Expand Social Security Now!: How to Ensure Americans Get the Retirement They Deserve - Steven Hill (2016)

Notes

Introduction

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Second Inaugural Address,” Washington, DC, January 20, 1937, http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres50.html.

2. Elizabeth Warren, “The Retirement Crisis,” floor speech, US Senate, November 18, 2013.

3. Michael Lind, Steven Hill, Robert Hiltonsmith, and Joshua Freedman, “Expanded Social Security: A Plan to Increase Retirement Security for All Americans,” New America Foundation, April 2013, p. 1, https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/4219-expanded-social-security/LindHillHiltonsmithFreedman_ExpandedSocialSecurity_04_03_13.5f4f8f6f247843f58f496232b0cea69d.pdf.

4. Gaetano Mosca, The Ruling Class (orig. 1939; New York: Greenwood, 1980); James H. Meisel, The Myth of the Ruling Class: Gaetano Mosca and the Elite (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1962), v.

5. Jill Braunstein, “Hard Choices on Social Security: Survey Finds Most Americans Would Pay More to Fix Its Finances and Improve Benefits,” press release, National Academy of Social Insurance, October 23, 2014, https://www.nasi.org/press/releases/2014/10/press-release-hard-choices-social-security-survey-finds-m.

6. Ibid.

7. The Congressional Budget Office projects that Social Security can pay all scheduled benefits out of its own dedicated tax revenue stream (the current payroll tax, plus its investment income, which is banked into the Social Security Trust Fund) through at least 2033. After that, it will be able to pay 75 percent of benefits, assuming no other reforms are enacted.

8. Benjamin I. Page, Larry M. Bartels, and Jason Seawright, “Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans,” Perspectives on Politics 11, no. 1 (March 2013): 56-57, http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/˜jnd260/cab/CAB2012%20-%20Page1.pdf.

9. Social Security Administration, “Monthly Statistical Snapshot, August 2015,” September 2015, table 2, http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/#table2.

10. Oxford Martin School, “Oxford Martin School Study Shows Nearly Half of US Jobs Could Be at Risk of Computerisation,” news release, September 18, 2013, http://www.futuretech.ox.ac.uk/news-release-oxford-martin-school-study-shows-nearly-half-us-jobs-could-be-risk-computerisation.

11. Andy Mukherjee, “Robots May Spell ‘Control-Alt-Delete’ for Workers,” Reuters, October 23, 2014, http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2014/10/23/robots-may-spell-control-alt-delete-for-workers/.

Chapter One

1. Erin Carlyle, “9.7 Million Americans Still Have Underwater Homes, Zillow Says,” Forbes, May 20, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2014/05/20/9-7-million-americans-still-have-underwater-homes-zillow-says/.

2. Helaine Olen, “You Call This Retirement? Boomers Still Have Work to Do,” AARP The Magazine, February/March 2014, http://www.aarp.org/work/retirement-planning/info-2014/boomer-retirement-little-savings-means-working.html; see also Teresa Ghilarducci, “Our Ridiculous Approach to Retirement,” New York Times, July 21, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/our-ridiculous-approach-to-retirement.html.

3. Social Security Administration, “Understanding the Benefits,” SSA Publication No. 05-10024, ICN 454930, June 2015, p. 4, http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10024.pdf.

4. Kathryn Anne Edwards, Anna Turner, and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, A Young Person’s Guide to Social Security, Economic Policy Institute, 2012, p. 6, http://www.nasi.org/sites/default/files/research/Young_Person%27s_Guide_to_Social_Security.pdf.

5. Bruce Bartlett, “GOP Cuts Budget with an Axe Instead of a Scalpel,” Fiscal Times, February 11, 2011, http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2011/02/11/GOP-Cuts-Budget-with-an-Axe-Instead-of-a-Scalpel.

6. Roosevelt, “Second Inaugural Address.”

7. See “Policy Basics: Where Do Federal Tax Revenues Come From?,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 11, 2015, www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3822; Joel Friedman, The Decline of Corporate Income Tax Revenues, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, October 24, 2003, pp. 4-5, http://www.cbpp.org//sites/default/files/atoms/files/10-16-03tax.pdf.

8. Jesse Bricker et al., “Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2010 to 2013: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances,” Federal Reserve Bulletin 100, no. 4 (September 2014), http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2014/pdf/scf14.pdf, cited in Matt Bruenig, The Top 10% of White Families Own Almost Everything (New York: De¯mos, September 5, 2014), http://www.demos.org/blog/9/5/14/top-10-white-families-own-almost-everything.

9. Drew DeSilver, “U.S. Income Inequality, on Rise for Decades, Is Now Highest Since 1928,” Fact Tank: News in the Numbers, December 5, 2013, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/u-s-income-inequality-on-rise-for-decades-is-now-highest-since-1928/.

10. Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, “Wealth Inequality in the United States Since 2013: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data” (working paper 20625, NBER Working Paper Series, October 2014), http://www.gabriel-zucman.eu/files/SaezZucman2014.pdf.

11. Tim Fernholz, “The Bottom Ninety Percent of US Families Are No Wealthier Than in 1986,” Quartz, October 18, 2014, http://qz.com/283059/ninety-percent-of-us-families-are-no-wealthier-than-they-were-in-1986.

12. Floyd Norris, “Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide,” New York Times, April 4, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/05/business/economy/corporate-profits-grow-ever-larger-as-slice-of-economy-as-wages-slide.html.

13. Barbara Garson, “Freelance Nation: When Good Jobs Turn to Bad,” Salon, August 20, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/08/20/freelance_nation_when_good_jobs_turn_to_bad_partner.

14. US Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013, September 16, 2014, http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2014/cb14-169.html.

15. Michael Grabell, “The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed,” ProPublica, June 27, 2013, http://www.propublica.org/article/the-expendables-how-the-temps-who-power-corporate-giants-are-getting-crushe.

16. National Employment Law Project, “The Low-Wage Recovery: Industry Employment and Wages Four Years into the Recovery,” April 2014, p. 2, http://www.nelp.org/content/uploads/2015/03/Low-Wage-Recovery-Industry-Employment-Wages-2014-Report.pdf.

17. Angela Johnson, “76% of Americans are Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck,” CNN Money, June 24, 2013, http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings.

18. “Freelancers Union and Upwork Release New Study Revealing Insights into the Almost 54 Million People Freelancing in America,” Upwork, October 1, 2015, https://www.upwork.com/press/2015/10/01/freelancers-union-and-upwork-release-new-study-revealing-insights-into-the-almost-54-million-people-freelancing-in-america.

19. MBO Partners, 2014 State of Independence in America Report (Herndon, VA: MBO Partners, 2014), http://info.mbopartners.com/rs/mbo/images/2014-MBO_Partners_State_of_Independence_Report.pdf; see also Susan Adams, “More Than a Third of U.S. Workers Are Freelancers Now, But Is That Good for Them?,” Forbes, September 5, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/09/05/more-than-a-third-of-u-s-workers-are-freelancers-now-but-is-that-good-for-them/.

20. Mike Berg, Invisible to Remarkable: In Today’s Job Market, You Need to Sell Yourself as “Talent,” Not Just Someone Looking for Work (Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2012), 13.

21. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Policy Basics: Top Ten Facts about Social Security,” August 13, 2015, fact #6, http://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/policy-basics-top-ten-facts-about-social-security.

22. Ibid., facts #8 and 9.

23. Laurence Kotlikoff, Philip Moeller, and Paul Solman, Get What’s Yours: The Secret to Maxing Out Your Social Security (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015), 6 and 20 for life expectancies.

24. Ibid., 252.

25. Ibid., 251.

26. David Welna, “To Fix Social Security, Some Democrats Want to Lift Wage Cap,” National Public Radio, December 5, 2013, http://www.npr.org/2013/12/05/249068448/to-fix-social-security-some-democrats-want-to-lift-wage-cap.

27. Social Security Trustees, “The 2014 Annual Report of the Board Of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds,” July 28, 2014, table 4.A1, www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2014/IV_A_SRest.html#506116; Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson, Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn’t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All (New York: New Press, 2015), 97.

28. Diane Oakley and Kelly Kenneally, “Retirement Security 2015: Roadmap for Policy Makers,” National Institute on Retirement Security, March 2015, pp. 5, 8-9, http://www.nirsonline.org/storage/nirs/documents/2015%20Opinion%20Research/final_opinion_research_2015.pdf.

29. Alicia Williams, “Social Security 80th Anniversary Survey Report,” AARP Research, August 2015, http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/economics/info-2015/social-security-80th-anniversary-report.html.

30. “Congressional Pensions Update,” FactCheck.org, January 5, 2015, http://www.factcheck.org/2015/01/congressional-pensions-update/.

Chapter Two

1. US Securities and Exchange Commission, “Money Market Funds,” April 22, 2015, https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/money-market.shtml.

2. Employee Benefit Research Institute, “FAQs About Benefits—Retirement Issues,” 2014, www.ebri.org/publications/benfaq/index.cfm?fa=retfaq.

3. Altman and Kingson, Social Security Works!, 63.

4. Stephen Losey, “FERS Retirement Fund Projects Surplus,” Federal Times, April 23, 2012, http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120423/BENEFITS02/204230302/FERS-retirement-fund-projects-surplus.

5. Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney, “A Record Decline in Government Jobs: Implications for the Economy and America’s Workforce,” The Hamilton Project (blog), Brookings Institution, August 3, 2012, http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/08/03-jobs-greenstone-looney.

6. Greg Mennis, “The State Pensions Funding Gap: Challenges Persist,” Pew Charitable Trusts, table: “State Public Pensions,” July 14, 2015, http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2015/07/the-state-pensions-funding-gap-challenges-persist.

7. Kevin Cook, “Public Pension Liabilities in California,” Public Policy Institute of California, July 2015, http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=1157.

8. Mary Williams Walsh, “Next School Crisis for Chicago: Pension Fund Is Running Dry,” New York Times, September 19, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/teachers-pension-a-big-issue-for-chicago.html.

9. David Chen and Mary Williams Walsh, “New York City Pension System Is Strained by Costs and Politics,” New York Times, August 3, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/04/nyregion/new-york-city-pension-system-is-strained-by-costs-and-politics.html.

10. Mike DeBonis, “D.C.’s Pensions Are Looking Pretty,” Washington Post, March 11, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-debonis/wp/2013/03/11/d-c-s-pensions-are-looking-pretty.

11. Barbara A. Butrica, “Retirement Plan Assets,” Urban Institute, Program on Retirement Policy, January 2013, http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412622-Retirement-Plan-Assets.pdf.

12. Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger, “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts,” Institute for Policy Studies, November 27, 2012, http://www.ips-dc.org/pension-deficit-disorder.

13. Floyd Norris, “Private Pension Plans, Even at Big Companies, May Be Underfunded,” New York Times, July 20, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/business/pension-plans-increasingly-underfunded-at-largest-companies.html.

14. Ibid.

15. Frances Denmark, “Can the Teamsters Save Union Pensions?,” Institutional Investor, May 20, 2014, http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/3343595/investors-pensions/can-the-teamsters-save-union-pensions.html.

16. Patrick Purcell, “Income of Americans Aged 65 and Over, 1968-2008,” Congressional Research Service, November 4, 2009, pp. 2-3, http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/675/.

17. Employee Benefit Research Institute, “FAQs About Benefits.”

18. Employee Benefit Research Institute, “Trends in Defined Benefit Pension Plans,” 2012, http://www.ebri.org/publications/benfaq/index.cfm?fa=retfaqt14fig1. Data varies by source: see also the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (1989-2010 data: http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/1980/04/Pension-coverage.pdf) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (current data: http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2012/ownership/private/table02a.htm).

19. Robert Hiltonsmith, The Failure of the 401(k): How Individual Retirement Plans Are a Costly Gamble for American Workers (New York: De¯mos, November 9, 2010), http://www.demos.org/publication/failure-401k-how-individual-retirement-plans-are-costly-gamble-american-workers.

20. Alicia Munnell and Matthew Rutledge, “The Effects of the Great Recession on the Retirement Security of Older Workers” (working paper #13-03, National Poverty Center: Working Paper Series, March 2013), http://npc.umich.edu/publications/u/2013-03-npc-working-paper.pdf.

21. Brad M. Barber and Terrance Odean, “The Behavior of Individual Investors,” SSRN eLibrary, September 7, 2011, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1872211.

22. Chris Farrell, “The 401(k) Turns Thirty Years Old,” Bloomberg Business, March 15, 2010, http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2010-03-15/the-401-k-turns-thirty-years-oldbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice.

23. David Ignatius, “The Baby Boomers’ Retirement Bummer,” Washington Post, May 7, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/06/AR2009050603322.html.

24. Steven Hill, “Secure Retirement for All Americans,” Policy paper, New America Foundation, August 16, 2010, http://www.newamerica.org/economic-growth/secure-retirement-for-all-americans/; see also Alicia H. Munnell, Anthony Webb, and Francesca N. Golub-Sass, “How Much to Save for a Secure Retirement,” Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, November 2011, http://crr.bc.edu/briefs/how-much-to-save-for-a-secure-retirement/.

25. Teresa Ghilarducci, “Our Ridiculous Approach to Retirement,” New York Times, July 21, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/our-ridiculous-approach-to-retirement.html. See also Nari Rhee, “The Retirement Savings Crisis: Is It Worse Than We Think?,” National Institute on Retirement Security, June 2013, p. 12, “Figure 9: Typical Working-Age Household Has Only $3,000 in Retirement Account Assets; Typical Near-Retirement Household Has Only $12,000,” http://www.nirsonline.org/storage/nirs/documents/Retirement%20Savings%20Crisis/retirementsavingscrisis_final.pdf; Olen, “You Call This Retirement?”

26. Alicia H. Munnell, Anthony Webb, and Francesca Golub-Sass, “The National Retirement Risk Index: After the Crash,” Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, October 2009, http://www.oecd.org/finance/private-pensions/46263009.pdf; Alicia H. Munnell, “Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What to Do About It,” Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, April 2015, no. 15-7, p. 2, figure 2: “The National Retirement Risk Index, 1983-2013,” http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/IB_15-7_508.pdf.

27. Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman, Get What’s Yours, 13.

28. Yeva Nersisyan and L. Randall Wray, “The Trouble with Pensions: Toward an Alternative Public Policy to Support Retirement,” public policy brief, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, no. 109 (March 2010): 3-4, 11-12.

29. Robert Hiltonsmith, The Retirement Savings Drain: The Hidden and Excessive Costs of 401(k)s (New York: De¯mos, May 29, 2012), http://www.demos.org/publication/retirement-savings-drain-hidden-excessive-costs-401ks.

30. Income earners in the top quintile gained a benefit equal to 3.2 percent of their income, while individuals in the three middle quintiles, and who already make much less money, only gained a benefit equal to about 0.9 percent of their income. Josh Freedman, “The Tax Break Myth: They’re Not Really for the Middle Class,” Atlantic, November 1, 2012, http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/11/the-tax-break-myth-theyre-not-really-for-the-middle-class/264388/.

31. Tax Policy Center, “T12-0244—Distribution of Itemized Deductions by Cash Income Percentile, 2011,” October 3, 2012, http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?Docid=3549.

32. Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024, February 4, 2014, https://www.cbo.gov/publication/45010.

33. Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman, Get What’s Yours, 256.

34. Federal Reserve Board of the United States, Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States, Z.1, March 11, 2010, table B.100: “Balance Sheet of Households and Nonprofit Organizations,” www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20100311/z1r-5.pdf.

35. Carlyle, “9.7 Million Americans Still Have Underwater Homes.”

36. Alexander Reisenbichler, “Safe as Houses: Comparing Housing Finance Policies in the U.S. and Germany,” American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS), September 26, 2014, http://www.aicgs.org/publication/safe-as-houses-comparing-housing-finance-policies-in-the-u-s-and-germany/.

37. Paul Krugman, “The Insecure American,” New York Times, May 29, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/paul-krugman-the-insecure-american.html; Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2014 (Washington, DC: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 2015), 1-3, http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2014-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201505.pdf.

38. Jennifer Brooks and Kasey Wiedrich, “Assets and Opportunity Scorecard 2013—Living on the Edge: Financial Insecurity and Policies to Rebuild Prosperity in America,” Corporation for Enterprise Development, January 2013, http://assetsandopportunity.org/assets/pdf/2013_Scorecard_Report.pdf.

39. Charles Delafuente, “Borrowing from the Future,” New York Times, February 11, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/business/early-withdrawals-plague-retirement-accounts-study-says.html.

40. “Should Congress Limit the Mortgage-Interest Deduction?,” Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304709904579407111906612936.

41. US Office of Management and Budget, Federal Receipts, 2014, http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2015/assets/receipts.pdf.

42. Ibid.

43. Beadsie Woo, Ida Rademacher, and Jillien Meier, Upside Down: The $400 Billion Federal Asset-Building Budget (Baltimore: Corporation for Enterprise Development, 2010), http://cfed.org/assets/pdfs/UpsideDown_final.pdf.

44. US Office of Management and Budget, “Table 4.1—Outlays by Agency: 1962-2019,” http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2015/assets/hist04z1.xls (last accessed September 2014).

45. Will Fischer and Barbara Sard, “Chart Book: Federal Housing Spending Is Poorly Matched to Need: Tilt Toward Well-Off Homeowners Leaves Struggling Low-Income Renters Without Help,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, December 18, 2013, http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=4067.

46. Teresa Ghilarducci, http://teresaghilarducci.org.

Chapter Three

1. Braunstein, “Hard Choices on Social Security.”

2. Douglas J. Amy, “The Anti-Government Campaign,” Governmentisgood.com, 2007, http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=9.

3. Paul Krugman, “Spearing the Beast,” New York Times, February 8, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/08/opinion/spearing-the-beast.html.

4. Pedro Nicolaci Da Costa, “Tax Cuts Boost Jobs, Just Not When Targeted at Rich,” Wall Street Journal, April 20, 2015, http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/04/20/tax-cuts-boost-jobs-just-not-when-targeted-at-rich.

5. David Madland, “Unwavering Fealty to a Failed Theory,” US News & World Report, August 6, 2015, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/2015/08/06/republican-2016-candidates-cling-to-failed-trickle-down-economics-theory.

6. Corbett Daly, “Rick Perry Says Social Security Is a ‘Ponzi Scheme’ and a ‘Monstrous Lie,’” CBS News, August 29, 2011, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-perry-says-social-security-is-a-ponzi-scheme-and-a-monstrous-lie.

7. Paul Krugman, “Pension-Cutters and Privatizers, Oh My,” New York Times, August 19, 2015, http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/pension-cutters-and-privatizers-oh-my.

8. Paul Krugman, “Republicans Against Retirement,” New York Times, August 17, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/opinion/republicans-against-retirement.html.

9. Ezra Klein, “The Republican Party Doesn’t Want to Believe Its Voters Agree with Trump. But They Do,” Vox, August 17, 2015, http://www.vox.com/2015/8/17/9164241/donald-trump-issues.

10. John P. Avlon, “Republicans Wisely Break with Grover Norquist,” CNN, November 28, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/26/opinion/avlon-grover-norquist.

11. Michael Hiltzik, “Unmasking the Most Influential Billionaire in U.S. Politics,” Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2012, http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/02/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20121003.

12. Alan Feuer, “Peter G. Peterson’s Last Anti-Debt Crusade,” New York Times, April 8, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/nyregion/10peterson.html.

13. Hiltzik, “Unmasking the Most Influential Billionaire.”

14. SourceWatch, s.v. “Peter Peterson,” March 8, 2015, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Peter_Peterson.

15. David Dayen, “America Speaks in LA—They Want Economic Recovery, No Social Security Cuts,” Shadowproof, June 26, 2010, http://shadowproof.com/2010/06/26/america-speaks-in-la-they-want-economic-recovery-no-social-security-cuts/.

16. Thomas Frank, “Avoiding the Austerity Trap,” Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2010, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704103904575337223759366794.

17. Linda Douglas, “A Q&A with Barack Obama,” National Journal, NBCNews.com, November 8, 2007, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21693036/ns/politics-national_journal/t/qa-barack-obama.

18. Michael Shear, “Obama Pledges Reform of Social Security, Medicare Programs,” Washington Post, January 16, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/15/AR2009011504114.html.

19. Emily Brandon, “How the Chained CPI Affects Social Security Payments,” US News & World Report, April 29, 2013, http://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2013/04/29/how-the-chained-cpi-affects-social-security-payments.

20. “Transcript: Democratic Debate in Philadelphia,” New York Times, April 16, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/us/politics/16text-debate.html.

21. Brooks Jackson, “Clinton vs. Obama,” Newsweek, November 18, 2007, http://www.newsweek.com/clinton-vs-obama-96445.

22. Alex Seitz-Wald and Kailani Koenig, “Dems Have ‘Strong Disagreement’ on Social Security, Sanders Says,” MSNBC, October 30, 2015, http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/dems-have-strong-disagreement-social-security-sanders-says.

23. Nicole Woo, Cherrie Bucknor, and John Schmitt, “Who Would Pay More If the Social Security Payroll Tax Cap Were Raised or Scrapped?,” Center for Economic Policy and Research, January 2015, http://www.cepr.net/publications/reports/who-would-pay-more-if-the-social-security-payroll-tax-cap-were-raised-or-scrapped.

24. Joan McCarter, “Did Hillary Clinton Just Take Social Security Cuts off the Table?,” Daily Kos, April 20, 2015, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/20/1379050/-Did-Hillary-Clinton-just-take-Social-Security-cuts-off-the-nbsp-table.

25. Michael Tanner, “Clinton Wanted Social Security Privatized,” Cato Institute, July 13, 2001, http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/clinton-wanted-social-security-privatized.

26. Bradley Keoun, “Morgan Stanley at Brink of Collapse Got $107 Billion from Fed,” Bloomberg Business, August 22, 2011, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-08-22/morgan-stanley-at-brink-of-collapse-got-107b-from-fed.

27. Kim Geiger, “Alan Simpson Pens Scathing Letter to ‘Greedy Geezers’ Retiree Group,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012, http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/23/news/la-pn-alan-simpson-pens-scathing-letter-to-greedy-geezers-retiree-group-20120523; Stephanie Condon, “Alan Simpson: Social Security Is Like a ‘Milk Cow with 310 Million Tits!’” CBS News, August 25, 2010, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alan-simpson-social-security-is-like-a-milk-cow-with-310-million-tits.

28. Garry Wills, Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home (New York: Doubleday, 1986), 329; Lou Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), 243.

29. William Safire, “Third Rail,” New York Times, February 18, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/magazine/18wwlnsafire.t.html.

30. Ronald Reagan, “Letter to Congressional Leaders About the Social Security System—July 18, 1981,” Social Security Administration, July 18, 1981, http://www.ssa.gov/history/reaganstmts.html#letter2.

31. Altman and Kingson, Social Security Works!, 148.

32. Social Security Administration, “Greenspan Commission: Report of the National Commission on Social Security Reform,” January 1983, https://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/gspan.html.

33. Altman and Kingson, Social Security Works!, 150.

34. George W. Bush, “The 2001 President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security: President’s Remarks at the Announcement of the Commission,” Social Security Administration, May 2, 2001, https://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/pcsss/potus.html.

35. Altman and Kingson, Social Security Works!, 17.

36. Ibid., 147-48.

37. Executive Order no. 13531, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, February 18, 2001, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-national-commission-fiscal-responsibility-and-reform.

38. Mike Lofgren, “Confessions of a GOP Operative Who Left ‘the Cult’: 3 Things Everyone Must Know About the Lunatic-Filled Republican Party,” Truthout, September 5, 2011, http://www.alternet.org/story/152305/confessions_of_a_gop_operative_who_left_“the_cult”%3A_3_things_everyone_must_know_about_the_lunatic-filled_republican_party.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.

41. David Catanese, “The Next Big Fight Between Hillary Clinton and Liberals,” New Republic, November 7, 2013, http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115510/hillary-clintons-2016-campaign-liberals-press-her-entitlements.

42. Martin O’Malley, “Expanding Social Security So Americans Can Retire with Dignity,” MartinO’Malley.com, August 2015, http://martinomalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/OMalley-Retirement-Security.pdf; Bernie Sanders, “Sanders Files Bill to Strengthen, Expand Social Security,” Bernie Sanders: United States Senator for Vermont, March 12, 2015, http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-calls-on-congress-to-strengthen-and-expand-social-security.

43. Steven Hill, 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy: A More Perfect Union; 2012 Election Edition (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Press, 2012).

44. James Dao, “In Michigan, A Swing State, Bush Picks Words Carefully,” New York Times, October 27, 2000, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/28/us/2000-campaign-texas-governor-michigan-swing-state-bush-picks-words-carefully.html.

45. Republicans in Congress had attempted their own version of triangulation in the months prior to the 2000 election. GOP legislative initiatives were focused on introducing bills designed to blunt political attacks by adopting popular Democratic issues and reframing them in Republican terms. On one issue after another, including the minimum wage, gun control, managed care reform, and prescription drugs, GOP leaders aggressively sought to neutralize the Democrats’ top legislative priorities before the November elections. But House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-MO) accused Republicans of conducting a “David Copperfield Congress,” in which they voiced their support for popular issues without visible action. “I think they are heavy into illusion,” he said. See Juliet Eilperin, “Election Realities Spur Drug Benefit Plan from House GOP,” Washington Post, April 26, 2000.

46. Lori Montgomery, “GOP Changes Tune on Cutting Social Security with Elections on the Line,” Washington Post, October 23, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gop-changes-tune-on-cutting-social-security-with-elections-on-the-line/2014/10/23/d8e57db2-5ad0-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67_story.html.

47. Ibid.

48. Lawrence R. Jacobs and Robert Y. Shapiro, Politicians Don’t Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000); Steven Hill, “Divided We Stand: The Polarizing of American Politics,” National Civic Review, Winter 2005, http://www.steven-hill.com/divided-we-stand-the-polarizing-of-american-politics/.

49. Donald Trump, Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again (New York: Regnery, 2011), 68-69.

50. Nancy Altman, “2015 Trustees Report Confirms That Expanding Social Security Is Fully Affordable,” Huffington Post, July 22, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-altman/2015-trustees-report-conf_b_7850206.html.

51. Mike Lofgren, The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government (New York: Viking, 2016).

Chapter Four

1. Ilan Moscovitz, “5 Huge Myths About Social Security,” The Motley Fool, October 15, 2012, http://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2012/10/15/5-huge-myths-about-social-security.aspx.

2. Altman, “2015 Trustees Report Confirms That Expanding Social Security Is Fully Affordable.”

3. George W. Bush, “Transcript of State of the Union,” CNN, February 3, 2005, http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/02/sotu.transcript.3.

4. Altman and Kingson, Social Security Works!, 168.

5. Gary Burtless, “Does Population Aging Represent a Crisis for Rich Societies?,” Brookings Institution, January 2002, p. 3, http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/burtless/20020106.pdf.

6. Gary Burtless, “Can Rich Countries Afford to Grow Old?,” Brookings Institution, July 15, 2005, p. 13, http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/burtless/20050715.pdf.

7. Krugman, “Insecure American”; Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2014, 1-3.

8. Peter G. Peterson, “The Salvation of Social Security,” New York Review of Books, December 16, 1982, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1982/dec/16/the-salvation-of-social-security.

9. Alex Pareene, “New Group: America’s Youth Cry Out for Sensible, Moderate Deficit Reduction,” Salon, November 13, 2012, http://www.salon.com/2012/11/13/new_group_americas_youth_cry_out_for_sensible_moderate_deficit_reduction/.

10. Robert J. Samuelson, “We Need to Stop Coddling the Elderly,” Washington Post, November 3, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-j-samuelson-we-need-to-stop-coddling-the-elderly/2013/11/03/4063ebc0-430f-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html.

11. Robert J. Samuelson, “The True State of the Elderly,” Washington Post, February 5, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-samuelson-the-true-state-of-the-elderly/2014/02/05/96cfb386-8e78-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html.

12. Altman and Kingson, Social Security Works!, 176.

13. Dean Baker, “The Kids Versus Seniors Line Doesn’t Fit the Facts,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, September 19, 2013, http://cepr.net/blogs/cepr-blog/the-kids-versus-seniors-line-doesnt-fit-the-facts.

14. Williams, “Social Security 80th Anniversary Survey Report.”

15. Monique Morrissey, “Beyond ‘Normal’: Raising the Retirement Age Is the Wrong Approach for Social Security,” Economic Policy Institute, January 26, 2011, http://www.epi.org/publication/bp287.

16. Monique Morrissey, “The Myth of Early Retirement Age,” Economic Policy Institute, November 9, 2011, http://www.epi.org/publication/myth-early-retirement.

17. Altman and Kingson, Social Security Works!, 173.

18. Charles Ellis, Alicia Munnell, and Andrew Eschtruth, Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What to Do About It (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).

19. Alicia Munnell and Steven Sass, Working Longer: The Solution to the Retirement Income Challenge (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2009).

20. Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, “A Summary of the 2015 Annual Reports,” Social Security Administration, July 22, 2015, http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum.

21. Associated Press, “With Social Security Disability Fund Going Broke by 2016, Congress Set for Partisan, Election-Year Showdown,” Fox News, August 9, 2015, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/09/with-social-security-disability-fund-going-broke-by-2016-congress-set-for.

22. Robert Pear, “Social Security Disability Benefits Face Cuts in 2016, Trustees Say,” New York Times, July 22, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/us/disability-benefits-face-cuts-in-2016-trustees-say.html.

23. Larry Dewitt, “Details of Ida May Fuller’s Payroll Tax Contributions,” Social Security Administration Historian’s Office, July 1996, https://ssa.gov/history/idapayroll.html.

24. Steven Attewell, “Freedom from Fear: Using the Social Security Act to Rebuild America’s Social Safety Net,” New America Foundation, January 11, 2009, p. 4, http://www.academia.edu/4424824/Freedom_From_Fear_-_Using_the_Social_Security_Act_to_Rebuild_America_s_Social_Safety_Net.

25. Social Security Administration, “Social Security: A Brief History,” SSA Publication No. 21-059, ICN 440000, May 2015, p. 21, https://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/EN-21-059.pdf.

26. Social Security Administration, “Monthly Statistical Snapshot, July 2015,” August 2015, table 2, http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/index.html.

27. US Office of Management and Budget, Mid-Session Review: Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2009, 2009, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2009-MSR/pdf/BUDGET-2009-MSR.pdf.

28. Attewell, “Freedom from Fear,” 4-5.

29. Ibid., 5.

30. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Compare Your Country: Pensions at a Glance,” “Adequate pensions” tab, https://www.compareyourcountry.org/pensions?cr=oecd&cr1=oecd&lg=en&page=1#, in Pensions at a Glance 2013: OECD and G20 Indicators (Paris: OECD, 2013), doi: 10.1787/pension_glance-2013-en.

31. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Compare Your Country: Pensions at a Glance,” “Social equity” tab, www.compareyourcountry.org/pensions?cr=oecd&cr1=oecd&lg=en&page=1#, in Pensions at a Glance 2013: OECD and G20 Indicators (Paris: OECD, 2013), doi: 10.1787/pension_glance-2013-en.

32. David Snowden, “U.S. Ranks 19th in the World on 2015 Natixis Global Retirement Security Index,” press release, Natixis, February 10, 2015, http://ngam.natixis.com/docs/282/659/GRI%202015%20US%20News%20Release%20FINAL.pdf.

33. Ibid.

Chapter Five

1. Oxford Martin School, “Oxford Martin School Study Shows Nearly Half of US Jobs Could Be at Risk of Computerisation.”

2. Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman, Get What’s Yours, 256.

3. Ibid.

4. Social Security Administration, “Understanding the Benefits,” SSA Publication No. 05-10024, ICN 454930, June 2015, p. 4, http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10024.pdf.

5. That is assuming that Social Security benefits are maintained at current levels and that there are no additional cuts to the program. Because the predicted exhaustion of the Trust Fund will result in Social Security being able to pay out only 75 percent of scheduled benefits starting sometime in the 2030s, maintaining benefits will require policy changes to meet this shortfall. For the purposes of this proposal, I am assuming that this shortfall will be bridged. But if it is not, and benefits drop, this proposal for increasing revenue to Social Security would have to be adjusted.

6. Joseph Henchman, “Obama Would Lift Social Security Earnings Cap, but at a Lower Tax Rate,” The Tax Policy Blog, Tax Foundation, July 8, 2008, http://taxfoundation.org/blog/obama-would-lift-social-security-earnings-cap-lower-tax-rate.

7. Woo, Bucknor, and Schmitt, “Who Would Pay More If the Social Security Payroll Tax Cap Were Raised or Scrapped?”

8. Office of the Actuary, “Letter to Representative Peter DeFazio,” Social Security Administration, April 23, 2015, p. 22, table 1d: “Change in Long-Range Trust Fund Reserves / Unfunded Obligation,” column 2: “Changes in OASDI Income,” https://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/solvency/PDeFazio_20150423.pdf. The actuarial table shows an increase in revenue into the Trust Fund of around $160 billion per year for OASDI, which includes revenue for disability benefits (that’s the DI part). But this analysis is only interested in the impact on retirement benefits, so that number is multiplied by 0.85, since Social Security revenue is split generally between retirement and disability on an 85-15 percent basis (with one slight complication: the Bipartisan Budget Act has shifted the split between retirement and disability for 2016-2018, so that the split will be more like 81-19 percent for those years).

9. As we saw in chapter 2, barely 15 percent of private-sector workers today have a guaranteed payout pension. But the percentage is much higher among public-sector employees, about 78 percent.

10. Congressional Budget Office, The Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures in the Individual Income Tax System (Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office, May 2013), 16, https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/reports/43768_DistributionTaxExpenditures.pdf.

11. White House, Fiscal Year 2016: Analytical Perspectives of the U.S. Government (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 2015), 240, table 14-3: “Income Tax Expenditures Ranked By Total Fiscal Year 2015-2024 Projected Revenue Effect,” line item 145: “Defined benefit employer plans,” and 146: “Defined contribution employer plans,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2016/assets/spec.pdf.

12. Mark Zandi, “How to Cut the Deficit—and What Happens If We Don’t,” Washington Post, July 15, 2011, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/moodys-economist-mark-zandi-how-to-cut-the-deficit--and-the-trouble-if-we-dont/2011/07/14/gIQAKmX8FI_story.html.

13. Congressional Budget Office, Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures, 3, 6, 15, table 1: “Budgetary Effects of Selected Major Tax Expenditures, Fiscal Years 2013 to 2023,” line item: “Preferential Tax Rates on Capital Gains and Dividends,” and table 2: “Distribution of Selected Major Tax Expenditures, by Income Group, 2013,” line item: “Preferential Tax Rates on Capital Gains and Dividends,” https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/reports/43768_DistributionTaxExpenditures.pdf.

14. Robert B. Avery, Daniel Grodzicki, and Kevin B. Moore, “Estate vs. Capital Gains Taxation: An Evaluation of Prospective Policies for Taxing Wealth at the Time of Death” (working paper 28, Federal Reserve Board, 2013), 2, 18, http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2013/201328/201328pap.pdf.

15. Lawrence H. Summers and Ed Balls, “Report of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity,” p. 125, appendix 1: “US Policy Response,” https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/IPC-PDF-U.S.appendix.pdf.

16. Bill Bischoff, “Capital Gains: At What Rate Will Your Long-Term Sales Be Taxed?,” MarketWatch, February 23, 2015, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/capital-gains-at-what-rate-will-your-long-term-sales-be-taxed-2015-02-18; Robert Pear, “New Taxes to Take Effect to Fund Health Care Law,” New York Times, December 8, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/us/politics/new-taxes-to-take-effect-to-fund-health-care-law.html.

17. White House, Fiscal Year 2016: Analytical Perspectives of the U.S. Government, p. 240, table 14-3: “Income Tax Expenditures Ranked By Total Fiscal Year 2015-2024 Projected Revenue Effect,” line item 72: “Step-Up Basis of Capital Gains at Death,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2016/assets/spec.pdf.

18. Congressional Budget Office, Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures, 15, table 2, line item: “Capital gains on assets transferred at death,” https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/reports/43768_DistributionTaxExpenditures.pdf.

19. Here’s how that calculation was made: the step-up in basis exemption resulted in a federal expenditure of $63 billion; so, assuming a 20 percent capital gains tax rate, that infers a total capital gains of $315 billion that the step-up in basis rule was applied to. Applying the Social Security tax of 6.2 percent to the $315 billion yields $19.5 billion.

20. James Stewart, “Trump Lands a Blow Against Carried Interest Tax Loophole,” New York Times, September 17, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/business/with-trump-as-foe-carried-interest-tax-loophole-is-vulnerable.html.

21. Caroline Danielson, “The Food Stamp Program in California,” Public Policy Institute of California, February 2014, http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=870.

22. Stewart, “Trump Lands a Blow Against Carried Interest Tax Loophole.”

23. Jeanne Sahadi, “Romney Paid 14% Effective Tax Rate in 2011,” CNN Money, September 21, 2012, http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/21/pf/taxes/romney-tax-return.

24. Stewart, “Trump Lands a Blow Against Carried Interest Tax Loophole.”

25. Victor Fleischer, “How a Carried Interest Tax Could Raise $180 Billion,” New York Times, June 5, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/business/dealbook/how-a-carried-interest-tax-could-raise-180-billion.html.

26. “Face the Nation: Trump, Christie & Cruz,” transcript, CBS News.com, August 23, 2015, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcripts-august-23-2015-trump-christie-cruz.

27. Stewart, “Trump Lands a Blow Against Carried Interest Tax Loophole.”

28. Congressional Budget Office, Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures, 15, table 2, line item: “State and Local Taxes.”

29. Reisenbichler, “Safe as Houses.”

30. Alexandra Thornton and Harry Stein, “Who Wins and Who Loses? Debunking 7 Persistent Tax Reform Myths,” Center for American Progress, October 22, 2015, https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/tax-reform/report/2015/10/22/123815/who-wins-and-who-loses/.

31. See Lind, Hill, Hiltonsmith, and Freedman, “Expanded Social Security.”

32. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Architecture of National Pension Systems,” in Pensions at a Glance 2011: Retirement-Income Systems in OECD and G20 Countries (Paris: OECD, 2011), 107, doi: 10.1787/pension_glance-2011-10-en and http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/8111011ec010.pdf?expires=1441840670&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=E621B4751749A5CAC39C9F8BE0ECF13C.

33. Robert Kuttner, “The Task Rabbit Economy,” American Prospect, October 10, 2013, http://prospect.org/article/task-rabbit-economy.

34. Predecessors for converting Social Security into a “double-decker” system can be found in previous proposals, which have enjoyed the support of many experts all the way back to the 1930s. Purely public two-tier or double-decker plans must not be confused with plans put forth by proponents of partial or total Social Security privatization who have sought to combine purely private, tax-favored defined-contribution plans with public flat minimal benefits for the poor.

35. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Architecture of National Pension Systems,” 107.

36. Fiscal Year 2016, 240, table 14-3.

37. Max Skidmore, Securing America’s Future (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008), 96.

38. Stephen Fidler, “Flexible Payroll Tax May Be Finland’s Greatest Export,” Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2010.

39. Teresa Ghilarducci, Bridget Fisher, and Zachary Knauss, “Now Is the Time to Add Retirement Accounts to Social Security: The Guaranteed Retirement Account Proposal,” Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and Department of Economics, New School for Social Research, Policy Note Series, June 2015, http://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/images/docs/retirement_security_background/GRA_3.0.pdf; Teresa Ghilarducci, “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts: Toward Retirement Income Security,” EPI Briefing Paper # 204, November 20, 2007; Tom Harkin, “The Retirement Crisis and a Plan to Solve It,” US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Washington, DC: July 2012).

40. Lind, Hill, Hiltonsmith, and Freedman, “Expanded Social Security,” 16.

41. Juliette Cubanski, Giselle Casillas, and Anthony Damico, “Poverty Among Seniors: An Updated Analysis of National and State Level Poverty Rates Under the Official and Supplemental Poverty Measures,” Kaiser Family Foundation, June 10, 2015, http://kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/poverty-among-seniors-an-updated-analysis-of-national-and-state-level-poverty-rates-under-the-official-and-supplemental-poverty-measures/.

Conclusion

1. Kerry A. Dolan, “Inside the 2014 Forbes 400: Facts and Figures About America’s Wealthiest,” Forbes, September 29, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2014/09/29/inside-the-2014-forbes-400-facts-and-figures-about-americas-wealthiest/.

2. Amy B. Dean, “Workers Are Constantly on the Edge of the Knife,” Truthout, September 12, 2014, www.truth-out.org/news/item/26120-workers-are-constantly-on-the-edge-of-the-knife.

3. Clare O’Connor, “Report: Walmart Workers Cost Taxpayers $6.2 Billion in Public Assistance,” Forbes, April 15, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/04/15/report-walmart-workers-cost-taxpayers-6-2-billion-in-public-assistance/.

4. Kimiko, “Your #UberCHOPPER Is Arriving Now …” Uber, July 2, 2013, http://newsroom.uber.com/nyc/2013/07/uberchopper.

5. David Kirkpatrick, “Inside Sean Parker’s Wedding: The Planning Details, the Menu, the Décor, and the Favors,” Vanity Fair, September 2013, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/tech/2013/09/sean-parker-wedding-story.

6. Sam Biddle, “The Full Damage of Facebook Billionaire Sean Parker’s Fantasy Wedding,” Valleywag (blog), Gawker, June 4, 2013, http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-full-damage-of-facebook-billionaire-sean-parkers-f-511236497.

7. George Packer, “Change the World,” New Yorker, May 27, 2013, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/05/27/change-the-world.

8. Rana Foroohar, “The Artful Dodgers: Companies That Flee the U.S. to Avoid Taxes Have Forgotten How They Got So Big in the First Place,” Time, September 11, 2014, http://time.com/3326573/the-artful-dodgers/.

9. Norris, “Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide.”

10. Friedman, Decline of Corporate Income Tax Revenues, 3.

11. See “Policy Basics”; Friedman, Decline of Corporate Income Tax Revenues, 4-5.

12. Robert Pear, “Health Care Gains, but Income Remains Stagnant, the White House Reports,” New York Times, September 16, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/politics/census-bureau-poverty-rate-uninsured.html.

13. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States, Third Quarter of 2014 through Second Quarter of 2015 Averages,” US Department of Labor, July 24, 2015, http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm.

14. Sherle R. Schwenninger, “U.S. and Europe: Shaping a New Model of Economic Development,” New America Foundation, June 1, 2010, https://www.newamerica.org/economic-growth/us-and-europe-shaping-a-new-model-of-economic-development.

15. MBO Partners, 2014 State of Independence in America Report; see also Adams, “More Than a Third of U.S. Workers Are Freelancers Now.”

16. Steven Hill, Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015).

17. Mark McSherry, “Week Ahead: Let’s Hope Churchill Was Wrong About Americans,” Forbes, October 7, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/markmcsherry/2013/10/07/week-ahead-lets-hope-churchill-was-wrong-about-americans.

18. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “Historical,” CMS.gov, December 9, 2014, https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/nationalhealthaccountshistorical.html.

19. “Health Expenditure, Total (% of GDP),” World Bank, 2010-2014, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS.

20. Steven Hill, Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way Is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010), 77-92.

21. Ibid., 74.

22. Wouter Bos, “Europe’s Social Democrats, Solidarity and Muslim Immigration,” Globalist.com, December 9, 2005, http://theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=4976.

23. Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman, Get What’s Yours.