“It is not within the power of United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger to save GM, Ford and Chrysler. But it is certainly within his power to kill them,” according to an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. Reason Foundation analyst Shikha Dalmia writes today:

UAW workers still enjoy a health-care deal that no one else in America or Japan — or quite possibly the planet — does. Yet Mr. Gettelfinger said last week that the 2005 health-care givebacks were the toughest decision he ever made in his entire career. This is a startling admission that reflects the depth of the UAW’s entitlement mentality, and its detachment from the world that its fellow Americans inhabit. But such lavish expectations are unsustainable under any system — American or Japanese. This is a reality that Mr. Gettelfinger must accept. Otherwise, he may well push U.S. auto makers over the cliff — and his comrades with them.