people transition from a creatively-destroyed career to a new one. Hacker doesn’t have time to build out the argument — actual policy prescriptions are confined to the final 10% or 15% of the book — but he says that the economic profession is broadly agreed on the necessity for this kind of insurance.

The broader social impact of American insecurity often goes unremarked. One of my coworkers made an excellent point about it recently: in Europe, he says, you’ll find far more little shops run by sole proprietors than you will here. He believes this is because there’s a social welfare net that lets you take some risks that you just couldn’t take in this country. Most important among the strands of the safety net, of course, is health insurance: insurance for a small business is frightfully expensive, so presumably a lot of small businessmen go without. It would be interesting to test the connection between bad-sense risk (the chance of economic collapse) and good-sense (entrepreneurial) risk.

The move from pensions to 401(k)s is another big thread in The Great Risk Shift. A large body of research suggests that people are terrible at judging their own long-term prospects. We systematically undersave (for that matter, I systematically undersave), we systematically underestimate the likelihood of a major life catastrophe, and we invest too much money in the company we work for. Pensions used to protect against this, by shifting the burden of risk-estimation onto the employer. Workers didn’t have to figure out where the money went, they had no choice about whether to invest, and their nest egg was more stable as a result. Even making 401(k)s opt-out rather than opt-in makes a huge difference in how much we use them. Forced savings are good for us. Here’s where everyone is obliged to mention Ulysses tying himself to the mast to ward off the allure of the Sirens. He foresaw his own weakness and protected against it. So should we. Government can help.

I think The Great Risk Shift will be mostly valuable in two directions:

1. Helping to guide conversations with non-believers during the health-insurance debate: we’re not just talking about poor people getting sick here. We’re talking about a much broader economic problem that can only be solved by joining forces with our countrymen.
2. The deeper research in the ample footnotes. I’ve found a lot of good stuff in there.

It’s not a very good piece of rhetoric, though. When Hacker talks to Real People, he sounds like an academic rather than a beat reporter. Indeed, if you read the footnotes, it turns out that most of the Real People conversations are from other people’s books. I don’t think Hacker has much power as a polemicist: he’s not going to talk with real people, or appeal to them very much either.

What I’d like is something like Jon Cohn’s Sick: scholarly and yet passionate. (For a taste of Cohn’s style, see his essay “Creative Destruction”). Hacker’s not quite there, but I’m willing to give his earlier Off Center a shot.

Customer Review: A book to avoid out of respect to fellow taxpayers
My book came, and I flipped through it to the last chapter–the REAL reason why I got this book.

While I knew this was a whiny tome about how people are being expected to shoulder more and more of their own social burdens, the title did contain a “how you can fight back” clause.

Well, the so-called “fighting back” involves exchanging one set of social programs for another, for example:

Medicare–of course, this would become Universal Health Care.

Retirement–instead of the accounts we have now, there’d be a Universal Savings account invented to take it’s place. This account would cover any kind of savings you can imagine–retirement, college, etc., and would take the place of the ailing Social Security program.

Welfare–another magical account would be created to cover “insecurity”: periods of unemployment, downshifting or pay cuts, high inflation, death of a working spouse, etc. to take the place of the existing food stamp, AFDC, unemployment, and/or disability. This would become Universal Insurance.

In short, the author proposes turning America into a highly-taxed, highly-coddled state like Denmark, where all is provided at taxpayer expense (up to 80% of people’s pay), and only enough is left for housing, food, gas, and fun (like there’d be any fun on THAT plan!). Where would low-income earners come up with the money for THIS plan?

A quick calculation reveals that we couldn’t even afford to pay rent on the 20% of our remaining income, let alone eat and commute, on our middle-class income with this plan.

Taxpayers would contribute to the new accounts, and the government would administer them just like it does now, except that your dollars would have your name on them. Personally, my dollars have my name on them now with my own private accounts, and I’m not paying for something I don’t want or need.

There are solutions to these problems in existence now, but few are able to (or choose to) take advantage of them. This plan would take the choice out of the equation, and as far as I can see, doesn’t account for the entrepreneurial spirit or self-employment.

If you prefer being self-sufficient, self-reliant, personally responsible, and to live below your means, then stay away from this book. There’s nothing here for you except anger. This plan is clearly geared for the mindless sheep out there who want something for nothing, only this plan shows how dear the cost of that something would be–we’re already paying up to 40% of our incomes in various taxes just to support people and government now!

What got us into trouble as a country is the fact that government borrows against assets–what’s to say the government won’t borrow against THESE assets as well? I don’t want my accounts to be used as collateral by Uncle Sam.

Where oh where is the INCENTIVE to improve one’s self, dear author? This is what got the “have-nots” into the position they’re in now!! We’ve been leading horses to water for so long, they now expect us to bring it to them–and we STILL can’t make them drink.

Reforming Early Retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA

Reforming Early Retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA Since the 1970s early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the economic problems of mass unemployment and industrial restructuring. Today governments and international organizations advocate the postponement of retirement and an increase in activity among older workers. Comparing the USA, eight European countries, and Japan, this book demonstrates significant cross-national differences in early retirement across countries and over time. The study evaluates the impact of major variations in welfare regimes, production systems, and labor relations. It stresses the importance of the ‘pull factor’ of extensive welfare state provisions, particularly in Continental Europe; the ‘push factor’ of labor shedding strategies by firms, particularly in Anglo-American market economies; and the role of employers and worker representatives in negotiating retirement policies, particularly in coordinated market economies. Over the last three decades, early retirement has become a popular social policy and employment practice in the workplace, adding to the fiscal crises and employment problems of today’s welfare states. Attempts to reverse early retirement policies have led to major reform debates. Unilateral government policies to cut back on social benefits have not had the expected employment results due to resistance from employers, workers, and their organizations. Successful reforms require the cooperation of both sides. This study provides comprehensive empirical analysis and a balanced approach to studying both the pull and the push factors affecting early exit from work needed to understand the development of early retirement regimes.

Economics of Aging: The Future of Retirement

Economics of Aging: The Future of Retirement

Ladies In Retirement.

Ladies In Retirement.

RINKs Retired, Independent, No Kids: Retirement and Investment Advice For People Without Children

RINKs Retired, Independent, No Kids: Retirement and Investment Advice For People Without Children FINALLY! SPECIFIC FINANCIAL STRATEGIES FOR PEOPLE WITHOUT CHILDREN Follow the simple, easy to understand advice in RINKs, and you will enjoy a more prosperous retirement with less anxiety over money issues. No matter what stage you are in the retirement timeline, this book prepares you both financially and emotionally, to allow you to maintain your independence during your golden years. You will discover how to: Assemble your own trusting financial team or $Team. Create your critical network of support, an emotional team or ETeam. Use retirement projections to improve your financial decisions. Optimize your wealth and quality of life with proven strategies.. Take monthly portfolio distributions in a tax smart way. Improve your estate, health, charitable and pet planning.
Customer Review: Great Book for Retirees
Based on a recommendation from a friend, I was happy to find this easy to read, well laid out book on retirement and investment advice for people without children.

Raymond Mignone covers a wide breath of topics that I found helpful with both the emotional and the financial issues involved with transitioning into retirement. It is refreshing to learn the strategies that a Fee-Only financial advisor actually uses when working with his clients rather than getting advice from authors who’s profession is writing and don’t have actual experience working with real people and real money. I was able to apply many of the ideas presented in the book to my own situation.

I found the chapters on creating a retirement portfolio and how to take retirement distributions helpful, especially the flowchart on how your monthly monies should flow in order to save on taxes.

The author’s advice on how to select a trusting financial advisor is very sound and practical. He makes a sound case for establishing a long-term relationship with a good financial advisor to help with complex money issues in your golden years.

All in all I think this is an excellent book for anyone in or near retirement and I highly recommend it.

The Local Government (Compensation for Redundancy or Premature Retirement on Reorganisation) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 (Statutory Instruments: 1995: 340 ()

The Local Government (Compensation for Redundancy or Premature Retirement on Reorganisation) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 (Statutory Instruments: 1995: 340 ()

Take Charge!: A Woman’s Guide to a Secure Retirement

Take Charge!: A Woman’s Guide to a Secure Retirement Customer Review: A must read for all women
After having read, Take Charge by Edie Milligan, a book about how women can understand and control their financial destiny, I am convinced that this is a must read for every young women over the age of 18. As Head of School of a PK – 12th Grade girls school, I know that the greatest concern parents have for their daughters is that of financial security and independence. In a straightforward, and uncomplicated way, Milligan creates a road map for even the most financially uninformed. It is a transformational work that should be on your gift list for every woman you know. Brava to Milligan for filling a niche in the financial literacy book market. We will all be stronger because of her good work.
Customer Review: Easy read, but indepth and practical..
Finally, a book that walks you through the process of determining your personal retirement needs – and it does it with humor and such campassion. I’ve been telling all my friends about it.

The Complete Retirement Workshop: Your Guide to Planning a Secure and Rewarding Future

The Complete Retirement Workshop: Your Guide to Planning a Secure and Rewarding Future

Standard & Poor’s Guide to Saving for Retirement (Standard & Poor’s Guide to)

Standard & Poor’s Guide to Saving for Retirement (Standard & Poor’s Guide to)

Streamlined, straightforward, and simple to read guides from Standard & Poor’s and Lightbulb Press.

The easiest way to get a grip on personal finance, investing, and retirement

From the world’s leading financial analysts and investor education specialists comes an invaluable foundation of knowledge for every kind of investment you want to make. These guides, a collaboration between Standard & Poor’s and Lightbulb Press, use clear language and informative graphics to demystify financial topics. The books make it easy for you to navigate the financial markets and understand the basics of investing and personal finance.

This easy to understand guide covers what you need to know about planning for a financially secure retirement. It provides up-to-date information on contribution and withdrawal limits, and current legislation on IRA rollovers to estate planning.

Military & Civilian Wealth, Have You Overlooked the Obvious?: Malloy’s Individual Retirement Plan

Military & Civilian Wealth, Have You Overlooked the Obvious?: Malloy’s Individual Retirement Plan

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