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I was there. It was a great period working under Harley Earl during the Motoramas. At the time, the unions would strike only one manufacturer and what they settled for, all the other manufacturers matched for the same. Non union personnel generally also got any improvements. American manufacturers had almost the entire market so their costs were the same and they were competitive.

In the years since, they lost their share and their legacy costs have become the noncompetitive difference. The problem, however, is not that they are not competitive, but rather we no longer have a credit economy—we have a barter economy, which doesn't work in the auto industry. It's NOT a problem bankruptcy can solve. No one will ever buy a car where warranty and service are in question. I think they have also just killed the brand names they have had to announce as part of their cutback plan.

The only solution I can see is for companies that are forced to ask the government for assistance, to be required to take a percentage (TBD) hit across the board for all employees. As to the legacy costs (retirees), if the company went bankrupt, their retirement monies would fall into the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation (a U.S. Government Function) anyway, so why not let the government absorb and pay all those (probably discounted) legacy costs now (without the bankruptcy). That would permanently remove that burden from the manufacturers and combined with the percentage labor reductions, should make the U.S. auto industry competitive and viable.

The costs of their cars would then be “LLL” (List-Less-Legacy”