David M. Dougherty says:

This is far-left tripe written by a baby-boomer who beats the drum for the far-left democratic agenda with the expectation that Obama will save us all. If you already believe that, the book will not do much for you anyway, since so many of the supposed facts are bogus and the author sacrifices a few of the worst Democrats in an obscene attempt at impartiality. Although I received this book free under the Vine program, it still was costly to read such garbage to write a review. If there was a way to return it and not have to write a review, I would have done that.

There are five central themes: (1) Most Americans can’t afford to retire (so the Feds must force employers to install pensions or 401K plane with a 9-10% cost-free contribution of the employee’s earnings); (2) Americans can’t figure out how to borrow for a house (& need the Feds to tell them); (3) Americans can’t afford college (so it needs to be a free benefit from the Federal Government);

(4) credit card debt is bad, so the Feds need make new laws to protect credit card users from those nasty banks; and (5) we need campaign reform eliminating business lobbies and only allowing far-left groups, unions (like the SEIU), and groups of citizens organized by the far-left ([...]). For all these things we need to back Obama to the hilt so he can “transform the country.” As the author states, she is confident we will.

There are so many points that are propaganda and “way out there” that I don’t know where to begin. The author builds her case that Americans (I guess she means baby-boomers like herself) can’t accrue enough money for retirement while working. Perhaps one should consider saving one’s money instead of making a bunch of worthless purchases for items like I-Pods, $300.00 gym shoes, BMWs, and all the rest of the things some evidently find necessary. The author contends that employers should be forced to set up pension/401K plans wherein they contribute at least 9% of the employee’s earnings to the fund. Gee, between Social Security and Medicare, employers already contribute 15.4%, or does the author not understand the ramifications of social security or the self-employment tax. She also wants the money in the “Social Security Trust Fund” put into stocks so it can appreciate faster than it does as a government IOU. Unfortunately, she evidently doesn’t understand that every penny of that money is spent every year by the Federal Government. If it went into stocks, the Federal Government would collapse within a few months. Actually, the individual should take responsibility and save for his future, a concept apparently too difficult for many to understand.

The author also advises individuals to invest mostly in stocks, putting money in as soon as it’s available without rgards to timing. She states, “On average, you will double your money every seven or eight years.” Wow. Do the math. With a thousand dollars in stocks in 1970, at her low rate you’d now have $30,000 or $50,000 at the high rate. But the market is at 10,000 now as compared to around 1,000 in 1970. How does one do three to five times better than the market?

The mortgage mess was, of course, all the fault of the bankers. But have hope, Barney Frank and other reformers will be correcting the situation in the future. Barney Frank may be lots of things, but I’ve never heard him accused of being a reformer. The author also gives Roosevelt’s initiative in creating the FDIC credit for ending the depression, something no responsible scholar would do. But of course, Phil Gramm and other nasty Republicans destroyed all of that. The good news is that Omama is working with a little group of gutsy reform-minded Senators, including Carl Levin, Byron Dorgan, Dianne Feinstein, Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders and Maria Cantwell, all Democrats, of course, to correct everything.

The author also lists her recommendations for the best places to live — based strictly on a yuppie-oriented criteria for quality of life, I guess to add bulk to her book. Somehow the idea of taking a vacation to visit relatives is lost in the quest of the best vacation spots for one to enjoy himself (at a cost he can’t afford.) She also stresses that a college education (or some other post-high school work) is now a necessity. I beg to differ. The problem is that high schools provide an extremely low standard of education, so that most students must take remedial courses even for community colleges. On top of that, colleges add precious little to an education, again by having low standards and grade inflation. The Protestant work ethic has gone to China and India, and none of Obama’s vaunted ideas of change address that problem. I guess the trial lawyers don’t want that to change.

Rather that having parents save in preparation for sending their children to college, the author blandly states that almost everyone will have to borrow to send themselves through college. Obviously she is fixated on the Ivy League rather than state universities, many of which provide an education equal or better than that of Harvard and the big name schools. Besides, a middle-class American male from a religious, conservative background has absolutely no chance of getting into Harvard, even if he is his high school’s valedictorian and scored a perfect 1600 on the SATs. So why are we talking about that? $10,000 per year will definitely see a student through a reasonably good state school. But the point is, where are the parents? Why are there no savings? I think there are — the author just doesn’t know it. So she wants the government to give students (particularly “the deserving poor”), loans directly as a forerunner to free college for all.

The author saves her greatest condemnation for the corporations who are buying Congress and not giving their workers a fair share. She lauds the unions as having been instrumental in forming the middle class, and wants the corporations and rich people to pay for almost everything. OK, so the unions are wonderful. They now own General Motors after Americans working for $26.00 per hour bailed out the UAW whose workers earn $68.00 per hour. And I laughed out load when the author said, “SEIU President Andy Stein experienced similar culture shock in 2002 when his plane landed in Beijing for a meeting with union executives.” He had to go to China for that? Communist China doesn’t have any union as we know them. Sounds like a boondoggle to me. She quotes Fareed Zakaria, editor of the far-left Newsweek International, on what is wrong with America compared with China and India, and demands that immigration not be limited, especially for skilled workers. Somehow the idea of the competitive market has no place in this polemic.

There really are severe limitations here in this work. It seems to have been entirely constructed from internet sources using Google. Unfortunately, many are just wrong. Keynesian economics is lauded without a nod to the better model from the Austrian School, and how competition works is apparently unknown. But the worst is the inherent denial of individual responsibility and the necessity of a nanny state to take care of Americans, who are apparently too stupid or too caught up in purchasing and self-adsorption to provide for their families and themselves. The author even puts in a serious plug for Card-Check (of course she doesn’t call it that), saying the elimination of a secret ballot will keep corporations from intimidating workers from voting for the union. How about the secret ballot protecting workers who are against the union from union organizers? Again, this is political propaganda rather that useful information.

The only thing one can learn from this work is how the left fails to understand the American people, their work ethic and their culture. It exposes the lunacy of the far-left where the answer for everything is another government program. When reading this book, which I do not recommend, one should remind himself whether college was more affordable beyore the government got involved, if people lived better in retirement within their families before the government got involved, and if we’re really happier now that the government gives us all this “free” stuff. My family moved nine times and lived in seven states before I finished high school, so mobility is definitely an option (contrary to the author’s indications.) My family put me through college, I put my son through college, and I saved enough for my own retirement (which I am now in.) The angst of the baby-boomer generation as represented by this book simply was banished through prudent saving, money-management, and living within one’s means. If one doesn’t want to do that, they should not look to my tax dollars to provide for them. In a sentence, they didn’t do without, so now I don’t believe it’s my duty to do without again to provide them with the quality of life they desire. I recommend that everyone try saving and living within one’s means, but as far as buying this book is concerned, no.
Rating: 1 / 5

J. Powell says:

This is another “common sense” advice book, which boils down to this.

Spend less than you earn.

Save more than you spend.

Simple.

The book does go into all the main areas of pitfalls, which include underfunding our 401k’s, Dangerous adjustable rate mortgages, and the dreaded “credit card debt”.

The book also lists some practical “wish lists” for reform that might be beneficial.

Good luck with that.

Overall this is a solid book, built around the basics, with some good general advice.
Rating: 5 / 5