Well, not really. But still: see his characteristically ingenious piece by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker. Gladwell notes the recent flurry of interest among economists and demographers in the "dependency ratio" -- the number of people (children, the elderly, the infirm) in a society that must be supported by full-time workers. Perhaps the most important trigger for Ireland's economic boom in the 1980s, according to some economists, was the increased use of and access to contraceptives, meaning that Ireland had fewer children to clothe, feed and educate and more opportunity for women in the workplace. (Of course in much of continental Europe the pendulum has now swung the other way, with extremely low birthrates prompting fears of too few workers supporting too many senior citizens with generous retirement packages, starting at age 55 in much of Europe.)

And GM? The problem with the American auto industry in this view, indeed most unionized industries, is not the foolish ideas of GM managers, or the recalcitrance of the United Auto Workers. It's that companies like GM which promised generous pensions and benefits to its workers, while other competing companies did and do not, have too high a dependency ratio. They become HMO's that make the occasional car. When Bethlehem Steel declared bankruptcy in 2001, it had 12,000 workers. And a stunning 90,000 retirees and their spouses. Only some kind of national health insurance, Gladwell concludes, will amortize this risk to all employers, making American good and companies more competitive.