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    Downhill from Here: Retirement Insecurity in the Age of Inequality
    Downhill from Here: Retirement Insecurity in the Age of Inequality
    Downhill from Here: Retirement Insecurity in the Age of Inequality
    Audiobook12 hours

    Downhill from Here: Retirement Insecurity in the Age of Inequality

    Written by Katherine S. Newman

    Narrated by Karen White

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    About this audiobook

    Retirement insecurity is an increasingly serious manifestation of the vast inequality that risks destroying the social fabric in America. The nearly inevitable consequence of lifetime wage discrepancies, security in retirement is linked to the kinds of jobs we hold during our work lives. That, in turn, is a product of all the forces leading to historic levels of inequality, forces that have protected the very wealthy, destroyed any hold on stability for the poor, and gradually eroded the security of the vast middle class. The problem of inequality has moved from an academic preoccupation to a growing theme in national and local politics. The election of Bill Di Blasio in New York was the first real political victory that owes itself to citizens demanding a reversal of inequality. It has been an underlying them in the Democratic presidential debates, a motif for the Hillary Clinton campaign and a pronounced feature of Bernie Sanders' bid. This attention is not an accident. When members of Congress returned to their districts to test out messages for upcoming elections, the one issue that resonated among their publics was ldquo;Do something about retirement.rdquo;
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateJan 22, 2019
    ISBN9781681683393
    Author

    Katherine S. Newman

    Katherine S. Newman is Ford Foundation Professor of Urban Studies, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the author of No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City (1999), Declining Fortunes: The Withering of the American Dream (1994), and Law and Economic Organization (1983).

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    Reviews for Downhill from Here

    4/5

    16 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book is jam-packed with real-life stories and statistics. Even though the topic is difficult and there is a lot of information, the author makes it easy to read and digest. I feel like everyone in political leadership should read this.
    • 2/5
      If you were hoping for some helpful advice on saving for retirement please flee now. This book was a bit of a downer. Majority of Americans do not have enough to retire. Pension systems of old have been shredded for far too many people.Chapters on specific cities were interesting, especially the one on Ogden, Utah. Objective view of how LDS culture assists for the common good.Recommended only for those who enjoy reading dry sociological treatises on current society.
    • 4/5
      Rather depressing, but important book. Pointing out the problem with current retirement situation and the burdens it is placing on people.The author does try to point out possible solutions. But I don't find it very hopeful.
    • 5/5
      This was a difficult book to read in that it provides a bleak view of the future for economic prospects in the US, but it was really just recognizing things we all should see and presenting them in a concise fashion. Exploring retirement "options" for people with varying work histories and lifestyles, this book presents a realistic look at what we can expect in our elder years.
    • 5/5
      The author takes an in depth look at the status of retirement in this economy. No longer can people rely on their retirement plans which is creating a great deal of uncertainty and even poverty as more and more people approach retirement age. This is a situation that is growing worse, not better, even for people who have years until retirement. This book provides a fascinating look at this important topic.
    • 4/5
      A third of Americans have no retirement savings and this problem continues to be getting worse. Various reasons are discussed with many detailed individual stories from families from many economic levels. The end chapter describes some ideas /ways we can make needed changes, including what some other countries are doing to tackle this growing problem. Interesting book, lots of information.
    • 4/5
      The United States ranks 17th (of 30) in provision for retirement, at about the level of Colombia or Chile. This scandal leaves millions upon millions scrambling to have enough food or meet monthly overhead. But the book Downhill From Here isn’t really about that. It’s mostly about people who contributed to pension funds all their working lives, only to have the pensions slashed, changed from defined benefit to defined contribution, or just eliminated completely. There are even cases of clawbacks, where employers change the rules and force retirees to pay back what they already received. Katherine Newman has made poverty her specialty, and this latest attempt get out the truth is very sad. It is a depressing read, which devolves to infuriating when it becomes obvious it all can be avoided. Instead, it gets worse. One third of US retirees have no savings at all. Most Americans are forced to take social security at 62, leaving 60% of their check on the table. And an ever-decreasing minority gets any kind of company pension at all. Newman calls it pension erosion, but that’s like calling WWII a bit of a scrap.The book breaks into chapters of method of pension destruction: -There is bankruptcy, as in the city of Detroit, where civil servants simply lost their contributions and most of their pensions to Wall Street finagling and skimming. Blacks in particular, looked on the civil service as their ticket out of poverty and precarity. They, of course, suffered the most, as their homes became worthless too. -There is corporate malfeasance, such as Verizon spinning off its Yellow Pages into its own company, which declared bankruptcy less than two years later, crippling the retirements of everyone (below a certain level). This allowed Verizon to avoid paying these (former) employees their pensions. The deviousness is shocking, as more companies find ways to raid the pension fund, fail to make contractual contributions, or invent creative ways of not paying out. One worker said “If I had made such a suggestion, I would have been terminated on the spot.” But when it comes from the top, it’s sound management.-There is government–forced restructuring, as in deregulating trucking and airlines, where competition suddenly mushroomed into a race to the bottom, forcing employers out of providing pensions. At first, employees were asked to make the sacrifice of lower wages, which they would recoup in a solid retirement plan. Then the plan collapsed – double jeopardy.-There is the precarity of the right-to-work states, where hours, wages and benefits are minimal, and state governments are stingy – even with (free) federal money. It all adds up to a sad litany of suffering , as Newman profiles people from coast to coast, from all walks of middle class life. What most have in common is an inability to make ends meet just living day to day. When they can retire at all.-Verizon comes in for particular criticism for its extraordinary callousness towards it employees. They thought they had careers for life, working at the phone company. Instead, they found Verizon transferring them all over its territory for what turned out to be just a two month stint. Not enough to settle in. Then they’d be sent back, only to be transferred out again – for another couple of months. Eventually, people quit this torture, and forfeited their pensions. Verizon avoided paying and got to hire cheaper labor.-United Airlines employees became ashamed of what became of their company. They actually bought it out of bankruptcy. But it screwed them anyway.-The gig economy, outsourcing, and perma-temps all contribute to an inability to put away savings, to provide for retirement, or have any kind of job security. -The forced decline of unions leaves workers with low pay, no benefits and no recourse. Management has a free hand, and clearly relishes it.The chapter on welfare is also very disturbing. Government, the final backstop and the bargain everyone makes in living in a cohesive nation, fails to help. Worse, it is actually behind much of the damage. And it doesn’t support the people it damages. Newman talks to people who receive ten dollars a month in food stamps, and whose states put all kinds of bureaucratic barriers in the way of applying for anything at all. They make their lives miserable for being clients of the state.Again and again, Newman narrates stories of people who worked and planned al their lives to live carefully within their means. They sacrificed during their working years, in order not to be destitute in their retirement years. Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. Newman examines the top three pension-providing countries, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Australia, which all have remarkably different systems and approaches. But they do have one thing in common: citizens do not worry about poverty or healthcare in retirement. Being a citizen has its rewards as well as sacrifices. Not so in the USA.There are things even the US government could do, such as forcing companies to put retirement plans beyond their own reach, assuring payouts. Lifting the extraordinarily low maximum for social security taxes would make the whole system solvent (according to economist Paul Krugman). Lowering the eligibility age for Medicare to 55 would bridge a huge, expensive gap that laid-off middle-aged workers face when they are unable to find new work - because of their age. Even the city of Las Vegas has lessons for the country, as the gambling industry protects its own investment by investing in the wellbeing of its employees. Sadly, the political will is not there. America is all about everyone for themselves. Being American confers no thanks for a life of hard work. Any help via labor protection laws or income supplements is classified as Socialism, un-American and out of the question. Newman says a lot of states are mean. She singles out Louisiana in particular. But it’s much more than that. It’s a mean, nasty country for 99% of its people.The book suffers from a depressing sameness. Everyone has a similar story, it seems. Hard work and, sacrifice, to have a worry-free retirement. Then betrayal. And no recourse. Only the sources of the betrayal are different. There is a hopelessness to it in the American political context. Unfortunately, Downhill From Here is a truth that needs this kind of exposure.David Wineberg