[meyer]

The United States went from having a world-class auto industry -- indeed, the consumer automobile and the technology to mass produce it was essentially invented here -- to having practically no auto industry. And the UAW played a very, very large role in the demise of the U.S. auto industry.

Precisely. The UAW, and laws that favor them, are the primary cause for the failure of GM and Chrysler, and for the near-demise of the auto industry in the US.

The same thing happened to a good part of the steel industry. It's a fraction of the size it once was, with many non-union operations now dominating the industry.

And, if not for the government monopoly on education, we'd see the same thing with our school system. If education were truly a competitive marketpace with many players, and with parents being the sole provider of funds, we would see the teachers unions become extinct and we would see the level of education in this country rise drastically as a result.

[fightinJAG]

I saw an article on FR last week that said a particular state was in such dire financial straits that it was actually contemplating implementing a program of broad school choice to save money.

This would be wonderful.