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Summary
Summary
A sharp examination of the looming financial catastrophe of retirement in America.
As millions of Baby Boomers reach their golden years, the state of retirement in America is little short of a disaster. Nearly half the households with people aged 55 and older have no retirement savings at all. The real estate crash wiped out much of the home equity that millions were counting on to support their retirement. And the typical Social Security check covers less than 40% of pre-retirement wages--a number projected to drop to under 28% within two decades. Old-age poverty, a problem we thought was solved by the New Deal, is poised for a resurgence.
With dramatic statistics and vivid portraits, acclaimed sociologist Katherine S. Newman shows that the American retirement crisis touches us all, cutting across class lines and generational divides. White-collar managers have seen retirement benefits vanish; Teamsters have had their pensions cut in half; bankrupt cities like Detroit have walked away from their commitments to municipal workers. And for Generation X, the prospects are even worse: a fifth of them expect to never be able to retire. Only the vaunted "one percent" can face retirement without fear.
Other countries are confronting similar demographic challenges, yet they have not abandoned their social contract with seniors. Downhill From Here makes it clear that America, too, can--and must--do better.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Newman, who wrote about the working poor in No Shame in My Game, turns in this compassionate study to the erosion of that formerly reliable social safety net: the pension. Newman profiles workers who spent their careers sacrificing higher salaries or glamorous jobs for the security they believed came with union or government employment, only to find the rug pulled out from under them when their pensions were revealed to be underfunded. Retirement-age people, many ill equipped to find a job in a competitive market, make up the fastest-growing segment of the labor force, according to Newman. Meanwhile, younger workers are frequently not offered the retirement benefits their parents and grandparents enjoyed-not because of foreign competition or market downturns but because resources are being diverted to shareholders-causing intergenerational resentment. Newman finds that countries faring better than the United States in postretirement well-being-Denmark, the Netherlands, and Australia among them-have mandatory government pensions (and, in Australia's case, a mandatory retirement savings program). She concludes by emphatically advocating for Paul Krugman's solution to future Social Security insolvency-eliminate the cap on income subject to payroll taxes. Newman's reportage moves gracefully between pension instability's effects upon individual lives and the societal consequences. This is an empathetic and revealing investigation. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A clear presentation of the retirement problem in the United States, shown through the stories of diverse individuals whose insecurity reveals a shredding of the fabric of American life.Newman (Sociology/Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston; The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition, 2012, etc.), a sociologist who has been examining the lives of working Americans for many years, turns her attention to five groups: blue-collar workers, skilled private-sector workers, public-sector workers, employees past the age of retirement, and younger workers (mostly millennials). For each category, besides giving her own analysis, the author lets representative individuals speak in their own words. The picture they paint is not pretty. Newman's first focus is the Teamsters, whose pension funds are running dry. Next, the author scrutinizes Verizon and United Airlines and their treatment of longtime workers. "While the Teamsters focused their ire on politicians, the Treasury Department, and Wall Street," writes Newman, "Verizon and United retirees tended to direct their moral critique at company management." In her chapter on public-sector employees, the author singles out Detroit as an example of the fate of civil service pensions when a city declares bankruptcy. The stories of "gray labor," retirement-age workers who cannot afford to retire, is especially disheartening, and then there are the younger workers, trying to fund their own retirement plans and for whom Social Security benefits are a fading dream. Of special interest is Newman's comparison of how retirees fare in two American cities: Opelousas, Louisiana, which has the nation's highest rate of elder poverty, and Ogden, Utah, which is populated by well-protected retirees. Similarly, the author looks at Denmark, Netherlands, and Australia, countries that provide security to their retirees, seeking ideas to help ease America's retirement crisis.The stories sometimes drag, but the facts are undeniable and well-presented, and the message is clear. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A solid pension and guaranteed Social Security payments were once anticipated by most retirees. But the 2008 recession, mismanagement of funds, and rising health-care costs have put both in jeopardy. Sociologist Newman delves into the uncertainty confronting today's retiring workers, using personal stories to explore the problems faced by blue-collared Teamsters, white-collared United Airlines workers, and Detroit's municipal employees. She warns that many of these funds have been tapped for other uses, and with the baby boomers living longer and fewer younger workers paying into pensions, few of them are sustainable. Older workers are fighting back by staying on jobs longer or working part-time to supplement income, but many, especially those less well educated and poorer, are having difficulty coping. Newman notes that secure retirement is aided by supporting institutions as she compares the plight of retirees in struggling areas in Louisiana to those in Ogden, Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides needed aid. This well-argued study offers a broad look at the insecurity threatening generations to come and possible solutions to this complex issue.--Candace Smith Copyright 2018 Booklist
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| 1 Teamsters in Trouble | p. 13 |
| 2 White-Collar Damage | p. 47 |
| 3 Municipal Blues | p. 77 |
| 4 Gray Labor | p. 113 |
| 5 Two-Tiered Agreements and the Dilemmas of Gen X | p. 147 |
| 6 Retiring on Next to Nothing | p. 179 |
| 7 Keeping the Promise | p. 213 |
| Conclusion | p. 249 |
| Notes | p. 267 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 307 |
| Index | p. 313 |
