Winner of the 2012 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism Hundreds of companies have slashed pensions and health coverage for millions of retirees, claiming that a “perfect storm” of stock market losses, aging workers, and spiraling costs have forced them to take drastic measures. But this so-called retirement crisis is no accident. Ellen E. Schultz, an award-winning investigative reporter formerly of The Wall Street Journal, reveals how large employers and the retirement industry have all played a huge and hidden role in the death spiral of American pensions and benefits. A little over a decade ago, pension plans were fat. But companies used slick accounting and dubious loopholes to turn their pension plans into piggy banks, tax shelters, and profit centers. As pensions weakened, companies slashed benefits for workers while doling out gargantuan pensions to their top executives. Drawing on original analysis of company data, government filings, and confidential memos, Schultz uncovers decades of widespread deception during which employers exaggerated their retiree burdens while tricking employees, misleading shareholders, and lobbying for taxpayer handouts.

"Researching retirement plans should not take the rest of your life, even if deciphering the relevant paperwork seems to have become a full-time job. Deliberately elaborate legalese is obscuring the efforts of financial elites to seize control of workers' collective retirement savings-and The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans is here to translate. In theory our national pension system, Social Security, should function well as a form of social insurance delivering partial retirement security, while workplace 401(k)s provide the rest. The problem is that very few do. Indeed, most workers have weak workplace retirement plans if they have them at all-and about half do not. Neoliberal retirement reforms have made matters worse, accelerating financial elites' efforts to replace workers' guaranteed pension plans with weak 401(k)-like savings accounts and stock market investment schemes and ultimately enabling financial elites to seize control of workers' collective retirement savings. The result is arguably the largest source of labor value expropriation over the last four decades. In light of all this, what do workers need to know as they assess their future prospects-especially in terms of the security their retirement plans may or may not bring? What should union activists keep in mind as they push for the national and workplace reforms needed to produce greater retirement security? This nuts-and-bolts book provides a much-needed demystification of the retirement system. Even more than that The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans enables us to take charge of our own personal futures, as a first step towards taking back what belongs to us all"--

Carpetbagging America's Public Schools probes the financial intrigue underlying the charter school industry. This book is a forensic accounting analysis of the financial effects of twenty years of charter schools and vouchers on the publics investment in public education. Written from an insider’s perspective by an early advocate for charter schools, the work exposes the underbelly of the radical deregulation of our public schools.

An unstoppable business revolution is under way, and it is Agile. Sparking dramatic improvements in quality, innovation, and speed-to-market, the Agile movement has helped companies learn to connect everyone and everything…all the time. With rapidly evolving consumer needs and technology that is being updated quicker than ever before, businesses are recognizing how essential it is to adapt quickly. The Agile movement enables a team, unit, or enterprise to nimbly acclimate and upgrade products and services to meet these constantly changing needs. Filled with examples from every sector, The Age of Agile helps you: Master the three laws of Agile Management (team, customer, network) Embrace the new mindset Overcome constraints Employ meaningful metrics Make the entire organization Agile Companies don’t need to be born Agile. With the groundbreaking formulas laid out in The Age of Agile, even global giants can learn to act entrepreneurially. Your company’s future may depend on it!

The latest volume in the Pension Research Council series examines the financial advice profession as financial literacy becomes increasingly necessary for those saving for retirement.

The media says you should be worried about your pension, the banks and financial advisors say Canadians aren't saving enough for their retirement, and Ottawa says drastic cuts to the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security lie ahead. Is the future sounding a little ominous? In the face of all this negativity, just what are you supposed to do? Pension experts Robert Drummond and Chris Roberts have nothing to sell, and they aren't trying to undermine government programs. This means they can provide unbiased and reliable advice, which is what they do in this no-holds-barred book.