Roger Lowenstein

books authored:

While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC SubWay-s, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial Crisis ISBN:978-1594201677
- related article from 2005. This was the same fear that had obsessed Alfred P Sloan Jr., the storied president of GM, who warned way back in the 1940's that pensions and like benefits would be "extravagant beyond reason." But under pressure from the UnitedAutoWorkers Labor Union, he granted them. And as future auto executives would discover, pension obligations are - outside of bankruptcy, anyway - virtually impossible to unload. Unlike wages or health benefits, pension benefits cannot be cut. Unlike other contracts, which might be renegotiated as business conditions change, pension commitments are forever. And given the exigencies of the labor market, they tend to be steadily improved upon, at least when times are good. For the UAW, Miller noted forlornly, "30 and Out" - 30 years to Retirement - became a rallying cry.
Crashes, Booms, Panics and Government Regulation ISBN:0-786-16489-1
Origins of the Crash: The Great (DotCom) Bubble and Its Undoing ISBN:1-594-20003-3
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long Term Capital Management ISBN:0-375-50317-X
Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (Warren Buffett) ISBN:0-679-41584-X

Bill Seitz