The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne is one of the smarter liberal pundits, though he cannot stop thinking about conservatives in stereotypical fashion. In his column today, he recognizes that the old liberal model of unions pushing up wages through monopsonistic control of the labor supply has crumbled in the face of global competition. His conclusion:

The old bargain is breaking down and is in urgent need of renegotiation. The most promising place to start would be in reforms of the areas where the old bargain worked best: health, retirement and schooling.

If he is correct, then the Democrats need to lose their dependence on trial lawyers and teacher unions, which are two of the forces holding back the productivity (and therefore the ability to earn high wages) of the American worker.

Ed Lasky   6 13 06