A Country That Works: Getting America Back on TrackAndy Stern, one of the most visionary leaders in America today, has fought relentlessly to ensure that Americans' hard work is rewarded in today's hypercompetitive, globalized world. As the newsmaking president of the fastest-growing, most dynamic union in America, he has led the charge for modernizing the "house of labor" -- taking unions out of the past and into the twenty-first century. He has spearheaded the campaign against the "Wal-Marting" of jobs and has innovated transformative solutions to the daunting problems facing Americans, from job insecurity to runaway health care costs. In this powerful critique and call-to-arms, he offers a revelatory dissection of the gathering threats to our standard of living -- threats that our politicians have failed utterly to address -- and he puts forth a bold, unassailable plan for making vital reforms. In his eye-opening diagnosis that makes the urgency of the threats vividly clear, Stern shows that Americans are contending with the most disruptive economic upheaval in the world economy since the Industrial Revolution. Yet, in the face of this daunting challenge, the American system simply isn't working well enough for most of us. Stern powerfully portrays how with the pace of globalization relentlessly quickening, the competitive pressures on our jobs and quality of life are heating up even more, especially as housing, health care, and oil prices skyrocket. While CEO salaries soar and business and the wealthy are handed plentiful tax shelters, the incomes of both white-collar and blue-collar workers stagnate, leaving most Americans struggling to pay off ever-escalating debt, instead of saving for retirement. The plain fact is that our system is out of whack, serving the interests of the top sliver of the most wealthy while putting the squeeze on the rest of us. Meanwhile, our politicians irresponsibly sidestep the crucial solutions that we so desperately need in order to make sure Americans can move into the twenty-first century with their futures secure. As Stern so persuasively shows, it is time for bold thinking and creative solutions to overhaul a health care system in crisis; correct a tax system rigged in favor of business and the wealthy; revamp our inadequate retirement system; and make truly innovative improvements in education. He presents a set of course-correction reforms so compelling, simple, and achievable that readers will find themselves enraged that they haven't yet been enacted. Americans have a right to expect our government to work for us. Andy Stern shows how we can get things back on track to make sure it does. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Globalization Is for Real | 23 |
Change Has Got to Come | 37 |
A Story of Transformation | 55 |
Taking It to the Next Level | 77 |
The Strength of | 99 |
Pushing Past Partisan Roadblocks | 115 |
Dont Let Them Fool | 133 |
A Plan for a Country That Works | 147 |
Conclusion | 181 |
Acknowledgments | 199 |
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ACFTU AFL-CIO American Progress American workers Anna Burger average Ben Stein benefits Budget campaign candidates Cassie Center for American challenges Change to Win China companies contributions convention corporations costs COUNTRY created Democratic Party earned economic Economic Policy Institute efforts election employers federal funds future Gingrich global economy growth health care hospital income increased individual industry Institute Internet investment issues janitors Jim Hightower John Kerry John Sweeney Justice for Janitors kids labor movement leadership lives Mario Cuomo meeting Megachurches membership ment million Newt Gingrich nomic nonunion nursing home organizing Outsourcing percent Policy political president raise rates relationship Republican Research responsibility retirement revenue schools sector SEIU SEIU members SEIU’s Social Security Story of Transformation TIAA-CREF tion trade TRICARE union leaders vote voters wages Wal-Mart Washington workforce York