It is endlessly fascinating and grotesque at the same time (I have these combined feelings a lot these days–maybe I need professional help) to read media reports about the cuts that the UAW is agreeing to. Here’s another example in The New York Times from today:

Ford Motor said Wednesday that its new agreement with the United Auto Workers union would save at least $500 million a year and, within several years, bring its labor costs into line with what foreign competitors pay their workers in the United States.

Ford said the deal, which U.A.W. members ratified this week, immediately reduces its “all-in” hourly rate, which includes benefits, to $55.

It said the figure would continue to decline as more workers took buyouts and as the new-vehicle market recovered, allowing increased production.

Ford’s labor costs now amount to a little more than $60 an hour, including health care for retirees. Labor costs for the so-called transplant automakers, including Toyota and Honda, have been about $49 an hour in the United States and are rising, Ford estimates.

“This gets us within the ballpark of where the transplants are,” Joseph R. Hinrichs, Ford’s group vice president for global manufacturing and labor affairs, said. “With the buyouts and with the ability to leverage some of the other tools that are in this agreement, we think we can get there in the next couple of years, on parity with the transplants.”

   Well, okay, those cuts will save a lot of money yada yada…but where is the discussion, or passing reference, to the notion that this is effectively kissing the middle class goodbye? I mean, hello?