End of the private new deal.(PROSPECTS)

A RIPPLE OF ECONOMIC ANXIETY PASSED THROUGH middle America this spring when a bankrupt United Airlines ditched its pension obligations and General Motors announced it would cut 25,000 jobs. That's capitalism, you may say: Individual companies rise and fall, and America's prosperity should never be equated with their fortunes.

But United's abandonment of its pensions and GM's deepening troubles highlight a larger worry that ought to be a focus of our politics. The old corporate America that took responsibility for workers' pensions and health care is dying, and the nation's ...

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