Thanks for posting this Michael. I read it this morning and thought about doing the same.

I understand that it can be refreshing to read someone who would pass the blame or lack thereof around equally to employers, unions, banks etc.  But that posture should still require a better foundation than the one that Richter rests his neutral "plague on all of your houses" posture.

Recognizing my own bias--and my constraints--I guess I would like to  explore Richter's neutral-sounding assertion that, rightly or wrongly, organized labor continued to negotiate higher and higher wages and benefits through the 1970s, and those inflated wages helped lead to the demise of American manufacturing.  Let me just say and forgive me for not dwelling on this particular point, but let me just say that folks can look at the role of organized labor over the last 150 years, including the post-WWII years, and draw their own conclusions about what in the aggregate organized labor has done for the American worker, both union and non-union.  

But with respect to Richter on that specific point I would just ask him to explain what it is about labor negotiations in this country that helped to contribute to the demise of the American manufacturing industry.  What are the high wages and benefits about which he speaks?  Were American workers too rich in the 1970s?  I just don't think that's how it was. 

It's easy to point to this and that excess in this or that industry over the years, and particularly in industries with multi-generational bargaining relationships.  But the naked assertion that unions never did anything except demand higher wages is just that and nothing more.  

And what nations' workers does Richter compare American workers to?  If it's Japan, Germany, Sweden, France, England--the countries that first exported cars here in large numbers--then it is a comparison of the apples to oranges variety.  The workers in those countries have had government benefits and protections that American workers (and lots of employers too) could only dream of.   But here in Amurika, where we don't like those government handouts, we leave it to the private sector to supply these benefits.  

Finally, if Richter is not proposing the proverbial race to the bottom, then what is he saying? 

Happy weekend. . .which is yet another thing that we can all thank the American labor movement for! 

P.S.  Coincidentally, here's a piece in today's paper about Japan's no lay-off protection.