Downhill from here : retirement insecurity in the age of inequality / Katherine S. Newman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Newman, Katherine S., 1953- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social security--United States.

Social security.

United States.

Retirement income--United States.

Retirement income.

Older people--United States--Economic conditions.

Older people.

Economic conditions.

Equality--United States.

Equality.

Older people--Economic conditions.

Local Subjects:

Older people--United States--Economic conditions.

Social security--United States.

Equality--United States.

Retirement income--United States.

Genre:

Nonfiction.

Physical Description:

322 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company, [2019]

Language Note:

Text in English.

Summary:

A sharp examination of the troubled state of retirement in America shares sobering insights into how the real estate crash and limited social security are preventing retirement and inducing widespread poverty in aging Baby Boomers.

"As millions of baby boomers reach their golden years, the state of retirement in America is little short of a disaster. A third of Americans have no retirement savings at all. The real estate crash wiped out much of the home equity that millions were counting on to support themselves later in life. And the typical Social Security check covers less than 40 percent of preretirement wages--a number projected to drop to under 28 percent within two decades. Elder 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 illuminates America's abandonment of a social contract: the promise that decades of hard work would bring about a secure old age. The resulting crisis touches us all, cutting across class lines and generational divides. White-collar managers have seen pensions vanish; truckers have had their benefits 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, as benefit cutbacks have targeted younger workers in particular. Only the vaunted '1 percent' can face retirement without fear. Other countries are also confronting demographic challenges, yet they have not abandoned their seniors. [This book] makes it clear that America, too, can--and must--do better."--Dust jacket.

Contents:

Teamsters in trouble

White-collar damage

Municipal blues

Gray labor

Two-tiered agreements and the dilemmas of Gen X

Retiring on next to nothing

Keeping the promise / by Rebecca Hayes Jacobs

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781250119469

1250119464

OCLC:

1035295330