The UAW shares some of the blame, with two other culprits, regarding the problems facing the domestic auto industry. Our politicians and the executives overseeing these large corporations also failed in doing their jobs over the last 40-years.

When Adam Smith talked about “rational self interest” and competitive markets in his book Wealth of Nations, he envisioned many consumers interested in buying goods and services from many producers. Our politicians allowed the competitive automobile market to become an oligopolistic market in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s instead of a free market.

This oligopolistic market allowed the auto executives either to ignore the coming onslaught of foreign competition or not even to think about it. They knew their “competitors’ at the other two auto companies would match any conspiratory agreement that was reached with the UAW. This occurred because there was no foreign competition to worry about at the time.

Even back then, there was plenty of blame to go around. The free market has not caused our problems; it is the governing of our free markets.