In a NY Times op-ed published after his blog post, Cronon recounted the history of Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin who were instrumental in developing Social Security, workerscompensation, unemployment insurance and public employee bargaining.
The charges Boies referred to, according to Spitzer's office, were complaints that Greenberg and AIG had shortchanged the New York State Workers' Compensation system and had misled the state insurance department on matters of reserve reporting.
The second, and more important one, is that the largest benefit by far that American workers receive as a part of their total compensation from employment is health care insurance.
For older workers, the new system would include the option for wage insurance -- which would provide some compensation if they are forced to accept a position with a lower salary.