WSJ—The Fall of the Midwest Economic Model
Given the current state of the economy, the 2012 presidential race should be Perry’s to lose. If he fails to take advantage of this opportunity…
Money quotes:
Adversarial unionism is one reason the Midwest slumped. It turns out that the 1970 assembly line, with union shop stewards always poised to shut it down, was not the highest stage of human economic development. When you make labor more expensive, you create incentives to invent new machines and create new jobs elsewhere. Foreign auto manufacturers built plants in a South recently freed from state-imposed racial segregation. With no adversarial unions, management and labor could collaborate and achieve quality levels the Big Three took decades to match.
and
Mr. Perry points out that his state, with low taxes and light regulation, has been producing nearly half of America’s new jobs.
Perry needs to avoid discussing the other Republican candidates and focus entirely on the things Texas is doing differently, why they are working when liberal policies in other states are failing, and how they can be extended to the country at large. It’s hard to argue against success.