Cruel Mr. Market

Delphi workers are on the chopping block. GM workers are not far behind. Can the Midwest take this bludgeoning without turning into a latter day Appalachia?

According to Alan Murray in today's Wall Street Journal, Delphi workers will have to accept $10 to $12 per hour wages, down from the mid-$20s, because that is what their skills command on the open market. Pensioners will have to have their monthly benefits cut and lose their supplemental medical coverage (leaving the burden to Medicare). Meanwhile, top executives are getting raises because auto industry execs were underpaid compared to colleagues in other industries.

Mr. Market is clearly a cruel taskmaster. Here's a question unaddressed by all the pundits weighing in to support the gutting of this once crucial industrial sector: Why aren't European and Japanese workers, who also face intense competition from auto parts made in China, facing similar cuts? Why is Mr. Market more benign there?