While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial (Paperback)

• Category:  Books  »  Business & Economics  »  Information Management
• Format: Paperback   Learn more about the Paperback format using Tower WIKI.
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Number of Pages: 288
• ISBN: 0143115383
• WAPI (Tower ID): 112988300
• Release Date: April 28, 2009
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #178847 in Books (See Top 100 Books Bestsellers)
• #8089 in Business & Economics (See Top 100 Business & Economics Bestsellers)
• #45 in Information Management (See Top 100 Information Management Bestsellers)

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From the bestselling author of "Buffett, When Genius Failed," and "Origins of the Crash," a wake-up call to the pension and retirement crisis facing America and the road map for a way out
In "While America Aged," bestselling author Roger Lowenstein explains how corporations and governments ran up ruinous pension and health-care promises to workersapromises that are now coming due and that will hit America like a tsunami if nothing is done.
Negotiating high benefits means gambling with future financesaand when the farm gets sold out from underneath major corporations or public institutions, it affects all of us, and in ways we might not imagine. With his trademark narrative panache, Lowenstein unravels the truth about how pensions work in America and illuminates the impending crisis. "While America Aged" is comprised of three fascinating case studiesa each an object lesson and a compelling historical saga. The first goes back to the early days of the United Auto Workers and its crusading leader, Walter Reuther, to tell the story of how pensions and health-care obligations destroyed the American auto industry, in particular General Motors.
Lowenstein then shifts the scene to New York City to tell the story of the rise of public pensions and public sector unions through the vehicle of the Communist-led Transport Workers Union. Once again, justifiable benefits were followed by outrageous ones, such as the right to retire at age fifty. The saga reached a dramatic climax in 2005, when workers responded to proposed pension cutbacks with a massive strike that brought New Yorkas subways and buses to a screeching halt days before Christmas.
In the concluding episode, Lowensteinvisits a metropolis even more reckless in doling out benefitsaSan Diego. Desperate not to impose higher taxes, city officials in this highly conservative enclave cut a series of deals with unions to short-change the retirement system and use pension funds to run the city. A massive scandal ensuedatwo mayors resigned, officials were indicted, and San Diego lost its bond rating. Lowenstein warns that the pension wars that erupted in Detroit, New York City, and San Diego are only the first. But he also recognizes that workers are entitled to decent security in their retirementaa critical problem as the country ages. "While America Aged" explains how we came to this crisis, and it also proposes a way out. Arming readers with knowledge of the consequences of doing nothing, "While America Aged," first and foremost, a call to action.

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