Now that the Detroit automakers are being nationalized we’re debating who is going to administer them on behalf of the taxpayers. What government functionaries have experience in this area?
Let’s look at G.M.:
- product that isn’t competitive internationally
- union labor force
- costly pension and health care obligations
- management promoted and rewarded despite decades of failure
What does that sound like? Any one of thousands of America’s public school systems. If we were to rename “General Motors” to “Michigan Vocational Public School #103 for Lifelong Learners” it could be administered by existing public school superintendents. Given that the state of Michigan’s population is shrinking there are probably some well-qualified superintendents soon to become jobless.
Once we rename G.M. into a public school it won’t bother us that it can’t compete with Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota, just as it doesn’t, apparently, bother us that our public school systems aren’t competitive (we complain about it, but we never make substantive changes).
And the reason they are going bankrupt and public schools aren’t (sort of)? People aren’t forced to buy their cars. Maybe if we were forced to buy the product of this inefficiency, they’d be doing fine.