Many of the replies I'm reading are...
THE UAW KILLED DETROIT!!
THE UAW KILLED DETROIT!!
THE UAW KILLED DETROIT!!
THE UAW KILLED DETROIT!!
(keep repeating till you believe it)
Here's a little secret:
What Buchanan is saying is there are many other reasons besides that has lead to the failure of Detroit automakers.
Issues like Washington interfering with stupid CAFE standards, issues like oppressive corporate tax rates, issues like an unfair trade balance, and of course the Global economy.
To be sure, Unionists had a large part of this epic failure - but they are not the only losers who are at fault.
You hit the nail on the head: I don’t think that many people do take the time to read the whole article. Just jump down to the comments and start opining.
I read Pat’s well-argued column to say it’s all of the above: UAW, bad management, and Government intrusion into the market.
Every opinion writer has rightly commented to death about the UAW component.
Pat’s unique contribution to the discussion is to also spotlight the government overregulation. Same as the mortgage meltdown: it was government meddling and forcing banks to do bad business the caused the meltdown. Pat’s argument is that it contributed significantly to Detroit’s meltdown too.
It’s an important argument. If we can’t diagnose the problem right, how is a fix going to happen?