UAW

Having lived in Detroit from 1990 - 2006, I know something about the unions and the companies which have labored long and hard to eradicate them.

Without the unions, there would never have been a middle class.

And in the last 15 years, the UAW has surrendered millions of dollars in wages and benefits to the selfish demands of management who've taken increasingly larger and larger chunks of the pie, while ignoring the public cry for better cars and pandering to the sickness of the Street (Wall, that is, not Main).

The upper levels of auto management, along with their fellow crooks at Wall Street, have plundered their companies while padding their own pockets, all under the blessing of Reaganomics, one of the greatest lies ever created, and one of the most tragic turns in the American story.

The Unions strove for wages and benefits appropriate to the profits being made, and when profits began their plunge, the Unions reduced where they could, but not management, as we see with their corporate jets and perks so carefully created and hidden from public view.

The blame for the present debacle must be laid at the feet of an arrogant leadership contemptuous of America, forcing more and more relinquishments from their workers, and forcing 3rd and 4th tier suppliers to outsource their work, putting millions out of work ten years ago.

Take a look at Flint, Michigan to see how GM pillaged a once-viable community, while deflecting the blame to the workers, pocketing the profits, enjoying their benefits on the backs of millions of middle class Americans.

Michael Moore has it right - we need a World War 2 approach - the government has to tell them what to build - not only hybrids and hyper efficient cars, but mass transit. We've done it before, and we can do it again.

But only when we all awaken to the reality: We are our brother's keeper!