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Guess Who Foots America's Health Care Bill? Not Employers.

Excerpt: In the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the always-compelling duo of Ezekiel Emanuel and Victor Fuchs -- associated with the National Institutes of Health and Stanford University respectively -- dispel the myth of 'shared responsibility' in health care financing. What does this mean, exactly? Simple: 'the common claim that employers, government, and households all pay for health care is false. Employers do not share fiscal responsibility and employers do not pay for health care.' In fact, the 'money [for health care] comes from [our] own pockets.'

Senate HELP Committee Hearing: Freedom to Work: Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers

Video of July 17 hearing, with testimony by: [1] Mrs. Patrice Onwuka, Center for Economic Opportunity; [2] Ms. Kim Kavin, Imagine Media LLC; [3] Mr. Kev Coleman, Paragon Health Institute; [4] Mr. Timothy J. Driscoll, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers; and [5] Ms. Karen Friedman, Pension Rights Center.

Interview with Author of 'When I'm Sixty-Four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them'

Transcript from the interview. Excerpt: Professor Ghilarducci, explain what's happening now in light of all -- well, Obama just spoke on the economy yesterday. TERESA GHILARDUCCI: It's really the end of a thirty-year experiment with a do-it-yourself pension system. The United States stood above all other nations in saying, 'Look, we're going to hand over this saving and investing responsibility over to individuals. They want control. The stock market is healthy.'

Why Democrats May End Up on the Wrong Side of the Social Security Privatization War

Excerpt: 'Congress rejected Social Security privatization in 2005 and should reject it again in 2007 -- whether it's for Americans, Peruvians or Canadians. The promise of a secure retirement shouldn't stop at America's borders.' This was the reaction of William McNary, a leading Social Security activist, after finding out that some Democrats are supporting a Bush NAFTA expansion for Peru that would give Citibank, a major Democratic donor, the right to sue the country if it reverses its[.]

Pensions, Profits and the 'Mortgage Crisis' -- Or, a Hard Lesson Against Privatizing Social Security

Excerpt: Long before most of America knew anything about 'subprime loans', many of the nation's pension plans were in trouble. They were often under-funded and teetering on the brink of insolvency. And, should they fail, by its own admission, the federal agency tasked with bailing them out doesn't have enough funds rescue them. Now we come to a situation, which adds even great possibilities for pension plan failure: a major crisis on Wall Street, due to the institutional sale of mortgage based secured investment products. These instruments were sold to banks and institutional investors around the world and have now lost much of their value.