What's bad for GM is bad for the country

The Griffin notes that GM is in deep trouble because it has morphed from a car company into health care provider. The Griffin no doubt ran across this piece by George Will. So what can we learn from GM’s sticky situation.

As the Griffin notes, “The liberals will say greed killed GM. Why? Because to admit it was healthcare opens up a can of worms they do not want to discuss in the open. Therefore it must have been...of course greed.” He’s right. Libs have tied themselves so tightly to the concept of the welfare state that they cannot face the truth about GM’s decline. If GM can’t make its healthcare system work, how could a bloated federal government ripe with incompetence and fraud manage a massive Hillarycare type healthcare system? Look at Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs have done nothing but drive the cost of healthcare higher and higher.

Why don’t the unions provide their members with healthcare? What do unions offer the membership beyond collective bargaining power? They drive companies out business. They steal membership dues. They support organized crime. They are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Democrat Party. Why can’t the unions step in and use their huge membership bases to provide healthcare for their membership? In addition to providing savings based on buying power, union provided healthcare would provide a greater degree of portability. If Joe the pipe fitter moves from New York to Chicago his union healthcare would follow him without a lapse. If GM goes under, who is to blame? Unreasonable union demands will play a large part. Ridiculous management packages will play a part. The failure of union and management leadership to recognize that they were killing the golden goose with 10,000 pin pricks is probably the biggest factor. In that they got into the mess together, they’ll need to work together to get out of it.

It’ll be tough. Libs would rather see GM go under than allow business a tax break. Unions would rather see a 120,000 good jobs go south than offer a single concession or work with management. Michael Moore did his best to ruin GM with his fantasy film “Roger and ME.” Now that it appears that he might have succeeded, what will he do? What will the Libs like Moore and union leadership do when GM has to cut back on an even larger scale or simply fold? Will they hold a party in an empty union hall with a large banner, “We Really Showed Them, Didn’t We?”