The automaker has long been an icon of the American middle class. G.M.'s current problems remind us of how the disappearing blue-collar middle class struggles mightily to fend for itself in the face of stagnant wages and job insecurity. When the automaker extends a blanket offer to buy out every one of its 113,000 unionized workers in the United States, as it did earlier this week, its troubles are the embodiment of our fears. G.M. worsens the nagging worry about an America without the kinds of jobs that can provide the salaries needed to support families, good health care and a secure retirement.

As its market share has fallen, G.M. has needed fewer and fewer workers. It has even paid many to be idle. The buyout plan is logical and entirely voluntary. We hope that enterprising workers of all ages use it as a springboard to new livelihoods. For the company they will be leaving, our best wish is for it to make better cars. Right now the automaker merges the industrial failure of uninspired designs with the systemic failure of out-of-control costs, suggesting a bleak future. Cutting costs will help G.M. stay afloat, but will not turn it back into a success.

All of G.M.'s problems cannot be traced to unimaginative gas-guzzling vehicles. There is also the matter of health care. Soaring health care costs are a competitive disaster for companies like G.M., which covers 1.1 million workers, retirees and dependents across all 50 states to the tune of $5.4 billion for last year alone. In a global economy, America competes at an enormous disadvantage when businesses overseas can rely on national health care to pick up costs that individual corporations must shoulder here.

If the country shudders at the idea of giving up on G.M., it should really fear the structural problems facing employers, from local governments and small businesses to conglomerates. We can turn away and avoid those problems for a bit longer, or tackle them head-on. That will require political bravery in Washington, always a precious rarity.