"Sure, let's have the American taxpayer subsidize more bleep like this..."
I was suprised when a WSJ article revealed that it was management at
GM that first proposed the "jobs bank" idea.
Some days I don't know who to give the major share of blame to:
the unions or the management.
After all, somebody in management did greenlight the Pontiac Azteck (sp?).
Yeah, I think it's the Aztek but who cares? The most recent example of awful American design (I see those on the road and think: what was the owner THINKING OF when he bought that???).
On your point on management vs. union: it's clearly both. The unions forced it but management caved. The precedents were set back in the 1950's and 1960's when presidents (Eisenhower in 1958/9 and Kennedy with the steel strike in 1961) pressed the companies to "come to an agreement... America can't tolerate an extended strike.
Management had to know when those contracts were being negotiated in 1999 that the healthcare and pension benefits (retirees spend NOTHING for their very high-end healthcare benefits) were unsustainable, uncompetitive, and in the process of bankrupting the companies. And now both Management and the Unions will be turning to Demo Congress to bail them out. One more huge slippery slope for this country. We've getting socialism and collectivism through the back door.
Ronald Reagan is groaning in his grave.
A pox on both their houses. Nobody was holding a gun to their heads.