The UAW is a dinosaur that is dying and few have sympathy either for the UAW or for the Big Three (there is no widespread support for a bailout of the Big Three, the city of Detroit, or of Michigan, something T-Steel had wondered about openly). But it’s still a story worth noting, given it shows the death of an obsolescent paternalism and entitlement model about as relevent today as old-fashioned Democratic goals for government after World War II (not to mention the loonier radicalism from the Sixties onward). We’re going to see real sustainability problems with our vast welfare system that benefits mainly the middle class, first and foremost being Social Security and Medicare. And that’s before extending the scope of Medicare to more people, the obvious goal that will be sought soon by some in the federal government.