Professor Elam

The UAW created jobs for life whether there was any work or not.  This was the Job Bank in which workers got paid for well not working.  This led to GM manufacturing Buicks sold to car rental companies as the CEO figured he might as well have the workers doing something.  This has cheapened the former upscale brand to the point that it is well received in China but not here.

Congress demanded an end to this, and even the UAW had to go along. I suspect that Congress will keep GM ie the UAW alive with incentives to build green cars, which sell in such small numbers it will make no real difference. Still GM will wink and use the money to stay in business.  After all every UAW member is a potential Democrat voter and the Democrats are now in charge.  No doubt the Democrats will make a big issue that the Republicans like Saxby of Georgia would have let GM go bankrupt. Saxby of course has no GM plants in Georgia, but does have foreign headquartered auto makers. There are 22 states with right to work laws and they have attrracted all the new auto plants, such as Toyota in San Antonio.