A Nation of Moochers (32 page)

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 Most 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.