Thomas Sowell is right on target with his column today, noting that labor unions impede prosperity. Intellectuals who have never been in business or thought seriously about the matter are apt to think that unionization is a costless means of transferring some income from “fat cat” capitalists to the poor, deserving worker. That isn’t the case. Unionization may appear to “work” in the short run, but in the long run, capital will not be invested where some of the return is siphoned off by unions. (The economist Ludwig Lachmann developed that argument at length in his book The Strike Threat System.) Some auto industry workers are now losing their jobs due to the past “successes” of the UAW.