I think the auto workers get paid too much so F’em; I’ll buy a Toyota and when the market share shrinks for the US companies I’ll blame the resulting problems on the workers and unions?
Really? WTF?[/quote]
Scarlet: Same old, same old. You are willing to blame the US Gov’t and corporations and correctly, in my opinion. However, you remain completely unwilling to put any of the blame on the unions, organized labor or the workforce itself.
Anyone that disagrees with you about unions or organized labor becomes a “union basher”, without any thought as to the facts. Those facts being that the cost/pricing model in Detroit was fundamentally out of whack and had been for years, thus eroding Detroit’s competitive position and ultimately sinking GM and Chrysler.
Sad to say, it isn’t 1958 and things have changed. Unfortunately, Detroit did not change, nor did it adapt.
I would be the first to say that the US needs to implement a sweeping Industrial Policy, similar to the one used during and after WWII. That Policy, however, does not include unions nor does it include organized labor, both of which are pernicious and destructive forces when it comes to US competitiveness. Use of Germany is a red herring, in that the US does not enjoy that sort of homogeneity, nor do we have a center-left socialized labor force that harbors under a government subsidized and supported system (and if you think I’m wrong, check out Germany’s unfunded pension(s) program(s)).
