Via Reuters: GM to cut 30,000 jobs

General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) will cut about 30,000 jobs, close or significantly curtail operations at 12 plants and cut the amount of vehicles it produces every year by 1 million as it attempts to cut costs by $7 billion.

The troubled automaker also said a recent agreement with the United Auto Workers union will allow it to cut health-care costs by about $3 billion annually.

Not a surprise, given that GM has been struggling.

This cut back is going to result in an increased discussion of national health care in the United States, on the predicate that US business has an unfair advantage vis-a-vis foreign produced automobiles since other countries subsidize business by providing health care.

Indeed, I heard a reference to Toyota not having to worry about such costs. However, that is not entirely true, as Toyota makes a lot of cars in the US and their employees don’t hop planes and go to Japan for health care.