I’m listening to Mitt Romney. He’s not the only one suggesting that the big problem with Detroit is that it is burdened by its unions: that excessive benefits like generous pension plans are the reason why Detroit cannot compete with others, and that the solution is a restructuring that helps the automakers get rid of these undue burdens.
I don’t want to sound like a grumpy socialist (which I am not, or at least I sure hope I am not) but is the rolling back of worker benefits really the right solution in this time of crisis? I am certainly not advocating an isolationist economic policy that protects an inefficient industry from foreign competition, but how about requiring that other automakers who either manufacture cars in, or export cars to, the United States, play by the same rules as the “big three”?
Either Romney is wrong, and the unions can take solace in the fact that a Democratic president with a large Democratic majority in both houses is about to be unaugurated. Or, Romney is right and Obama and the Democrats are about to make some colossal economic mistakes. Time will tell.