Jim, what you say is true from your experience, and you spread blame around. I was a trade unionist with the American Newspaper Guild which evolved into a Canadian union of its own. A very rich man, Robert Kelly, made comments similar to yours to Halifax business people recently. The Canadian/Nova Scotian former head of the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, also chancellor of St. Mary's University here, blamed unions for our current economic woes.

A Canadian professor of the university's Faculty of Commerce with a doctorate from University of Warwick, England, School of Industrial and Business Studies would have none of it. Larry Haiven wrote an op-ed for the province's newspaper of record, The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, headed by editors "Don't Blame The Unions." This is part of what he said:

"How unfair and inaccurate. After a financial meltdown caused by financial speculation, it is indeed rich to blame the 99 per cent for pursuing a better life through one of the most effective vehicles available---unions.

"Evidence across the country is that unions, even the strongest and largest bargaining units, have not done better than the workforce as a whole and the public sector workers have done worse than private. Were it not for trade unions, earning figures for the entire workforce would be lower than they are.

"Right-to-work states in the US, by and large, happen to be the low productivity ones. Across the world, highly unionized countries tend to be among the most productive and prosperous. A World Bank report a few years ago touted collective bargaining as an important contributor to coordinated labour markets.

"The financial crisis still plaguing us was fuelled precisely by the growing inequality in earnings, placing piles of capital in the hands of speculators dreaming up even more unstable tricks to produce results."

Another view, Jim. Germany is a high-wage economy with strong unions. I think they build cars.