A Green Light For Union-Free Job Training?
One of the key goals of the U.S. Department of Labor since President Donald Trump’s second term commenced in January 2025 has been to expand the number of apprenticeships in America to “at least a million.”
Numbers Game
Mark Mix, the President of the National Right to Work Committee, writing in the pages of the Investor’s Business Daily, looks at the crony capitalism at General Motors and their corrupt relatioship with the government. It’s a good deal for Big Labor, but it’s bad news for the taxpayers.
Given that the wasteful work rules that UAW bosses — wielding government-granted monopoly-bargaining power over employees — insisted on for decades were largely what drove GM into bankruptcy, they certainly didn’t deserve kid-gloves treatment. Yet that’s what they got.
A UAW-controlled auto retiree health care fund was owed $20 billion by GM before the bailout.
Under the White House-dictated terms, UAW-appointed fund managers got back half of what they were owed in cash, whereas taxpayers who were owed $19.4 billion didn’t get a dime back in cash.
Instead, the Obama administration “forgave” this entire loan on taxpayers’ behalf and earmarked an additional $23.5 billion for the company’s trip through bankruptcy. In exchange for the nearly $43 billion funneled to GM, taxpayers acquired a “60.8% equity stake” in GM.
