Intelligence, strictly book smarts since we are talking about college, is worth a lot in this country. That is how colleges can justify their high cost, because the future dividends possible from such an education is worth much more than the money we pay for a college degree. Its not elitist to say that its technically wrong for a person without a college degree to make more than one with a degree. Though, once you factor in hard work, determination, and street smarts, a person without a college degree can make more than a person with a degree.
Saying that, union workers don't need college degrees because they have the union as the basis for such a high salary. They aren't paid so much because their skill is worth a lot on the free market, they are paid high salaries because they are an organized union which has set the standard for the industry and can control the supply of a workforce, esspically one as specific as automakers. I guarentee you, if you put these people on the free market, sans union, they would make almost half of what they currently make even with street smarts, determination, and hard work factored in. So in a way, yes, they don't really deserve to be making that much more than college graduates.
To give you some backround if you going to judge me, I go to college, a private expensive one, and pay everything out of my pocket, not mommy and daddy.
