Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson has a slightly different take on why the UAW lost the Chattanooga vote. Essentially, Samuelson places the vote in an historical context that reveals why the old industrial unions are disappearing: What bolstered unions after World War II was the dominance of American business. Companies faced little or no competition. In autos, the Big Three (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) had almost all the market. American Telephone & Telegraph enjoyed a near-monopoly of phone service. Government regulatory agencies restricted competition among airlines (the Civil Aeronautics Board) and truckers (the Interstate Commerce Commission) by limiting the number of companies that could provide service on any route. Together, modest competition and technological superiority produced what economists call "rents" -- excess returns that could go to shareholders (in higher profits), workers (in higher wages and fringes) and consumers (in lower prices...(Read Full Post)