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While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial Crisis
From the bestselling author of Buffett, When Genius Failed, and Origins of the Crash, a wake-up call to the pension and retirement crisis facing America and the road map for a way outIn While America Aged, bestselling author Roger Lowenstein explains how corporations and governments ran up ruinous pension and health-care promises to workerspromises that are now coming due and that will hit America like a tsunami if nothing is done. Negotiating high benefits means gambling with future financesand when the farm gets sold out from underneath major corporations or public institutions, it affects all of us, and in ways we might not imagine. With his trademark narrative panache, Lowenstein unravels the truth about how pensions work in America and illuminates the impending crisis. While America Aged is comprised of three fascinating case studies each an object lesson and a compelling historical saga. The first goes back to the early days of the United Auto Workers and its crusading leader, Walter Reuther, to tell the story of how pensions and health-care obligations destroyed the American auto industry, in particular General Motors. Lowenstein then shifts the scene to New York City to tell the story of the rise of public pensions and public sector unions through the vehicle of the Communist-led Transport Workers Union. Once again, justifiable benefits were followed by outrageous ones, such as the right to retire at age fifty. The saga reached a dramatic climax in 2005, when workers responded to proposed pension cutbacks with a massive strike that brought New Yorks subways and buses to a screeching halt days before Christmas. In the concluding episode, Lowenstein visits a metropolis even more reckless in doling out benefitsSan Diego. Desperate not to impose higher taxes, city officials in this highly conservative enclave cut a series of deals with unions to short-change the retirement system and use pension funds to run the city. A massive scandal ensuedtwo mayors resigned, officials were indicted, and San Diego lost its bond rating. Lowenstein warns that the pension wars that erupted in Detroit, New York City, and San Diego are only the first. But he also recognizes that workers are entitled to decent security in their retirementa critical problem as the country ages. While America Aged explains how we came to this crisis, and it also proposes a way out. Arming readers with knowledge of the consequences of doing nothing, While America Aged, first and foremost, a call to action..
Price: $15.04
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Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined
From the wildly popular Web site urbandictionary com, where you write your own definitions, Mo’ Urban Dictionary brings the hottest slang that defines your world. pregret - Regretting something you’re about to do anyway multislacking - Doing multiple slackeresque things concurrently email bankruptcy - Clearing your inbox and starting from scratch workahol - What workaholics are addicted to foreploy - Misrepresenting yourself on a date in hopes of getting lucky bluetool - Someone who always wears a Bluetooth earpiece, even when they’re not on the phone breakup buddy - A friend who provides objective advice and post-breakup support meh - A verbal shrug of indifference hobosexual - The opposite of metrosexual; one who cares little for their own appearance testosterphone - To make a quick and to-the-point phone call that lasts under thirty seconds accountabilabuddy - A friend you get in trouble with and who’s somewhat responsible for your actions urban cougar - An older woman who hunts younger prey in bars and clubs puma - An attractive woman in her late twenties, training to be a cougar Pac-Manning - To drive on the dotted white lane divider, like Pac-Man eating dots .
Price: $7.47
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Urban Dictionary: Fularious Street Slang Defined
Urbandictionary.com is a very successful site that encourages users to define the world with their own unique terms. In Urban Dictionary, site founder Aaron Peckham culls his more than 170,000 definitions for the funniest, wittiest, and most provocative phrases that define the modern slang scene. Within urbandictionary.com's lively lexicon are: business provocative -- Attire used to provoke sexual attention in the workplace. compunicate -- To chat with someone in the same room via instant messaging service instead of in person. dandruff -- A person who 'flakes out' and ditches their friends. wingman -- A guy who takes one for the team by hooking up with a hot girl's ugly friend so his own friend can hook up with the hot girl. Perfect for those who want to pick up some new slang and those who want to translate it, Urban Dictionary is a gritty and witty look at our ever-changing language..
Price: $5.94
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Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history. What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country's most formidable politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. Lincoln challenged Douglas directly in one of his greatest speeches -- "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- and confronted Douglas on the questions of slavery and the inviolability of the Union in seven fierce debates. As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation. Of course, the great issue between Lincoln and Douglas was slavery. Douglas was the champion of "popular sovereignty," of letting states and territories decide for themselves whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln drew a moral line, arguing that slavery was a violation both of natural law and of the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence. No majority could ever make slavery right, he argued. Lincoln lost that Senate race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the "Little Giant," whom almost everyone thought was unbeatable. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas brings alive their debates and this whole year of campaigns and underscores their centrality in the greatest conflict in American history. The encounters between Lincoln and Douglas engage a key question in American political life: What is democracy's purpose? Is it to satisfy the desires of the majority? Or is it to achieve a just and moral public order? These were the real questions in 1858 that led to the Civil War. They remain questions for Americans today..
Price: $13.00
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Libertys Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote The Federalist, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World
Aside from the Constitution itself, there is no more important document in American politics and law than The Federalist-the series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to explain the proposed Constitution to the American people and persuade them to ratify it. Today, amid angry debate over what the Constitution means and what the framers’ “original intent” was, The Federalist is more important than ever, offering the best insight into how the framers thought about the most troubling issues of American government and how the various clauses of the Constitution were meant to be understood. Michael Meyerson’s Liberty’s Blueprint provides a fascinating window into the fleeting, and ultimately doomed, friendship between Hamilton and Madison, as well as a much-needed introduction to understanding how the lessons of The Federalist are relevant for resolving contemporary constitutional issues from medical marijuana to the war on terrorism. This book shows that, when properly read, The Federalist is not a “conservative” manifesto but a document that rightfully belongs to all Americans across the political spectrum. .
Price: $13.47
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The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America
The invention of mass marketing led to cigarettes being emblazoned in advertising and film, deeply tied to modern notions of glamour and sex appeal. It is hard to find a photo of Humphrey Bogart or Lauren Bacall without a cigarette. No product has been so heavily promoted or has become so deeply entrenched in American consciousness.And no product has received such sustained scientific scrutiny. The development of new medical knowledge demonstrating the dire harms of smoking ultimately shaped the evolution of evidence-based medicine. In response, the tobacco industry engineered a campaign of scientific disinformation seeking to delay, disrupt, and suppress these studies. Using a massive archive of previously secret documents, historian Allan Brandt shows how the industry pioneered these campaigns, particularly using special interest lobbying and largesse to elude regulation.But even as the cultural dominance of the cigarette has waned and consumption has fallen dramatically in the U.S., Big Tobacco remains securely positioned to expand into new global markets. The implications for the future are vast: 100 million people died of smoking-related diseases in the 20th century; in the next 100 years, we expect 1 billion deaths worldwide. .
Price: $6.44
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On The Beaten Path: The Drummers Guide To Musical Styles & The Legends Who Defined Them (Book & CD)
Learn to play the most legendary drum beats and solos ever recorded! This book is your essential guide to the biggest & best drummers to ever grace the instrument, the music they played, the gear they used, and the drummers that influenced them. Pick up your copy today! Includes: Authentic transcriptions and easy-to-follow lessons for 85 of the most legendary beats and solos ever recorded. Insight into the history and development of Funk, Alternative/Punk Rock, Metal, Progressive Rock, Classic Rock, Jam Band, Fusion, Jazz, and Reggae plus a listing of essential recordings for each genre . An audio CD containing all the beats and solos presented in the book. Dozens of amazing photos. Over 250 pages! Drummers include: Travis Barker * Carlton Barrett * Carter Beauford * Jason Bittner * John Bonham * Danny Carey * Billy Cobham * Tré Cool * Stewart Copeland * Lowell "Sly" Dunbar * Jon Fishman * Mickey Hart * Topper Headon * Bill Kreutzmann * Gene Krupa * Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste * Keith Moon * Vinnie Paul * Neil Peart * Mike Portnoy * Buddy Rich * Max Roach * Chad Smith * John "Jabo" Starks * Ringo Starr * Clyde Stubblefield * Lars Ulrich * Dave Weckl * Tony Williams ...and more!.
Price: $18.00
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The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America
“Superbly well written . . . a wonderfully informative guide to the Supreme Court both past and present.”—David J. Garrow, American History
Jeffrey Rosen recounts the history of the Supreme Court through the personal and philosophical rivalries that have transformed the law—and by extension, our lives. With studies of four crucial conflicts—Chief Justice John Marshall and President Thomas Jefferson; post–Civil War justices John Marshall Harlan and Oliver Wendell Holmes; liberal icons Hugo Black and William O. Douglas; and conservative stalwarts William H. Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia—Rosen brings vividly to life the perennial rivalry between those justices guided by strong ideology and those who cared more about the court as an institution, forging coalitions and adjusting to new realities. He ends with a revealing conversation with Chief Justice John Roberts, who is attempting to change the court in unexpected ways. The stakes, he shows, are nothing less than the future of American jurisprudence. .
Price: $7.94
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