Look out below

IN HIS book "High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families," Peter Gosselin writes movingly of the personal wreckage endured by many Americans in today's volatile economy. Gosselin, the Los Angeles Times' national economics correspondent, chronicles in detail the emotional, physical and economic devastation caused by outsourced jobs and insurance companies that rescind coverage to the seriously ill, as well as the roller-coaster fortunes of U.S. workers competing in the global marketplace.

Gosselin paints a portrait of an America where citizens suffer profound dislocations because of vanishing safety nets and can expect to be discarded by corporations without comparable job prospects or benefits. The human cost, which he adroitly conveys, is heartbreaking. It is also, as he notes, widespread. He illustrates wild income swings that have left the poor, the middle class and even formerly well-do-do families suddenly struggling to survive. These dramatic plunges from lost jobs have now "reached into the majority of working American households."

The relentless efforts of corporations to maximize profit has a human cost. For example, when Rebecca J. Rowlands was diagnosed with cancer, her insurance company, Blue Shield of California, promptly cut off her benefits in a process known as "post-claims underwriting," or "rescissions." Rowlands, her health deteriorating, fought back and won a settlement. But during that legal fight, as Gosselin notes, her chemotherapy was delayed for a prolonged period, saddling her with "increasingly severe medical problems" that are likely to leave her with "a six-figure medical debt."

"High Wire" is filled with such tales: of people crushed by credit card debt, mortgages they should never have been granted, predatory lenders, as well as sudden and catastrophic unemployment caused by "outsourcing."

Gosselin estimates that 60% of American homeowners no longer have enough insurance to replace their houses in the event of fire or other disasters but may not know it until they try to file a claim. That's because most residential insurers are legally permitted to simply mail out hard-to-decipher notices of major policy changes, including the fact that full replacement costs are no longer covered. He shows that inadequate coverage and protections run the gamut -- healthcare, employment, worker safety and more.