| In Association With... |  |
|
|
|
While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial Crisis | 
 enlarge | Author: Roger Lowenstein
Creator: Michael Mcconnohie
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $18.17
You Save: $11.78 (39%)
New (19) from $18.17
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 379957
Format: Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 8
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1602834385
Dewey Decimal Number: 331.25240973
EAN: 9781602834385
ASIN: 1602834385
Publication Date: June 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new audiobook! Delivered direct from our US warehouse by Expedited (4-7 days) or Standard (usually 10-14 days but can be longer). Expedited shipping recommended for speedier delivery. Over 1 million satisfied customers
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A Bestselling Author Explains, Via Three Fascinating Stories, How An Upcoming Pension Crisis Threatens to Upset the American Economy. 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 studies, set in the Detroit auto industry, among New York City transit workers, and in the city of San Diego. Lowenstein warns that the pension wars that erupted in these industries and cities are only the first. But he also recognizes that workers are entitled to decent security in their retirement--a critical problem as the country ages. Arming readers with knowledge of the consequences of doing nothing, While America Aged is, first and foremost, a call to action. Engaging and informative, this work is presented unabridged on 8 CDs.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
Too much historical detail and not enough analysis of solutions September 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The author examines 3 organizations......1 in the private sector (GM) and 2 in the public sector (NY Transit and City of San Diego) with respects to their pension plans and their financial health.
The case of GM is fairly well publicized. In early 2008, Business Week ran an article predicting that GM and Ford really have no choice but to declare bankruptcy...to eliminate their pension plan obligations by passing them along to the US taxpayers. As the author points out, GM went from being one of the most profitable companies in the world paying out good dividends to shareholders......to a money losing HMO on wheels.
All 3 cases have the same basic theme of management focusing on short term cash flow and ignoring the long term impact of pension obligations. The only caveat to this general theme is that San Diego threw in dishonesty of elected officials. I had not heard the "Enron-by-the-Sea" story of San Diego before.
The author's solution to our private and public pension dilemma is:
1.Nationalized health care with partial payment by the worker.
2.Keep Medicare for 65 and over people (but it has huge unresolved liabilities)
3.Keep Social Security but shift from pay as you go to government savings accounts.
4.Retirement plans should offer more annuity payout options (but the author forgets to point out that annuities offered by Wall Street have extremely high 2% expense ratios).
5.Create and enforce law that public pensions must be fully funded at all times.
I found the book to be too long and boring. I am not that interested in every little bit of history that created the problems at the three institutions. I would have rather had less historical detail......and more focus on pros and cons of alternative solutions to the pension problem.
If you are interesting in accumulating more assets so you are less dependent on our pension system, I would suggest reading some of the books noted below.
Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Financial Life and Beat the Pro's
The Richest Man in Babylon
Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
The Millionaire Next Door
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition
The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
 Interesting Problem, Poor Solutions August 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Very interesting and informative book, enjoyed it immensely. However I part company with the author when it comes to solutions. His only idea seems to be tax increases so the public can pay for the rapacious antics of the public sector unions in particular or so the government can bail out the private sector companys that have caved into unions. And heaven forbid that people actually be allowed to control their own retirement funds and investements, the nanny state uber alles.
 Price August 5, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a rediculous price for a Kindle edition that costs the publisher next to nothing (after the initial conversion to the Kindle format) and that I can't share or sell.
 Terrific Book! July 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a fantastic read! The book discusses the plight our society faces when the bill comes due on pensions and health benefits for many corporations, city and state governments. It prompted me to look at the state of Nevada pension plan for teachers. The plan is grossly underfunded and guess who gets to pay for these benefits when the plan runs out of money. Me, the taxpayer. As of June 30, 2003, Nevada PERS assets had a market value of $14 billion, but actuarial liabilities of $19.5 billion. 5.5 billion in the hole. The book also woke me up to looking at the balance sheet of a company when considering to invest. For example, I would not invest in GM since the majority of their profits go to pay for the pension and health care plans. As a potential stockholder there would be little money left to distribute to me. The book provides the example .."by the late '90s GM was facing the demographic nightmare.." in pensions. GM is "...down to 180,000 hourly employees, compared with a dizzying 400,000 retirees." GM is an example of what Social Security will look like when the money runs out.
Excellent Book-Really drills home pressures on public plans and collectively bargained plans July 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I enjoyed reading this book and it gave me an better understanding on how public and union plans can succumb to the pressures to increase benefits now without having to pay for them until later. Gives a good historical perspective of what was going on at GM, in NYC, and San Diego when their pension plans developed their problems.
One thing that is never explicitly stated is that all these governments and unions that crippled their finances by promising generous postretirement medical benefits must be praying for the enactment of universal health care to bail them out of paying for their promised benefits.
I had to take a star off for the final chapter on what should be done going forward. I suppose after an excellent history lesson, Mr. Lowenstein felt the need to tie his three vignettes together, generalize the lessons here to the state of all US pension plans, and come up with a set of solutions. However, the problems facing public and union pension plans are different from those that have put private pension plans in decline. Private pension plans have been hurt by overregulation and by the high cost and volatility that these plans have on a company's financials under new and evolving accounting standards. A private company can freeze it's plan (if its not collectively-bargained) and many have chosen to do so to provide benefits with 401(k) plans whose costs are easier to control.
The other failing of the last chapter is that, after keeping his politics mostly in check through most of the book, he starts reciting liberal talking points to come up with his solutions. He lauds Hillary Clinton by name for her solution of providing government-paid 401(k) accounts for low income people, but condemns President Bush (along with the right wing) for exaggerating the funding strains on the Social Security system and proposing to partially privatize Social Security with a 401(k)-based solution. After spending the whole book expounding on the problems caused when current benefit promises rely on future cash outlays, he then brushes off the same dynamic when it applies to the Social Security system.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
