Financial Week, Oct. 29, 2008 by Doug Halonen
http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081029/REG/810299989/1036

Jacob S. Hacker … said the investment default for the universal 401(k) would be a low-cost target-date fund, paid out in annuities at retirement. “In essence, universal 401(k)s along these lines would bring back something close to a guaranteed private pension,” referring to the plan’s annuitization feature, Mr. Hacker said in his testimony.

Oakland Tribune, Oct. 23, 2008 by Josh Richman
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_10788512

UC Berkeley Professor Jacob Hacker, among experts testifying Wednesday, said Americans went from having a “three-legged stool” of retirement savings—Social Security, guaranteed private pensions, and personal savings—to just Social Security and private savings, be they in 401(k)s or elsewhere. “And we all know how wobbly a two-legged stool is.”

The Washington Post, Oct. 12, by Nancy Trejos
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/11/AR2008101100177.html

“Right now, we’re really seeing the risks come home, and people are recognizing the extent to which their retirement savings are on the line when the stock market goes down drastically.”

Boston Globe, September 26, by Ellen Goodman
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/26/the_tattered_ideology_of_personal_responsibility/

Now, as Jacob Hacker, the author of “The Great Risk Shift,” puts it, we are seeing that “the rhetoric of personal responsibility stops at the edge of the market…. People today are more concerned about big insecurity than big government,” says Hacker.

KCRW, To the Point, July 17, hosted by Warren Olney
http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp080717economic_crisis_real

“What we have now is a very substantial financial crisis that is intersecting with a long-term decline in the security of Americans, and the combination of those two is what makes the present situation so worrisome. The safety net, in other words, that families have has gotten more tattered, particularly for those who haven’t shared in the economic growth of the last ten years.”