About 40yrs ago Michigan was the thriving hub of "Mo-town". Now some of the industry cities are being turned back to fields and woods and have a 'bear' problem. So what happened? Germany and Japan still make a lot of cars.
The problem was 3 fold - a crap product, competition and unions. Up until the Oil Crisis, yanks were happy to drive around in 3 ton rust-buckets rather than the strange little boxes coming out of Asia.
So what did the unions do when 'gas' went up 4-fold? Naturally they asked for a pay rise so that staff could still 'vacate' in Florida or California by car of course. And they got it - along with juicy pension rights meaning what's left of Ford and GM was technically bankrupt years ago.
In today's money, workers were costing about $300,000 each a year and when they wern't on strike, were making thirsty, heavy cars predominantly by then to be smashed up on the 'Blues brothers', 'Dukes of Hazzard' and 'Police Academy'.
Unions hate global competition because it means that whilst they're standing around complaining about their toilet break rights, Koreans are beavering away through the night leaving their governments with vast trade surplusses to build nice roads and hospitals - or lend money to us.
It is no surprise then that unions thrive in state sponsored monopolies like the railways or public services. The first rule of union 'indoctronation' is that waste does not exist. Even someone who sleeps at her desk all day is 'part of the struggle' and every one of the 1,000,000 extra people labour took on is 'vital' even if nobody knows what they do or where they are.
Yesterday, UNIDOSS - "The union for unemployed comrades" sparked outrage by encouraging members to fiddle their benefits after government bosses refused to hand out free railcards. Advice on their website stated "You might have 3 wives, 15 kids or a prosthetic 'lifelike' leg. You might be allergic to water..."
