Monday, May 24, 2010

Ned Ludd Returns II

But an EXTRA! update.  May 12, 2010, embarrassing President Obama who is trying every trick in the book to hobble bitter competitor and largest car company in the World, Toyota Motor Corp., announced profitability for its fourth fiscal quarter.  Growing nearly 50% year-to-year, profits reached $3,320,000,000. 

Speaking of GM, its CEO is still thrashing around, changing the guard once again, bringing in a guy from Hyundai.  Hyundai?  49 year-old Joel Ewanick did a clever campaign allowing customers to return Hyundai cars if they lost their jobs.  In a brilliant strategic move GM CEO Whitacre named the guy U. S. marketing VP.  Hyundai?  The prior VP, a woman named Susan Docherty, didn't perform fast enough, being in the position since December  (Ewanick is #4 marketing chief in a year at GM).   Mr. Ewanick must be known for his loyalty, coming to GM from Nissan Motor Co., where he jumped in promotion to chief marketing officer in March, yes, that's a couple months ago.  Mr. Whitacre is desperate. and seems as clueless and inexperienced as his boss, President Barack Obama.

In another strategic move for GM, U. S. regulators hit Toyota again, this time looking deeply and publically into whether Toyota was too slow in reporting steering issues in 2004 and 2005.  That must be getting to the bottom of the barrell, and comes from 21 complaints of 978,000 cars (.002%). Oh, yes, the complaints predictably came from Democratic Party financiers, trial lawyers who are piling on for some $500,000,000 in potential legal fees from class action lawsuits against Toyota

And speaking of Democratic Party financiers, the United Auto Union bosses who loudly and publically gave "wage concessions" to GM have in fact not suffered any such concessions.  Seems the new workers who were to be hired at cut-rate wages of $25.65 an hour haven't been hired because some 5,000 old workers are sitting around making 70% $60 an hour waiting to be hired first -- no not working but sucking our taxpayers' money.  Let's see, either union bosses are smarter than our U. S. government or our U. S. government knew and lied to us to get its disgusting $65,000,000,000 snatch of U. S. money to give GM to directly benefit the aforesaid unions.


The left-leaning Consumer Reports Magazine (April 14, 2010) issued a "don't buy" recommendation, its first for ten years, on the Lexus GX 460, because its rear slides out at excessive speed and aggressive maneuvering and that just might cause a rollover.  Why not just don't drive at excessive speed?  Unanswered question because of course the driver would never be at fault, only the for-profit, anti-union manufacturer. 


Extra! Extra!  Obama-managed General Motors Co. loses only $4,300,000,000 since bankruptcy.  (One article mentions that GM is paying union workers not to work. SO, wht's new?  And said union is suing said GM for another $450,000,000 for healthcare.  That's gratitude for you.)

But more importantly to the Lefdt-wing, GM added a professor of psychology to its board.  Oh, yes she was also a Los Angeles City Commissioner (a Democrat I presume).  GM proudly stated that the good prof is a Hispanic and would bring diversity to its board, so much more important than things like experience and knowledge to a company that doesn't have to perform, only keep its union workers at any cost to the taxpayers.


This post has nothing to do with the Luddites of Congress, as an earlier post did, but is about the continuing unfair advantage General Motors has over Toyota Motor Corp.  Remember, General Motors is owned by the most powerful country in the world, the United States of America.  Toyota became the largest automobile in the world by offering consumers products they wanted.  Quality was prominant in Toyota's strategy.  GM, not so much and it entered bankruptcy in 2009.  After being attacked in the Left-wing media (cheered on by corrupt tort lawyers) and the Obama Administration (manager of GM), Toyota sales stumbled.  But quick and effective marketing picked them right up.  Interesting although judged "GUILTY!" by Obama and the liberal media, nothing has been discovered to indicate Toyota was at fault or that the issue of "sudden acceleration" is anything more than driver error.  The liberal media counted consumer complaints as evidence, as usual. Nevertheless, Toyota recalled over eight million autos worldwide.  (Interesting, yesterday at a supermarket parking lot in Seattle a Lexus, made by Toyota, was pulling into a parking space when its engine revved way up, its tires squealed and it roared up the curb, over the sidewalk and into the Bargreen Drug Store wall. The driver was a shaken old man. Sudden acceleration? Law suit? Don't know.)

All seemed getting back to normal with GM's major competitor, Totota, while GM continued to struggle, even behind non-U.S.owned, non-bankrupt Ford Motor Co.

So Obama Administration Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (also a public Toyota basher) yelled to the media his plans to hit Totota with the largest fine in U. S. transportation history $16.4 million (the last largest was only $1 million) over a gas pedal that was "slow" to return to idle after a driver's foot was picked up.  "Investigators" said it took Toyota four months to notify regulators...there were no serious accidents from this "defect".  I don't know but the largest fine in history for "failing to notify" seems unfairly high. 

And it will be levied by the owner of its major competitor.  Hmmm.  Where are the anti-competitive watchdogs?  Oh, yes, they are Democrats, too, going madly after the private sector, not nationalized auto companies.

(One newspaper article said a cheer could be heard throughout the aisles of private jets owned by tort lawyers.  Such an action by the U. S. Government gives tort lawyers -- major contributors to the Democratic Party -- a huge advantage in the myriad lawsuits seeking class action status against Toyota.)

Our government.is CORRUPT   It is sad.

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