GM/UAW to discuss health care costs

With GM in the toilet these days it's not much of a surprise that they want to renegotiate their health care costs with the union. GM is no doubt hoping that the union will increase its share of the costs from the current rate of 7% to be closer to the 27% that the salaried workers are paying. The numbers are pretty staggering at the moment with GM forking out $5.2Billion last year and they expect that number to grow to $5.8B this year.

Because of the numbers here, I'm curious to see how this plays out because the UAW is suggesting that GM focuses more on national health insurance instead of asking the union to pay more. One of these days the wingnuts are going to move beyond the "health care is socialist" speech and get serious about a serious problem. Why are the Dem's not labeling this as a very unfair, very expensive tax on the middle class? With families dishing out thousands of dollars per year after already paying taxes, the numbers are brutal. If the Dem's can't see this issue, we are all in serious trouble.