Getting to that place is the problem. The postwar, post-sit-down strike mythology of shared prosperity for union and companies still holds the UAW in thrall, and so also the media. The question is phrased: Do we "save Detroit" or don't we? The reality is that it's too late. The cheerful conspiracy between Detroit and the unions -- lay on the benefits and pass the cost to the auto-buying public -- begs for replacement by the more logical strategy of put-it-on-the-market-and-see-who-buys-it.
The bailout allows no latitude for reinvention. It's all about "saving Detroit" for a few more months rather than subjecting union and companies alike to the rigors of the competitive marketplace. You can hate all you want to -- maybe you should -- the thought of Detroit-related companies laying off workers or shutting down entirely, because down that way lies social and economic dislocation. A still more hateful prospect is general acceptance of the lie that all the industry needs is a new government-sponsored transmission overhaul.
The 21st century hasn't been kind to old industries, including my own, the newspaper business, as readers of news and information flee to the Internet. What do we want, we old hack journalists -- a bailout? Likelier a little space for reinvention that -- woe and alack! -- robs us of mores and memories but renews the survivors to fight another day.
We may or may not get such a space. One bets, anyway, we get it before Detroit does.
Bill Murchison
Bill Murchison is the former senior columns writer for
The Dallas Morning News and author of
There's More to Life Than Politics.
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©Creators Syndicate
©Creators Syndicate