Put It In Neutral And Apply The Brakes

It would be good if the government heeded that advice with regard to spending.

Instead, they are attacking the Toyota Motor Company.

But Pastorius, you say, these Toyota's have faulty accelerator pedals which sometimes cause the cars to speed out of control.

Ok, perhaps. I know plenty of people who have Toyota Camry's, and I know of none who have had this problem. But, I do know this can happen. It happened to me with an old Ford Fairlane way back when I was 17 years old, and a brand new driver.

So, get this, I'm making a left hand turn, and all of the sudden the accelerator pedal comes out from underneath my foot, and the car accelerates like crazy. I pump the brakes, the car will not stop. The left turn I'm making is not going left, instead, the car is going diagonal right towards a gas station pump, at about 25 MPH, even with the brakes applied.

So, I PUT THE CAR IN NEUTRAL AND I APPLIED THE BRAKES.

If a brand new, 17 year old, driver can think of the solution, then the Media and the government can think of the solution.

But, you haven't read the solution anywhere, have you?

The government could, if they cared, be doing everything they could to get this message out. But, they are not doing so.

This is because the government does not care about you. They don't care that Toyota's cars might hurt you.

What they care about is hurting Toyota.

Why?

The Washington Examiner will tell you why:

Gangster government targets Toyota

Examiner Editorial
February 4, 2010

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

What is it about the automotive industry that inspires such thuggish attitudes in the Obama administration? The Examiner's Michael Barone coined the term "gangster government" to describe threats by the White House last spring against Chrysler creditors who had the temerity to insist that bankruptcy laws be followed in the bailout of the perennially ailing third member of the once-fabled Detroit Big Three.

Now along comes Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood muttering darkly that "we're not finished with Toyota" in the controversy over sticking gas pedals in vehicles made and sold in America by the Japanese automaker.

The basis for these threats is little more than anecdote-based suspicions that an electronic malady related to electro-magnetic interference from power lines might be the problem instead of the mechanical wear identified by Toyota engineers.

Regardless, LaHood, headline-chasing congressmen like Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and a chorus of Naderite auto safety nannies led by former National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Joan Claybrook are demanding that Toyota submit to a punishing new round of subpoenas, hearings, and media inquisition.

It's not enough that Toyota -- the auto industry's perennial leader on respected measures of initial and long-term quality -- has already taken the unprecedented step of suspending production and sales of eight of its most popular models, undertaken a crash course to identify the cause of the problem, and guaranteed a fix for every one of the 2.3 million affected owners.

Given the Obama administration's catering to one of its favorite special interest groups, the United Auto Workers union, during the government's bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler last year, it is difficult to avoid wondering whether Toyota has become a victim of the Chicago Way of dealing with competitors.

Toyota overtook GM several years ago as the world's leading automaker. The potential of the current sticking gas pedal controversy to inflict damage on Toyota here in its largest single market is seen in the January sales figures. Toyota sales are down 16 percent while GM is up 14 percent (Ford, which declined a government bailout last year, is up 25 percent, while Chrysler is down 8 percent).

Keep the controversy going and odds are good that Toyota sales will continue to drop. The biggest losers besides American consumers will be the men and women who own and work at Toyota's 1,200 U.S. dealerships and the 30,000 Americans who build Toyotas in its five factories here. LaHood might as well have said "Nice car company ya got there, be a shame if anything happened to it."

Punditarian adds: One thing the Examiner didn't mention, is that Ray LaHood's employer, the Federal government, owns GM.

So you now have GM using the power of the government to attack a competitor. You have the government using its vast power to weaken a free-market competitor.

That has got to be one of the most corrupt actions ever taken by any American administration.

This is the way it works in Obama's America.