High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families - Hardcover

Gosselin, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465002250 ISBN 13: 9780465002252

Publisher: Basic Books, 2008

Synopsis

The U. S. economy is wrapping up twenty-five years of some of the strongest, smoothest growth in its history-a performance so sweet economists have given it a name: the Great Moderation. So why have so many of us, even those making hundreds of thousands of dollars, arrived at the new century with a gnawing sense that events are moving against our families and ourselves? The easy answer is that were suffering a case of needless anxiety. But the easy answer is wrong. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of Americans and new statistics he developed, Peter Gosselin traces a quarter-century shift of economic risk from the broad shoulders of business and government to the backs of working people. It is a shift that has shaken the pillars of most families lives-stable jobs, solid benefits, government protections. The change doesnt mean one cant prosper. But it does mean the benefits of growth come at greater peril and your financial fall will be steeper if you stumble. This threat to working Americans security-and what to do about it-is a pressing concern to economists, policy-makers, and everyone who works for a living.

About this title

Review:

"Gosselin, the "Los Angeles Times" economic correspondent in Washington, has got something special going in the pages of "High Wire," He has answered - analytically and lyrically - a question that clogs debate on economic matters in the nation's capital: Why do Americans feel so anxious, even when the U.S. economy, on the whole, is performing quite ably?--John Aloysius Farrell, Robert Emmet Blog "Gosselin's spirit of humanity penetrates beyond dry statistics to reveal some of the deepest and most important economic issues facing the country today."--Robert Shiller, Yale finance theorist and author of "Irrational Exuberance." "In this alarming and vividly reported book, Gosselin puts to rest the notion that anyone can make it on their own with only a winning plan. This book must be a central part of the discussion on how to cure America's economic ills, before the "high wire" becomes a trip wire for us all."--Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "Nickel and Dimed" and "Bait and Switch" "[Peter Gosselin] has done the most convincing job I've seen in capturing the failures of America to deal with a changing, complex and far less generous economy than it has known in the past...The main theme of Gosselin, a veteran reporter for the Los Angeles Times, is the rise of deep-seated financial, health and material risk. He gathers the many pieces of the new economic America together quite beautifully, even elegantly, and brings them alive with interesting and not the usually predictable individual examples. I learned many things in this book, and I've been covering this territory for a long time."--Jeff Madrick, economic analyst on Truthdig.com "Incomes and living standards have become more volatile, and many families today are left bearing risks that they simply cannot handle. Peter Gosselin sets out to be the voice of the ordinary family, and he does an eloquent and convincing job of it in this important book."--Bob Solow, Nobel Prize-winning MIT economist "Meticulously researched and written with verve, "High Wire" is a rare masterpiece of chilling logic about mounting economic risks in our families, our homes, and our jobs. All Americans should read this book."--Peter Bernstein, economic consultant and author of "Against The Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk" "Nothing I've read better explains these fundamental contemporary American anxieties than 'High Wire.'"--"St. Louis Post Dispatch" "Voters will face a choice between a Democrat who talks about alleviating the risks bearing down on lower- and middle-income Americans and a Republican who, in effect, promises to continue the Bush administration's economic policies. Voters confused about how this choice affects their daily lives should read Gosselin's book from cover to cover."--"New York Times Book Review" "Gosselin weaves economic research, intimate portraits of average Americans, and the products of some old-fashioned digging into a compelling narrative. Like Jacob Hacker's 2006 "The Great Risk Shift," Gosselin's book is an investigation into the gradual tearing of America's social safety net, from inadequate health insurance to pension plans with holes."--"Business Week" "Peter Gosselin writes movingly of the personal wreckage endured by many Americans in today's volatile economy."--"Los Angeles Times" "A rigorously researched and well-written analysis of the economic challenges facing many Americans."--"Boston Globe" "[Gosselin's] writing is made more meaningful by use of real personalities to illustrate problems, putting a human face to the new reality of financial upheaval. His book should be imperativereading for anyone concerned about financial woes and their causes.--"Oklahoman " .,."excellent and thoughtful..."--"New York Review of Books" "If you have time to read only two books during this presidential year--about the condition of the country and the challenges together we all face--then please do yourself and all those you care about a favor by reading Peter Gosselin's 'High Wire' twice!"--Mark Shields, PBS Newshour commentator and syndicated columnist "Paradoxically, 'the lives of individual Americans have grown simultaneously more prosperous and more precarious, ' writes Peter Gosselin in his new book, 'High Wire.' Gosselin, a reporter at the "Los Angeles Times," has provided the most thorough account of this phenomenon to date." --"Newsweek"

About the Author:

Peter Gosselin is national economics correspondent for the Los Angeles Times in the Washington bureau. A visiting fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., he lives with his wife, reporter Robin Toner, and their two children in Washington, D.C.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0465002250
• ISBN 13: 9780465002252
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272