America, Welcome to the Poorhouse: What You Must Do to Protect Your Financial Future and the Reform We Need

Chapter 12The Fix: Replacing Corrupt Politicians with Ones Who Work for Taxpayers

Pretend Campaign Reform That Doesn’t Get at the Root of the Problem

We’ve seen how the lack of a citizens’ lobby allowed the demise of defined benefit pensions, and their replacement by the “pretend pension,” the 401(k) plan, which too frequently features “play money” stock matching contributions. The deregulation of the mortgage industry coupled with the prevailing Too-Big-to-Fail bailout mentality on Capitol Hill resulted in the rescue of bad banks—not to mention the compensation of their reckless leaders—but little help for homeowners, who are apparently considered Small Enough to Fail. At the same time, Sallie Mae’s lobby made college loans expensive ...