There is an opinion peice in the WSJ where the author states along the lines that "GM gave away rediculously rich union contracts in the 60's/70's because GM was flush with cash, and thought they could bankrupt smaller Ford and Chrysler who could not afford such contracts. The botton fell out this plan when Toyota, Honda, and so forth started having success in the US and did not need union labor".

Is there any truth to this? That one management stratagy right there might be among the worst in corprate history.