So whatever legitimate problems that Toyota models have, they’re about to get the union thug treatment, courtesy the majority owner of General Motors, also known as the Federal Government.
The U.S. House has issued its conclusions in advance of hearings – saying here’s the verdict, now let’s have the trial.
WASHINGTON — Leading Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Monday that Toyota relied on a flawed study in dismissing the notion that computer issues could be at fault for sticking accelerator pedals, and then made misleading statements about the repairs.
The comments, from Henry A. Waxman, chairman of the committee, and Bart Stupak, a subcommittee chairman, were made in an 11-page letter to James E. Lentz III, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. The letter was released Monday on the eve of the committee’s hearing on the Toyota recalls, one of three scheduled.
Kowtowing to union lobbyists, their own vested interest in GM outperforming Toyota, and the fact that Toyota has spent only $24.9 million lobbying versus GM’s $50 million over the last five years — it’s not hard to see why key members of the House committee would embark on a smear campaign. And I’m sorry, but that’s the only way to describe what you’re going to get when you issue your conclusions before you have hearings.
Here’s the best part — even if Toyota presents evidence that vindicates itself, and that shows they were targeted for a public tarring despite the fact that other manufacturers have as many as 10 times as many safety complaints — they won’t be able to do jack or squat about it.
The damage to their reputation among buyers will be done.
Why no recourse? Sovereign immunity.
Seriously — I know American history inside and out, and we’re approaching a level of federal corruption and crony capitalism that eclipses anything short of Tammany Hall. No, this is worse. Boss Tweed was a piker compared to this lot.
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. -P.J. O’Rourke
Not only does Toyota find itself in competition with Government Motors, it’s also made the mistake of running non-UAW plants with Democrats controlling the Legislative and Executive. Whoops!
Will Toyota strike a deal with the UAW, potentially including opening plants in union-friendly states? It seems unlikely. Will Toyota give up on the US market? Also unlikely. Maybe Toyota will just get used to paying much larger “campaign contributions” to avoid being harassed as long as the Democrats are in power.
I will try to keep this short (lately I have been long winded on this blog). You have nailed this, I saw this coming from a mile away.
Great job.
watched the Stalinistic Show Trial today. The Generalissimo would have been proud. for some backstory on some of the “witnesses” today read this blog post from Hotair.com
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/02/23/begun-the-toyota-war-has/
The only ones you’ve left out are the sharks circling for their pound of cash engorged flesh, the trial lawyers; yet another group to whom the politicians are beholden.
As a long time Toyota customer, I’m disgusted by this spectacle. In all that I’ve read, I can find little that Toyota did wrong, other than not falling on a sword in public. No one wants to blame the victims for the sudden acceleration, but the cause is more than likely driver error. Holman Jenkins had a nice piece on this in the WSJ this morning.
I have perhaps a stupid question, but nonetheless I don’t know the answer.
Since Congress is not under the Judicial branch, what is the penalty if somebody simply refused to show up for one of these kabuki dances? There isn’t actually a ruling or quantifiable outcome resulting from a Congressional Hearing is there?
Say for instance Howard Hughes, Preston Tucker, Mark McGwire, or Akio Toyoda simply said “no, I won’t be attending your grandstanding charade. Thank you very much.”
Anyone who refuses to attend their own evisceration in front of Congress will be vilified by the pompous politicians from their bully pulpit. The dutiful and compliant media will report these rantings every on each news broadcast and every 10 minutes on the “news” channels. On the latter the story will also be magnified and examined in excruciating detail by the talking heads who will also predict the demise, in which they will participate, of the misguided rebel who defied the mighty.