"At American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of his executive team, he bought stock in the company, and he went out to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms — all the symbols that breed resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat."
Unions will not take management seriously until this happens.
However, I also don't understand how people who constantly argue that U.S. wages must continually fall for the sake of corporate competitiveness think that the U.S. won't collapse without some kind of middle class. And if this seems hyperbolic, please consider the effect of inflation, rotating asset bubbles, decreases in health care affordability, and rising unemployment. Without some kind of wage growth above inflation, I don't see how a real middle class can survive. Perhaps there are specifics in this case that warrant some reductions, but it seems to be the same argument any time an industry gets into some kind of management induced trauma.
The key is keeping inflation down. Run a sound monetary policy and keep a constant stream of productivity improvements in all sectors, so that the purchasing power of a dollar continually improves.
And recently today the heads of GM and Ford both refused to take a one dollar annual salary as Lee Iacocca did when Chrysler was bailed out in the 80's. So I really don't see top management in either Ford or GM to do anything to symbolize sacrifice.
Unions will not take management seriously until this happens.
However, I also don't understand how people who constantly argue that U.S. wages must continually fall for the sake of corporate competitiveness think that the U.S. won't collapse without some kind of middle class. And if this seems hyperbolic, please consider the effect of inflation, rotating asset bubbles, decreases in health care affordability, and rising unemployment. Without some kind of wage growth above inflation, I don't see how a real middle class can survive. Perhaps there are specifics in this case that warrant some reductions, but it seems to be the same argument any time an industry gets into some kind of management induced trauma.