While America Aged
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Narrated by:
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Michael McConnohie
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By:
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Roger Lowenstein
About this listen
Negotiating high benefits means gambling with future finances - and 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.
©2008 Roger Lowenstein (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks AmericaListeners also enjoyed...
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Hostile Takeover
- Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America
- By: Matt Kibbe
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Hostile Takeover is a rebellious challenge to the "upper management" of government, who are choking American prosperity and liberty. Matt Kibbe exposes the privileged collusion of Washington insiders - and maps out a proven plan for how to return power from the self-appointed "experts" back to the people. Dubbed "one of the Tea Party's masterminds" by Newsweek, Kibbe reveals how grassroots citizens can and will check the federal behemoth and restore the American enterprise.
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An amazing book from an interesting perspective
- By Aaron on 12-28-12
By: Matt Kibbe
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Borrowed Time
- Two Centuries of Booms, Busts, and Bailouts at Citi
- By: James Freeman, Vern McKinley
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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To save the economy and keep Citi afloat in 2008, the government provided huge infusions of cash through multiple bailouts that frustrated and angered the American public. But, as Wall Street Journal writer James Freeman and financial expert Vern McKinley reveal, the 2008 crisis was just one of many disasters Citi has experienced since its founding more than 200 years ago. In Borrowed Time they reveal Citi’s disturbing history of instability and government support. It’s a story that neither Citi nor Washington wants told.
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Biased
- By CF on 08-09-19
By: James Freeman, and others
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Overhaul
- An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry
- By: Steven Rattner
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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This first real look inside Team Obama mixes political warfare and big-business shakeups in equal proportions, and comes from a uniquely informed source. Steve Rattner is not just the man brought in by the president to save the auto industry, he is a former New York Times financial reporter who also earned a place among the top tier of Wall Street's most informed investment bankers and corporate experts.
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Overhaul - A Memoir
- By Roy on 12-05-10
By: Steven Rattner
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All the Presidents' Bankers
- The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power
- By: Nomi Prins
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 19 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Nomi Prins ushers us into the intimate world of exclusive clubs, vacation spots, and Ivy League universities that binds presidents and financiers. She unravels the multi-generational blood, intermarriage, and protégé relationships that have confined national influence to a privileged cluster of people. This unprecedented history of American power illuminates how financiers have retained their authoritative position through history, swaying presidents regardless of party affiliation.
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You better like history about the elite and rich
- By Victor on 01-12-15
By: Nomi Prins
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Confidence Men
- Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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The hidden history of Wall Street and the White House comes down to a single American concept: confidence. Both centers of power, New York and Washington, learned how to manufacture it - until August 2007, when that confidence began to crumble. Ron Suskind here tells the story of what happened next, as Wall Street struggled to save itself while a man with little experience and soaring rhetoric emerged from obscurity to usher in "a new era of responsibility".
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Insightful, but...
- By Ray on 10-29-11
By: Ron Suskind
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Shaky Ground
- The Strange Saga of the US Mortgage Giants
- By: Bethany McLean
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2008 the US Treasury put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a life-support state known as "conservatorship" to prevent their failure - and worldwide economic chaos. The two companies, which were always controversial, have become a battleground. Today, Fannie and Freddie are profitable again but still in conservatorship. Their profits are being redirected toward reducing the federal deficit, which leaves them with no buffer should they suffer losses again.
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Details on the Culture and History of the GSEs
- By Jose on 10-15-15
By: Bethany McLean
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Third World America
- How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream
- By: Arianna Huffington
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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America's middle class, the driver of so much of our economic success and political stability, is rapidly disappearing, forcing us to confront the fear that we are slipping as a nation - that our children and grandchildren will enjoy fewer opportunities and face a lower standard of living than we did. It's the dark flipside of the American Dream - an American Nightmare of our own making.
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Sad... but with a ray of hope
- By Maciej on 10-20-10
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Beyond Outrage
- What Has Gone Wrong with Our Economy and Our Democracy, and How to Fix Them
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert B. Reich
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert B. Reich urges Americans to get beyond mere outrage about the nation’s increasingly concentrated wealth and corrupt politics in order to mobilize and to take back our economy and democracy. Americans can’t rely only on getting good people elected, Reich argues, because nothing positive happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington are organized to help make those things happen after the election. But in order to be effectively mobilized, we need to see the big picture.
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Falls short
- By J. Klinghoffer on 11-04-13
By: Robert B. Reich
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Reckless Endangerment
- How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon
- By: Gretchen Morgenson, Joshua Rosner
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In Reckless Endangerment, Gretchen Morgenson, the star business columnist of The New York Times, exposes how the watchdogs who were supposed to protect the country from financial harm were actually complicit in the actions that finally blew up the American economy.
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Required reading
- By David on 10-24-11
By: Gretchen Morgenson, and others
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What listeners say about While America Aged
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Nathan Hertel
- 04-23-18
Confusing mix of evidence and conclusions
What did you like best about While America Aged ? What did you like least?
If the author set out to simply document the intricacies of three unrelated cases of overgenerous pension systems swamping their providers, like a parasite killing its host, a fine book. But the author also appends a conclusion to the book and short editorializing throughout that seem to belong to a different book. The author doesn't realize that the three examples he thoroughly details are actually a giant beacon warning others to avoid the same path, and incongruously advocates further adoptions of pension systems...even after his devoted cataloging of their disastrous effects. It's a very strange book.
If you’ve listened to books by Roger Lowenstein before, how does this one compare?
Narration was great
Which character – as performed by Michael McConnohie – was your favorite?
I didn't even realize the narration was done by separate voices. Very pleasant presentation.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
No. It's like 10 hours documenting the many, hellish dangers of smoking, but from a guy who thinks everyone should still be buying and consuming cigarettes, just in moderation.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- CWALL
- 01-10-09
A dry departure from L's usual page turner, but
This is an outstanding condensation of the the history of US labor relations as they unfolded within the Auto industry. Lowenstien paints a grim, but I fear all too accurate, picture of the futility of taxpayer recent bailout of an already comatose industry. He is even handed in his citing of causes: inept management and a culture of expediency matched by an ever over reaching UAW. Even more sobering is his treatment of New York City and State, the culture of cronyism and pandering that lead to disastrous and irrevocable concessions given to the unions over the years. Lowenstien names names, and cites specific salaries and pension obligations and points out those who stand to earn more in retirement at the age of 55 or younger, than they did while they were working. Astonishing.
Read this book before the next strike is threatened.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- William Milz
- 07-05-08
Timely information neutral presentation
Good coverage of combined misuse of trust by retirees in the system. The attempts to maintain an "unbiased position" leave the implication that the workers are equally to blame as the owners. If that is so, how do we explain the massive shift in wealth distribution -- the autoworker who retires at 50 years old does not have a comparable portion to the CEO who is let go with a REAL golden parachute.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Michael Wright
- 06-19-08
While America Aged
An interesting book. However, the monotone voice of the reader makes it hard to listen.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Julie Schatz
- 09-24-15
True stories you won't forget
Roger Lowenstein lays out a complicated topic in an accessible story form. Well worth the time to educate yourself on this topic. I will be paying attention to the politics and police/firefighters union negotiations from now on.
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Overall
- Laurie
- 06-24-08
More detail than I wanted
I listened to this book in order to better understand pensions, since I am (apparently) part of a shrinking number of working Americans still accruing a one. The book goes into a little more detail than I had hoped for, particularly in regards to the San Diego pension crisis and the NY city workers pension fiasco. The reader is not the best, either. So, while you get the general concepts behind why pensions are being phased out, you may feel bogged down a bit by the minutia.
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3 people found this helpful
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- William G. Stuart
- 10-12-19
Must Reading to Understand the Challenges of Pensi
Although this book was written a decade ago, it is very relevant today. Lowenstein traces the history of labor negotiations in both the private and public sector. In both cases, management awarded unsustainable pensions, then underfunded them.
In the private sector, as once dominant companies and industries suddenly faced foreign competition, a much smaller number of active workers (or a downsized corporation) made pension payments far below what was required to meet contractual obligations of a larger number of pensioners who were living much longer than projected. The math rarely worked. And even when it did, cash-strapped corporation made deals with unions to reduce or suspend payments, thus kicking a financial crisis down the road. Foreign competition alone didn't end US dominance of certain industries. Rather, it was foreign competition unburdened by pension obligations that offered products at a lower price (even after shipping across the Pacific Ocean).
In the public sector, different forces are at play. First, governments don't go out of business or relieve themselves of pension responsibilities by declaring bankruptcy. Second, the people handing out more generous pension benefits have no real financial stake in the fiscal impact of their actions, since they don't have personal funds at risk and won't be there when the obligations come due. Third, unlike private pensioners, public pension beneficiaries can fire those who try to rein in pension benefits by voting them out of office.
Lowenstein describes in detail how three different entities - one private company and two units of government - approached union negotiations and pensions. He adds corollary stories about other entities in similar situations and how they handled the issue. Bottom line: A few were able to effect real change before a crisis, but most either were blind or spineless to propose action that would stabilize pension obligations.
If you're interested in the competitive nature of global markets, private pensions, public pension, or the challenges that Social Security faces, read this book. It'll be your best investment of nine ours and 13 minutes. Have only eight hours to spare? Adjust the speed to 1.25, and it'll be the best eight hours that you can invest in understanding this issue.
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- Ron
- 11-20-23
Nice. I learned a lot
Ok I need fifteen words to say it was educational
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Fifteen words
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- Circlekay1 Gulfport MS
- 11-21-20
Consumer Beware
Author did a detailed review of America's past, current and forthcoming pension issues in private sector. Would have liked to learn more about public, political intrigue related to Social Security and Thrift Saving Program (TSP).
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- Lee
- 02-04-22
Good for younger generation to read
While slightly dated, it is a good example of the cost of future social contracts and that corruption and “pay later” approaches almost always lead to disastrous effect.
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