This guy (God bless him – he’s 109) has been retired and receiving fully funded health insurance from GM for a decade longer than I’ve been alive. He’s one of over 240 GM retirees over 100! Couple of thoughts. First, why would GM agree to benefits for which it could not pay? Oh, right, they were basically a monopoly when they agreed to these benefits. I don’t blame the unions here, they did what they were supposed to do and got the best deal they could for their members. It was GM that had no spine – why take a strike when you can just raise your prices instead? Second, this is a microcosm of what is happening with Medicare and Social Security. Of course, GM can go bankrupt (like the steel companies and airlines – also former monopolies that are finally facing the music after years of ridiculously non-competitive business practices) and dump its retirees on the rest of us taxpayers – the U.S. government is a bit of a different story. When are we going to come to the realization that we either take our lumps and get the government out of the health care and retirement business or the U.S. government is going to go the way of U.S. Airways.
