America's leaders
say the economy is strong and getting stronger. But ordinary
Americans
aren't buying it. They see what the rosy statistics hide: We
are all
struggling under the weight of terrifying economic
instability. No
matter how well educated and hard working we are, we know
that the
bottom can fall out at any moment. Meanwhile, the safety net
that once
protected us is fast unraveling. With retirement plans in
growing
jeopardy while health coverage erodes, more and more
economic risk is
shifting from government and business onto the fragile
shoulders of the
American family. In The Great Risk Shift, Jacob S. Hacker
lays bare
this unsettling new economic climate, showing how it has
come about,
what it is doing to our families, and how we can fight back.
Behind
this shift, he contends, is the "personal responsibility"
crusade,
eagerly embraced by corporate leaders and Republican
politicians who
speak of a nirvana of economic empowerment, an "ownership
society" in
which Americans are free to choose. But as Hacker reveals,
the result
has been quite different: a harsh new world of economic
insecurity, in
which far too many Americans are free to lose. The book
documents how
two great pillars of economic security--the family and the
workplace--guarantee far less financial stability than they
once did.
The final leg of economic support--the public and private
benefits that
workers and families get when economic disaster strikes--has
dangerously eroded as political leaders and corporations
increasingly
cut back protections of our health care, our income
security, and our
retirement pensions. Hacker concludes by advocating an
"insurance and
opportunity society" that would safeguard economic security
and expand
economic opportunity, ensuring that all Americans have the basic
financial security they need to reach for and achieve the
American
Dream. Jacob Hacker brings into focus as never before the
pressures
that the Great Risk Shift exerts on our pocketbooks and on
our lives.
Blending powerful human stories, big-picture analysis, and
compelling
ideas for reform, this remarkable volume will hit a nerve,
serving as a
rallying point in the vital struggle for economic security in an
increasingly uncertain world.
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