"Get Toyota"

[Mega]

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/22/v...n-acceleratio/

Is a message being sent to Japan ref those "Silly idea's" about the US closing bases & going home.......keep buy those bonds or else????
Mike

[don]

Re: "Get Toyota"

February 23, 2010
Lawmakers’ Ties to Toyota Questioned at Start of Inquiries

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON — As Congress prepares to open hearings on Tuesday into Toyota’s rash of safety problems, government watchdog groups are questioning whether the deep financial and personal connections between lawmakers and the carmaker could taint the inquiries.

Toyota, as both a major employer in the United States and a major lobbying force in Washington, has staked out a position in the capital unlike almost any other foreign corporation, with close ties to a number of the lawmakers who will lead inquiries into the safety defects that have led to the recall of more than eight million vehicles.

Federal disclosure records show that Toyota, with 31 lobbyists in Washington last year, has spent nearly $25 million on federal regulatory and legislative lobbying matters in the last five years, far more than any other foreign automaker. That amount is certain to grow this year, with Toyota in full damage-control mode in the face of myriad federal investigations.

“Toyota has lobbied to a degree that no other foreign automaker has,” said Dave Levinthal, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group that has analyzed Toyota’s record in Washington.
“They’ve built up years’ worth of connections with federal lawmakers, and that counts for something, when you know the people who are waiting for you on the other side of that door in a contentious situation,” he said.

“Now, does that mean they’re going to get off easily? That remains to be seen.”

However, the potential for conflicts of interest was significant, he added.

We familiar with that one. See: How Our Government Works, Chapters 3-12.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/bu...donate.html?hp

[GRG55]

Re: "Get Toyota"

February 23, 2010
Lawmakers’ Ties to Toyota Questioned at Start of Inquiries

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON — As Congress prepares to open hearings on Tuesday into Toyota’s rash of safety problems, government watchdog groups are questioning whether the deep financial and personal connections between lawmakers and the carmaker could taint the inquiries.

Toyota, as both a major employer in the United States and a major lobbying force in Washington, has staked out a position in the capital unlike almost any other foreign corporation, with close ties to a number of the lawmakers who will lead inquiries into the safety defects that have led to the recall of more than eight million vehicles.

Federal disclosure records show that Toyota, with 31 lobbyists in Washington last year, has spent nearly $25 million on federal regulatory and legislative lobbying matters in the last five years, far more than any other foreign automaker. That amount is certain to grow this year, with Toyota in full damage-control mode in the face of myriad federal investigations.

“Toyota has lobbied to a degree that no other foreign automaker has,” said Dave Levinthal, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group that has analyzed Toyota’s record in Washington.
“They’ve built up years’ worth of connections with federal lawmakers, and that counts for something, when you know the people who are waiting for you on the other side of that door in a contentious situation,” he said.

“Now, does that mean they’re going to get off easily? That remains to be seen.”

However, the potential for conflicts of interest was significant, he added.

We familiar with that one. See: How Our Government Works, Chapters 3-12.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/bu...donate.html?hp

Nothing like a little "truth in advertising" in the media.

As this story unfolds I am more and more convinced there's a politically motivated pile-on underway against Toyota...and the captured media are once again playing their role.

I'm not trying to defend Toyota's influence peddling...just pointing out that Toyota is by no means unique.

From the OpenSecrets website - 2009 Lobbying Spending Data:

Toyota $5,232,760
General Motors $8,400,000
Ford $7,000,000
Nissan $3,676,000
Honda $2,568,674
Chrysler $2,213,362
Cerberus Capital [Chrysler LLC] $1,418,161
Volkswagen $1,050,000
Alliance of Automotive Manf. $5,794,700

Total industry [incl others] $42,047,822

This is, of course, utterly dwarfed by the FIRE sector which spent a whopping $463,942,131 buying up government in 2009...:p

[don]

Re: "Get Toyota"

Nothing like a little "truth in advertising" in the media.

As this story unfolds I am more and more convinced there's a politically motivated pile-on underway against Toyota...and the captured media are once again playing their role.

I'm not trying to defend Toyota's influence peddling...just pointing out that Toyota is by no means unique.

From the OpenSecrets website - 2009 Lobbying Spending Data:

Toyota $5,232,760
General Motors $8,400,000
Ford $7,000,000
Nissan $3,676,000
Honda $2,568,674
Chrysler $2,213,362
Cerberus Capital [Chrysler LLC] $1,418,161
Volkswagen $1,050,000
Alliance of Automotive Manf. $5,794,700

Total industry [incl others] $42,047,822

This is, of course, utterly dwarfed by the FIRE sector which spent a whopping $463,942,131 buying up government in 2009...:p

You're making an excellent point of inquiry. Toyoto is playing the game and still taking quite an ass-kicking. Why?

Where's Taibbi when we need him ;)

[don]

Re: "Get Toyota"

My wife advice to Toyota:

Buy treasuries! And all your problems will go away....

[ASH]

Re: "Get Toyota"

You're making an excellent point of inquiry. Toyoto is playing the game and still taking quite an ass-kicking. Why?

The reason why is that elected officials in Washington are primarily motivated by winning elections, and calling Japanese executives onto the carpet to apologize to Congress has been -- and remains -- great political theater. Yes, Congress is influenced by money from lobbyists, but that money is used to pay for campaigning, and some issues are worth more votes in posturing than money. This is a low-brow demonstration of who is whose bitch that feeds an underlying seam of jingoism, and salves American insecurity about jobs, manufacturing quality, and economic competition. We're so used to hearing about how American manufactured goods can't compete on quality with Japan -- and have just been through the humiliating failure of GM, which was unseated spectacularly by Toyota -- so it feels good to make a representative of the foreign competition which defeated our domestic industry squirm. All the better that Americans can't think about Japan without recalling how our fathers beat theirs 65 years ago. Pushing Japanese businessmen around reminds America of prouder days.

[BK]

Re: "Get Toyota" - Teamsters are concerned about the Safety of Americans

United Auto Workers, Teamsters Call Toyota 'A Danger To America'
January 28, 2010
Labor, Environmental And Consumer Activists Take Protest To Japanese Embassy

Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and United Auto Workers (UAW) Vice President Bob King joined representatives from labor, environmental and consumer groups outside the Embassy of Japan in Washington today to call on the Japanese government to hold Toyota accountable for waging an attack on thousands of good-paying jobs in the United States
http://www.teamster.org/content/unit...danger-america

Its much easier to negotiate with a Company when they are in trouble......Create a crisis with the help of a Pro-Union Administration. Over whelm Toyota with Recalls and bad press - and then a friendly Union guy will offer to make a phone call........
its all about hope and change.

[MulaMan]

Re: "Get Toyota"

Lots of people are now buying a Hyundai.

They will be to Japan as China is to America - destruction of thier middle class.

[LargoWinch]

Re: "Get Toyota"

Lots of people are now buying a Hyundai.

They will be to Japan as China is to America - destruction of thier middle class.

I am not sure to follow.

[Master Shake]

Re: "Get Toyota"

You're making an excellent point of inquiry. Toyoto is playing the game and still taking quite an ass-kicking. Why?

Ummm, because the US Government owns GM and Chrysler?? It's like Toyota being grilled by GM's Board of Directors.

[loweyecue]

Re: "Get Toyota"

Nothing like a little "truth in advertising" in the media.

As this story unfolds I am more and more convinced there's a politically motivated pile-on underway against Toyota...and the captured media are once again playing their role.

I'm not trying to defend Toyota's influence peddling...just pointing out that Toyota is by no means unique.

From the OpenSecrets website - 2009 Lobbying Spending Data:

Toyota $5,232,760
General Motors $8,400,000
Ford $7,000,000
Nissan $3,676,000
Honda $2,568,674
Chrysler $2,213,362
Cerberus Capital [Chrysler LLC] $1,418,161
Volkswagen $1,050,000
Alliance of Automotive Manf. $5,794,700

Total industry [incl others] $42,047,822

This is, of course, utterly dwarfed by the FIRE sector which spent a whopping $463,942,131 buying up government in 2009...:p

Finally a price tag on congress. Was there a thanksgiving day sale as well?

[lakedaemonian]

Re: "Get Toyota"

Finally a price tag on congress. Was there a thanksgiving day sale as well?

I'm wondering if Congress gave them the Friends and Family Discount?

[don]

Re: "Get Toyota"

"Many economists and business executives say they hope that Toyota's trauma will be the wake-up call that Japan needs to understand that its reliance on manufacturing and industrial exports, which served the country so well after World War II, is no longer wise.

"Yukio Noguchi, a professor of finance at Waseda University in Tokyo, said Japan must finally evolve into a postindustrial service-based economy- a painful transition that the United States and Great Britain underwent in the 1980s. "



Here's Whitney's take:

The War on Toyota

By MIKE WHITNEY
Does anyone really believe that Toyota is being pilloried in the media for a few highway fatalities?

Nonsense.

But this isn't about bloodshed and it's certainly not "safety regulations". It's about politics--bare-knuckle Machiavellian politics. An attack on Toyota is an attack on Japan's leading export. It is an act of war. Here's a excerpt from the New York Times which explains what is really going on:

"The Japanese economy has emerged from its worst recession since World War II, but is still reeling. Japan must do more to lift its economy out of deflation and boost long-term growth, S.&P. said.
“The outlook change reflects our view that the Japanese government’s diminishing economic policy flexibility may lead to a downgrade unless measures can be taken to stem fiscal and deflationary pressures,” S.&P. said. “The policies of the new Democratic Party of Japan government point to a slower pace of fiscal consolidation than we had previously expected.”

President Barack Obama is expected to address similar worries in the Untied States on Wednesday, with a call for a freeze in spending on many domestic programs, a move he hopes will quell perceptions that government spending is out of control. Fiscal problems in Greece and Ireland have also helped put the spotlight on the issue of national debt." ("Japan’s High Debt Prompts Credit Rating Warning", HIROKO TABUCHI AND BETTINA WASSENER, NY Times)

Japan's new liberal government is fighting deflation using the traditional methodology, by lowering interest rates and increasing fiscal stimulus. But that's not what Washington wants. Neoliberal policymakers and their buddies in the right-wing think tanks want "fiscal consolidation" which means harsh austerity measures that will deepen the recession, increase unemployment, and trigger a wave of defaults and bankruptcies. This is how western corporatists and bank tycoons keep their thumb on the developing world and thrust their economies into perennial crisis. It's the "shock doctrine" and it's been the IMF's modus operandi for over 20 years. Japan is being stuffed into a fiscal straight-jacket by supporters of the Washington consensus whose goal is to weaken government and accelerate the privatization of public assets and services.

The ratings agencies are being used in the same way as the media; to wage an economic/guerrilla war on Japan and force the administration to rethink their economic policies. (Note: There is no chance that Japan will default on its debt because it pays its debts in its own currency and has large foreign exchange reserves of over $1 trillion) The attacks on Toyota are a way of showing Tokyo what happens to countries that fail to obey Washington's orders.

Here's a clip from the New York Times which sums up the problem in a nutshell:

The government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has "bolstered spending on social programs aimed at helping households......The powerful lower house of parliament approved a supplementary budget for the fiscal year that ends in March worth ¥7.2 trillion, or $80.3 billion, to help shore up the economy...And next year, government spending will grow further with a record trillion-dollar budget including ambitious welfare outlays. (New York Times)

Western elites will not tolerate economic policies which raise the standard of living for the average working slob. "Social programs" or "welfare outlays" are anathema to their trickle down, Voodoo capitalist orthodoxy. What they want is upward redistribution and class warfare. Regrettably, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has put himself at odds with US powerbrokers and is feeling the full measure of their wrath. His public approval ratings have plummeted to 37 percent and are headed downward still. The message is simple: Cross Washington and you're a goner.

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney02252010.html