Lex Luz

Banks Are Yet Again Under Pressure

Seems to me that before we direct more blame and ire at the UAW, their contracts, and the workers they represent, we ought to consider the possibility that the executives and managers across these failed instituions MAY have had slightly more influence in setting "strategy" (in quotes for a reason) than did the swing shift frame assembly team at plant 413 or whatever.

The fact is that all three of these companies have been failing for 35 years; their failure to anticipate and understand the first Honda Civic put the big three out of business as surely as did last year's gas-price bubble and the ongoing credit unwind.

Of course the union contracts are a burden that can no longer be borne. No question that the UAW and its leadership have had a hand in driving this industry into the turf. The final responsibility, though, belongs with executives and management whose hubris through four decades of mind-bending decline now extends to going begging to Congress for a massive handout. The fact that they can't even be bothered to figure out how they would use that money realistically to transform their businesses is a clear indication of their incompetence first, and their arrogance more importantly.

The unions are nothing more than a rat feasting on the hindquarters of this dead, rotting elephant.