I’m not fond of unions, but you could roll back all the salary gains attributed to unions and we still aren’t going to compete with billions of Chinese willing to work for $2 a day.
Only 11% of the U.S. workforce is unionized and only 7% of the private sector is unionized. You make a good point about unions taking over government, but unions are simply not the real issue causing this economic crisis. Neither is government taxes and regulation, although everyone would like to see less of both.
The COST of government, at all levels, is astronomical, as is the funding of bailouts to favored groups (banks, pension funds, etc.), which is ALSO payback for continued support of politicians. For example, quality of public education is in the toilet, the Union rules have made incompetency a protected species, and un-limited funding from special interests to keep buddy-buddy Legislation and Funding-steering of taxdollars to supporters have created the largest money-making machine in the world (American government at all levels).
The bottom line is that the Government is the siphon, and the taxpayer is the target. They've over-spent future revenues, and continue to do so, leaving taxpayers on the hook for their greed.