[Jeff Higgins]

I read an interesting article some years ago regarding health care and retirement in America. My memory ain't what it used to be, so cut me some slack as I cover this at about a "30,000 foot flyover" level.

The article stated that back in the early '50's, America had come to a crossroads. In health care and retirement. The Federal Government wanted to socialize both - yes, way back when, they wanted state health care and adequate retirement. They were going to tax corporate America to pay for it. Sound familiar?

Well, as it turned out, the captains of industry looked at the bottom line, as they well should. In doing so, they determined it was cheaper to just pay for those items themselves. So they lobbied hard (much of it "backroom" lobbying) to assume the costs themselves to avoid the taxation required to support a public program. This was, in essence, our first swipe at socialized health care and retirement. Corporate America took the then cheaper route.

No one in that day could possibly have foretold the enormous increases in both health care costs and retired worker lifespan. They have to pay exponentially more for health care for employees and retirees, and pay for retirees longer than ever. In light of that, they (corporate America) now wants out of the deal. They can't afford the decision they made back in the '50's.

So, today, they are effectively inching out bit by bit, by simply not providing adequate coverage. Most folks do not have any way to fight this; we are stuck with the health plans our employers offer. The unions do, however, have the capacity and gumption to fight it. They want industry to continue to hold up their end of the bargain. In the face of that, corporate America has engaged in one of the biggest propoganda campaigns in the history of our country: they have convinced working Americans that Corporate America does not, in fact, owe them health care. Or retirement.

So who is going to scream the loudest when this whole house of cards comes crashing down? Granted, the folks with compromised health care are screaming already. For socialized health care. Eventually, they will win. Then who will be screaming the loudest? The corporations that get taxed to pay for it, exactly as proposed over 60 years ago.

It's coming full circle. The UAW only appears to be a pariah on this because they expect the Big Three to hold up their end of the bargain, made oh so many years ago. The rest of us no longer expect them to hold it up. The propoganda campaign has been that successfull...