General Motors and Health Care

On the way home this evening, I was listening to MPR, and they were discussing General Motors and their intention to lay off 25,000 workers. It seems that General Motors is very concerned about double digit inflation rates as regards health care coverage for their workers. Their proposed solution? Work with other large companies to ensure that health care isn't so expensive? Work with other large companies to determine alternatives to the current system? Work with other large companies to convince the U.S. politicians that at least partial socialization might benefit workers and increase jobs, productivity and general worker satisfaction and health? Of course not - the obvious answer is to ask the unions to have workers give up their benefits. Those forward-looking business models are surely the ones that will get you ahead - like the one where you relied on continued demand for SUVs in the face of rising oil costs.