Actually, we're essentially agreeing -- I was just counting the union input as part of "efficiency". It's not part of the efficiency of making an individual car, but it *is* part of the efficiency of the company overall. (That is, from a return-on-investment POV.)

Really, it's the thing that tweaks me about the Republicans in this case. They *ooze* vengefulness and antipathy towards the union, so obviously that I automatically get suspicious of them. Unfortunately, I think they're largely right that the UAW (and more specifically, the weight of history between the union and the car companies) is a large part of the problem...