Jacob Hacker

“Social Security is one of the most successful, popular, and efficient government programs in American history.”

“The public option is the best way to get at the problems of the private insurance market.”

“The private welfare state, which had been a pillar of American security, is crumbling.”

“The story of American exceptionalism is a story of public and private partnership.”

“The Affordable Care Act is a huge step forward, but it's not the end of the road. It's the beginning of a new one.”

“The great risk shift is the defining feature of the American economy in the last generation and it is the defining challenge of our time.”

“In a winner-take-all economy, the costs of failure are punishingly high.”

“We're not just divided by income. We're divided by risk.”

“American Amnesia is the story of how, for most of the twentieth century, a mixed economy that harnessed the power of both government and the market was the source of our greatest successes.”

“For a generation, our politics has been fixated on the things that divide us. We need to start focusing on the things that unite us—and the most important of these is the shared economic risks we all face.”