12. Olson, The Rise and Decline, 73 (see chap. 2, n. 2).
13. William Kristol, “Did You Get My Message? Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton Makes a Phone Call,” Weekly Standard, September 27, 2010.
14. Birnbaum, “Mickey Goes to Washington.”
15. Timothy P. Carney, Obamanomics (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2009), 54–55.
16. James Gattuso, “Chrysler’s Creditors and Offers You Can’t Refuse,” The Foundry, the Heritage Foundation, May 1, 2009.
17. Mary Williams Walsh, “Government Takes Over Delphi’s Pensions,” New York Times, July 23, 2009.
18. Ibid.
19. Carl Horowitz, “Nonunion Delphi Retired Employees Get Shaft in Auto Bailout,” National Legal and Policy Center, December 31, 2009.
20. Walsh, “Government Takes Over.”
21. Horowitz, “Nonunion Delphi Retired Employees.”
22. Cited in “TARP Enables Big Labor Crony Capitalism Again,” The Foundry, the Heritage Foundation, November 5, 2009.
23. Wall Street Journal, “Uncle Sam, Venture Capitalist,” August 17, 2010.
24. Thomas Content, “ZBB Energy Says Annual Loss Widens,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 7, 2010.
25. John Stossel, “Big Government’s Cronies,” RealClearPolitics, February 3, 2010.
26. Carney, Obamanomics, 144–45.
27. Stephen J. Dubner, “The Verdict on Cash for Clunkers: A Clunker,” Freakonomics blog, New York Times, September 14, 2010, http://www.treakonomics.com/2010/09/14/the-verdict-on-cash-for-clunkers-a-clunker/. See Atif Mian, Amir Sufi, “The Effects of Fiscal Stimulus: Evidence from the 2009 ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Program,” NBER Working Paper No. 16351, September 2010.
28. Jeff Jacoby, “‘Clunkers,’ a Classic Government Folly,” Boston Globe, September 1, 2010.
29. Stossel, Give Me a Break, 142.
30. Matt Purple, “Corny Capitalism,” The American Spectator, August 2010.
31. Ibid.
32. Stossel, Give Me a Break, 174.
33. Dan Carney, “Dwayne’s World,” Mother Jones, July/August 1995.
34. Stossel, Give Me a Break, 174.
35. Darren Goode, “Oil Industry Also Sues EPA over Higher Ethanol Blend,” The Hill, November 9, 2010.
Chapter 9. The Two Americas
1. Steven Greenhut, “How Severe Is U.S. Pension Debt? (Is California a Bellwether for Most of the Country?),” CalWatchdog, September 9, 2010, http://www.calwatchdog.com/2010/08/26/8228.
2. Fred Barnes, “The New Fat Cats: The Indefensible Pensions of Public-Sector Employees,” Weekly Standard, May 3, 2010.
3. Luke Funke, “Audit: NJ Turnpike Wasted Millions on Perks,” Myfoxny.com, October 20, 2010, http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/traffic_news/audit-excessive-perks-for-nj-turnpike-employees-201010192apx.
4. The Economist, “Hard-Pressed American States Face a Crushing Pensions Bill,” October 14, 2010. See also Robert Novy Marx and Joshua D. Rauh, “Public Pension Promises: How Big Are They and What Are They Worth?” NBER Working Paper, December 18, 2009.
5. Ed Mendel, “SB400 Pension Boost: Uncanny Forecast Unheeded,” Calpensions.com, http://calpensions.com/2010/07/27/sb400-pension-boost-uncanny-forecast-unheeded.
6. Roger Lowenstein, “The Next Crisis: Public Pension Funds,” New York Times, June 21, 2010.
7. Phillip Reese, “Pension Promises Threaten California Cities, Counties,” Sacramento Bee, April 11, 2010.
8. Tim Cavanaugh, “Farewell, My Lovely: How Public Pensions Killed Progressive California,” Reason, March 2011.
9. Brody Mullin and John D. McKinnon, “Campaign’s Big Spender,” Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2010.
10. Michael Lewis, “Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds,” Vanity Fair, October 1, 2010.
11. Ibid.
12. Mark Steyn, “America’s Future Could Be All Greek to Us,” syndicated column, February 26, 2010.
13. Peter Simon, “‘Worst-Case’ City School Budget Would Lay Off 700,” Buffalo News, April 22, 2010; and Eric Randall, “Milwaukee Teachers Union Files Suit over Lack of Viagra Coverage; It Says MPS Is Discriminating Against Male Employees,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 6, 2010.
14. Dennis Cauchon, “More Federal Workers’ Pay Tops $150,000,” USA Today, November 10, 2010.
15. Dennis Cauchon, “For Feds, More Get 6-Figure Salaries,” USA Today, December 11, 2009.
16. Cauchon, “Federal Workers Earning Double” (see chap. 1, n. 13).
17. Dennis Cauchon, “Federal Pay Ahead of Private Industry,” USA Today, March 4, 2010.
18. Washington Examiner, “Bonus Bonanza for Federal Workers,” June 16, 2010.
19. Washington Times, “Gov’t Workers Feel No Economic Pain,” March 11, 2010.
20. Reuters, “Study: 47% of Boomers Don’t Have Enough to Retire,” July 13, 2010.
21. Greenhut, “How Severe.”
22. Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Public Pensions and Our Fiscal Future,” Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2010.
23. Rich Karlgaard, “The Millionaire Cop Next Door,” Forbes, June 1, 2010.
24. Susan Schulman, “No Crime Too Big to Take Away a Public Pension,” Buffalo News, July 7, 2010.
25. NBCNewYork.com, “FDNY Marathoner Received $86K Disability Pension for Asthma,” July 6, 2010, http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/FDNY-Marathoner-Received-Disability-Pension-for-Asthma-97859344.html.
26. Mary Williams Walsh and Amy Schoenfeld, “Padded Pensions Add to New York Fiscal Woes,” New York Times, May 20, 2010.
27. Bob Sullivan, “Does Your City Manager Earn $800,000?” MSNBC.com, the Red Tape Chronicles, September 24, 2010, http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/24/6345545-does-your-city-manager-earn-800000.
28. Bob Sullivan, “20 Government Workers with Super-Sized Pay,” MSNBC.com, the Red Tape Chronicles, October 5, 2010, http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/10/05/6345539-20-government-workers-with-super-sized-pay.
29. John Rogers, “Calif. Town Outraged to Learn of Officials’ Pay,” Associated Press, July 23, 2010.
30. Joseph Ryan, “$472,255 to Run a Town of 20,000; Village Officials Can’t Explain Why Roy McCampbell Was Paid So Much to Run Bellwood,” Chicago Tribune, June 29, 2010.
31. Joseph Ryan, “Park District Pension Ploy Pays Off Handsomely; Park Executives in Highland Park Collected Huge Salaries, Bonuses—Even a Free SUV—During Height of Recession,” Chicago Tribune, July 31, 2010.
32. Luke Funke, “Audit: NJ Turnpike Wasted Millions on Perks,” Myfoxny.com, October 20, 2010, http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/traffic_news/audit-excessive-perks-for-nj-turnpike-employees-201010192apx.
33. Steve Schultze, “Milwaukee County Pension Backdrops Surge; Payouts to County Retirees at Highest Level in Six Years,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 1, 2010.
34. Lucy Morgan, “Double Dipping Rises Despite Outrage,” St. Petersburg Times, December 28, 2008.
35. Ibid.
36. Sullivan, “20 Government Workers.”
37. Morgan, “Double Dipping Rises.”
38. Diane Rado and Duaa Eldeib, “Rules Let Educators Cross State Lines to Get Pensions Along with Salaries,” Chicago Tribune, January 30, 2011.
39. Nick Perry and Justin Mayo, “Retired, Then Rehired: How College Workers Use Loophole to Boost Pay,” Seattle Times, June 26, 2010.
40. Ryan Blethen, “Washington Legislature Must Stop Double-Dipping by State Pensioners,” Seattle Times, July 6, 2010.
41. Bill Bush, “School Employees Can Get Paid Twice,” Columbus Dispatch, September 20, 2009.
42. The Pilot (North Carolina), “The Poster Child of Pension Excess,” June 20, 2010.
43. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Compensation and Working Conditions,” http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfar0020.pdf, and “Number of Fatal Work Injuries (1992–2008),” http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0007.pdf; Boston.com, “Americans’ 10 Most Dangerous Jobs,” http://www.boston.com/jobs/galleries/dangerous_jobs_2007; and Matt Kirdahy, “America’s Mo
st Dangerous Jobs,” Forbes.com, http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/25/dangerous-jobs-fishing-lead-careers-cx_mk_0825danger.html.
44. Greenhut, “How Severe.”
45. Mattie Corrao, “Cost of Government Day Finally Arrives on August 19, 2010,” Americans for Tax Reform, August 19, 2010.
46. Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., “Injustices, from Memphis to Madison,” Capital Times, April 1, 2011.
47. The MacIver Institute, “Wisconsin Fiscal Crisis Fast Facts,” March 2011, http://maciverinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/WI_Fiscal_Crisis_Fast_Facts.pdf.
48. Ianthe Jean Dugan, “Public Employees Rush to Retire,” Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2011.
49. Quoted in Jeff Jacoby, “Union ‘Rights’ That Aren’t,” Boston Globe, March 2, 2011; FDR’s letter to Luther C. Steward, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, August 16, 1937. Meany quote at http://www.conservativeblog.org/amyridenour/2011/2/24/afl-cio-president-george-meany-on-public-sector-unions.html.
50. Jacoby, “Union ‘Rights.’”
51. Amy Hetzner, “More Districts Now Could Drop Insurance Arm of Teachers Union,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 13, 2011.
52. WLUK, “140 Teacher Retirement Requests Approved,” Green Bay, March 3, 2011.
53. Adam Rodewald, “Union Concessions Would Save Oshkosh District at Least $4 Million with Renegotiated Contracts,” Oshkosh Northwestern, March 18, 2011.
54. Christian Schneider, “Why He Did It,” WI Magazine, March 2011.
55. Bill Glauber, “Indiana Governor Set the Blueprint,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 27, 2011.
Lessons in Moral Hazard
1. Allard E. Dembe and Leslie I. Boden, “Moral Hazard: A Question of Morality,” New Solutions 10, no. 3 (2000): 257–79.
Chapter 10. Mortgage Madness
1. Ritholtz, Bailout Nation, 128 (see chap. 8, n. 8).
2. Ibid., 120.
3. Arnold Kling, “The Fantasy Testimony Continues,” Library of Economics and Liberty, October 14, 2008.
4. Ritholtz, Bailout Nation, 122.
5. Ibid., 121.
6. Charles Duhigg, “At Freddie Mac, Chief Discarded Warning Sign,” New York Times, August 5, 2008.
7. Ibid.
8. Carol D. Leonnig, “How HUD Mortgage Policy Fed the Crisis; Subprime Loans Labeled ‘Affordable,’” Washington Post, June 10, 2008.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. The Foundry, “The Left Has Learned Nothing from Fannie/Freddie Failure,” the Heritage Foundation, September 19, 2008.
12. J. Taylor Rushing and Jim Snyder, “The Debate over Fannie and Freddie’s Future Under Way,” The Hill, September 18, 2008.
13. Kevin Park, “Subprime Lending and the Community Reinvestment Act,” Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University, November 2008.
14. Howard Husock, “The Trillion-Dollar Bank Shakedown That Bodes Ill for Cities,” City Journal, Winter 2000.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. The Foundry, “Fannie and Freddie Failure Forever,” the Heritage Foundation, May 6, 2010.
18. Binyamin Appelbaum, Carol D. Leonnig, and David S. Hilzenrath, “How Washington Failed to Rein in Fannie, Freddie: As Profits Grew, Firms Used Their Power to Mask Peril,” Washington Post, September 14, 2008.
19. Leonnig, “How HUD Mortgage Policy.”
Chapter 11. Bailouts for Idiots (How to Make Out Big by Screwing Up)
1. Congressional Oversight Committee, “Congressional Oversight Panel Examines AIG Rescue and Its Impact on Markets,” June 10, 2010.
2. Ritholtz, Bailout Nation, 217.
3. Marcus Baram, “Judge Richard Posner Questions His Free-Market Faith in ‘A Failure of Capitalism,’” Huffington Post, April 20, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/20/judge-richard-posner-disc_n_188950.html.
4. Ritholtz, Bailout Nation, 205.
5. Carney, Obamanomics, 163 (see chap. 8, n. 15).
6. Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story, “Testy Conflict with Goldman Helped Push AIG to Edge,” New York Times, February 7, 2010.
7. Hagan, “Tenacious G” (see “Scenes from Moocher Nation,” n. 1).
8. Congressional Oversight Committee, “Congressional Oversight.”
9. Hagan, “Tenacious G.”
10. Carney, Obamanomics, 165.
11. Louise Story and Gretchen Morgenson, “In U.S. Bailout of A.I.G., Forgiveness for Big Banks,” New York Times, June 29, 2010.
12. Ibid.
13. Congressional Oversight Committee, “Congressional Oversight.”
14. Story and Morgenson, “In U.S. Bailout.”
15. Congressional Oversight Committee, “Congressional Oversight.”
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Graham Bowley, “With Big Profit, Goldman Sees Big Payday Ahead,” New York Times, July 15, 2009.
Chapter 12. Walk Away from Your Mortgage!
1. David Streitfeld, “Owners Stop Paying Mortgages, and Stop Fretting,” New York Times, May 13, 2010.
2. Ibid.
3. Cassy Fiano, “Old and Busted: Paying Your Mortgage. New Hotness: Living in Foreclosure Without Paying Anything,” HotAir.com, June 1, 2010, http://www.cassyfiano.com/2010/06/old-and-busted-paying-your-mortgage-new-hotness-living-in-foreclosure-without-paying-anything.
4. Brett Arends, “When It’s OK to Walk Away from Your Home,” Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2010.
5. Roger Lowenstein, “Walk Away from Your Mortgage!” New York Times Magazine, January 10, 2010.
6. White, “Underwater and Not Walking Away” (see chap. 1, n. 11).
7. Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, and Luigi Zingales, “Moral and Social Constraints to Strategic Default on Mortgages,” NBER Working Paper No. 15145, July 2009.
8. White, “Underwater and Not Walking Away.”
9. Ibid.
10. Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales, “Moral and Social Constraints.”
Chapter 13. No, They Didn’t Learn Anything
1. Andrew Haughwout, Ebiere Okah, and Joseph Tracy, “Second Chances: Subprime Mortgage Modification and Re-Default,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Staff Report no. 417, December 2009, revised August 2010. See also David Streitfeld, “Defaults Rise in Loan Modification Program,” New York Times, April 14, 2010.
2. Arthur Delaney and Shahien Nasiripour, “Extend and Pretend,” Huffington Post, August 8, 2010, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/extend-and-pretend-the-ob_n_668609.html.
3. John Leland, “New Program for Buyers, with No Money Down,” New York Times, September 4, 2010.
4. Diana Olick, “Home Ownership: Do You Really Need Skin in the Game?” CNBC.com, September 10, 2010, http://www.cnbc.com/id/39097208/Home_Ownership_Do_You_Really_Need_Skin_in_the_Game.
5. Leland, “New Program for Buyers.”
6. David Streitfeld, “A Bold U.S. Plan to Help Struggling Homeowners,” New York Times, March 26, 2010.
7. Department of the Treasury, “Housing Program Enhancements Offer Additional Options for Struggling Homeowners,” press release, March 26, 2010.
8. Keith Hennessey, “Should Taxpayers Subsidize Underwater Homeowners?,” blog posting, March 26, 2010, http://keithhennessey.com/2010/03/26/underwater.
9. Larry Kudlow, “TARP-ing the Upper Class Is an Outrage,” National Review Online, March 29, 2010, http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/larrykudlow/2010/03/29/tarp-ing_the_upper_class_is_an_outrage.
10. Hennessey, “Should Taxpayers Subsidize.”
Chapter 14. The Bank of Mom and Dad
1. Charles J. Sykes, 50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007), 79.
2. Frank F. Furstenberg, Sheela Kennedy, Vonnie C. McLoyd et al., “Growing Up Is Harder to Do,” Contexts, American Sociological Association, Summer 2004.
3. Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., Rubén G. Rumbaut, and Richard A. Settersten, Jr., “On the Frontier of Adulthood: Emerging Themes and New Direc
tions,” Network on Transitions to Adulthood, policy brief, October 2004, issue 1.
4. Ted Mouw, “The Effect of Timing and Sequence of Choices on Young Adults’ Futures,” Network on Transitions to Adulthood, policy brief, October 2004, issue 8.
5. Robert Schoeni and Karen Ross, “Family Support During the Transition to Adulthood,” Network on Transitions to Adulthood, policy brief, October 2004, issue 12.
6. Anna Bahney, “The Bank of Mom and Dad,” New York Times, April 20, 2006.
7. Schoeni and Ross, “Family Support.”
8. Bahney, “The Bank of Mom and Dad.”
Chapter 15. Middle-Class Suckers
1. Glenn Grothman, “The Government’s Message to America: Don’t Get Married,” undated, Office of Wisconsin State Senator Glenn Grothman.
2. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), Federal Student Aid website, http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/PSF.jsp; and “Income-Based Repayment Plan,” http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/IBRPlan.jsp.
3. The Kaiser Family Foundation Health Reform subsidy calculator: http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx.
4. Janet Novack and Stephanie Fitch, “When Work Doesn’t Pay for the Middle Class,” Forbes, October 5, 2009.
5. Ibid.
6. Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
7. Nancy K. Cauthen, “When Work Doesn’t Pay; What Every Policymaker Should Know,” NCCP, June 2006.
8. Grothman, “The Government’s Message.”
9. Cauthen, “When Work Doesn’t Pay.”
10. Lipton, “‘Breathtaking’ Waste and Fraud” (see chap. 5, n. 1).
11. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “The Earned Income Tax Credit,” December 4, 2009.
12. Ibid.
13. U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Means-Tested Programs: Report to the Ranking Minority Member, Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives,” March 2005.
14. Novack and Fitch, “When Work Doesn’t Pay.”
15. Kaiser Family Foundation subsidy calculator.
16. Scott Gottlieb, “O’s Middle-Class Squeeze,” New York Post, March 18, 2010.
Chapter 16. Why Get a Job?
1. Jaclyn Trop, “Landscapers Find Workers Choosing Jobless Pay,” Detroit News, May 10, 2010.
2. Ibid.
3. Cited in Alan Reynolds, “The ‘Stimulus’ for Unemployment,” New York Post, November 17, 2009.
A Nation of Moochers Page 22