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03/03/2010: "Toyota Victimized By Congress' Witch Trials"

By Douglas Mackinnon
"http://www.investors.com/Search/SearchResults.aspx?source=filterSearch&Ntt=DOUGLAS+MACKINNON&Nr=AND%28Author%3aDOUGLAS+MACKINNON%29"Posted 03/01/2010 06:37 PM ET
Let me see if I have this correct. In the worst economy of our lifetimes and as unemployment approaches 11%, Congress went out of its way to purposely humiliate the leadership of a foreign company which is directly responsible for creating and supporting 200,000 jobs in our country?

Why would it do so? Because it could, and for the most part, because being rude and confrontational fit the narrative of getting these showboating members re-elected.
After a saturation blitz by our media, basically every American knows by now that Toyota Motor Corp. has had some safety issues with certain vehicles.

No safety issue should ever be minimized or ignored and no loss of life or injury should ever be discounted. All the opposite. Each and every safety issue must be addressed and fixed just as each and every injury and loss of life must be dealt with in the most respectful and meaningful way possible.

That said, the re-enactment of the Salem Witch Trials being put on by Congress is hardly the way to accomplish such needed goals. In fact, the self-serving behavior of certain members of Congress only serves to bring shame to what should be a very serious and solemn process.

Kick 'Em When They're Down

Make no mistake, members of Congress know an easy target when they see one, and some are only too happy to kick that person or corporation when it's down if such an assault will advance their careers or increase their campaign donations.

Why deal with critical issues like terrorism, the economy, health care or tort reform when you can get some cheap camera time by bashing a foreign CEO. As Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., said in part, "To some degree it seems like we're having a hanging before the trial."

I have a question for those members who felt they had to browbeat Toyota President Akio Toyoda and North American President Yoshimi Inaba: What if they decide, in the end, it's just not worth it and pull their factories out of the United States?

If you don't think it will happen, then you have no understanding of business, competition and human nature.

The reason I bring up the question is because I was just told that precisely because of the perceived Japan-bashing and disrespect directed at the leadership of Toyota by certain members of Congress, representatives from Mexico, Canada and Kenya are already reaching out to the company with the selling points that not only would they be welcomed with open arms, but such self-serving arrogance would never be allowed or tolerated in their countries.