In one day I received two emails with the title:  Two letters-One from GM President-One from auto parts supplier.  I checked snopes (you can read the email here:   http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/knox.asp if you haven't already seen it) and they confirm it is a real letter although Mr. Knox should be ashamed.   It's incredible to me that when a business does well it is because of the management and CEO but when it fails it's because of the lazy workers.  How many CEOs and managers wrote letters praising their workers when the economy was thriving?  At any rate, in response to his letter:

First of all, to call union workers overpaid, arrogant, ignorant, lazy and entitlement-minded is not true and creates and/or perpetuates a hateful stereotype.  There is a very small minority of people in the United States that could be described with those words and they are represented by every occupation, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, and/or age.  Being in a union doesn't create and/or change a persons character and/or work ethic.
 
Secondly, he states that we (I assume United States citizens) have decided that capitalism doesn't work and the United States is in the process of nationalizing but "our once fine citizens don't even have a clue this is what is really happening."  The capitalism ideal is that government should be "hands-off" so the free market, based on supply and demand, can maximize consumer welfare.  It does not work.  The United States is now dealing with the consequences of what happens when governmental oversight is relaxed. Unfortunately, government intervention is necessary to curb the abuse that is inevitable when power-driven, greedy individuals are given the freedom to do what they want with their companies and to their employees.  Government and unions were instrumental in stopping abuse that was suffered at the hands of workers in this country when employers were not regulated and trusted to do the right thing by their employees.  While I am the first one to agree that most people are complacent about civic issues and should become involved well before they are negatively impacted, nationalizing?  Nationalism, by definition, is just a philosophy that believes a group of people's primary duty/loyalty should be to their nation.  It isn't a economic/social/policital system and whether stated or not I think most Americans would believe this, as evidenced by the reaction to 9/11.
 
Thirdly, Obama is NOT "reeling it back in" when he talks about the economy.  I saw, heard and read several speeches in the last two years and he NEVER implied that he had a "magic wand" or that it would be easy to fix.  In fact, in almost every one of his speeches (which can be found here:  http://www.barackobama.com/speeches/index.php)  he talks about how difficult our current situation is and how complex it will be to fix.  He also stresses the fact that it will take sacrifices by ALL Americans to overcome and reverse the current state of the nation's economy....among other things.
 
Fourthly, people who jump over the border illegally don't get free health care benefits.  In 1996, Congress excluded noncitizens from access to many government programs (including welfare) which include:  grants, contracts, loans, licenses, health, disability, public/assisted housing, post-secondary education, food assistance and unemployment benefits.  It is only after five years as a legal permanent resident that an immigrant is eligible to apply for US citizenship.  It is citizenship which then gives that individual the right to vote and then draw on government benefit programs if they are eligible.  
 
I'm sure the president of Knox Machinery, letter-writer Gregory Knox, makes good money AND thinks he's worth it.  I wonder if he has ever driven a forklift or had to work as a forklift operator.  I have not so I can't make any comment on whether or not it is a job that warrants an $85,000/year salary.  However, I would venture to guess that there are many people who would scoff at the amount of money that Mr. Knox pays himself compared to what he pays his employees and would also say that it is disproportionate compared to the work performed.  Since I don't know what he makes or what he does, that is not my opinion, I'm just guessing that there are people who would balk at the money he makes for the work he does.
 
Finally, I believe that every one of us is to blame for the current state of the economy and, more specifically, auto industry.  There is a lot of attention paid to labor costs, but research indicates that they only account for approximately 10% of the cost of making a vehicle.  So, we can try to blame management as they have certainly played a major role with their inability or unwillingness to prepare for the global economy or people's response to environmental concerns.  We could blame vendors, like Knox Machinery, who continued to inflate the prices of their products (while not increasing wages) that were imperative to manufacturing a vehicle efficiently.  If you don't agree with that, put blame on politicians who have been hesitant to put any regulations on these corporations for fear of political fallout.  
 
But ultimately, if we wanted to save these companies, we would have demanded a better American-made product and bought more cars.