Archie, I'm not (and I don't know anyone who is) blaming unions for the current state of our overall economy. Unions most certainly are a significant reason for the current state of the big 3 auto makers. No business/industry can survive when they are literally paying hundreds of thousands of people who aren't working or producing revenue for the companies...especially not in a competitive marketplace where other companies don't have that anvil chained to their collective necks. When a company can offer $180,000 to a large share of their regular workforce for taking an early retirement to save money, (which Ford did last year if I remember right) there are some incredibly obvious problems with the pay scales of the average worker in that business.

If I were in the market for a new car, a Chevy Cobalt or HHR would be high on my list for consideration. I rent cars at least 25 times a year, and what I end up getting in the rental car parking garage is a rainbow of what is on the market (even though I always reserve an economy car), so I drive new or almost new cars of every stripe on a regular basis. The big 3 can compete in product quality. They can't compete in pricing at the consumer level when it costs an average of $1500 or more per car due to union wages and benefits. A bad union is not better than no union when the union drives a business out of business.