What's bad for General Motors is bad for America

Writing in today's WSJ, Paul Ingrassia reviews "The Lessons of the GM Bankruptcy":

The relevant question looking forward is whether the unthinkable - going broke - also could happen to America.

Everybody knows that we're running unsustainable federal deficits. And that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created financial sinkholes by helping lenders make mortgages to people who couldn't afford them. And that many states' public-employee pensions funds are hopelessly underfunded for the level of benefits they provide. And that shoveling more money into the public schools without insisting on structural reforms and accountability hasn't produced results and won't do so in the future.

Addressing these issues inevitably means enforcing spending discipline and standing up to public-employee unions in a way that GM failed to do with the UAW. Continued denial and delay will prove ruinous. To put it another way: America bailed out General Motors, but who will bail out America?

Good question. I wonder how much longer Eastern Asia is going to prop up the United States once they figure out we're a nation of deadbeats. Dude, we totally swear we're not going to monetize our debt.