And for the workers who are out of jobs: don't blame the government for not bailing you out. Blame the unions who made sure you got paid more than most university graduate professions.
Don't be so sure of that. I am at UF, a public institution, thus the prof's salaries are public record. Google "UF salaries". Note that is a 471 page pdf file. My prof makes $83K for 9 months of work. Now, I do not know how much UAW workers make, but keep in mind that is for 9 months of work and is last years payroll. The range of all professors I have had, from available records and my memories, range from $140K to 62K, most for 9 months of work and tenured. The biggest number in the pdf file is 400K for 9 months and the smallest is 4K for a recent grad student - probably a stipend. This also neglects any other jobs they have such as medical professors that also have a medical practice (said 400K person is one of these).