Toyota’s bad press has been for its sticky pedal incident certainly isn’t surprising, but is all the negative attention warranted? When asked about the Toyota recalls, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood responded by saying, “My advice to anyone who owns one of these vehicles is stop driving it, and take it to the Toyota dealership because they believe they have the fix for it” and that “we’re not finished with Toyota.” Hood later toned down his remarks but immediately after his “stop driving” comment, Toyota’s stocks plummeted. Even after recovering some, …
Government control of General Motors is likely to throw the company into reverse gear rather than forward. By rewarding bad behavior with $50-billion, President Obama has created powerful incentives for even worse performance. In his New York Times column today, David Brooks lays out six reasons why the latest bailout will backfire: GM has been cut off from innovative thinking. Because Obama wiped out existing bondholders in favor of unions, no outsiders will be willing to bring fresh capital and ideas to GM. Insiders who sank the company remain in …
Yesterday, after President Barack Obama again insisted he did not want to run General Motors, we questioned just how reluctant a shareholder the Obama administration will be. Thanks to the Wall Street Journal, we’re beginning to get our answer: The President is so busy not running GM that he had time the night before to call and reassure Detroit Mayor Dave Bing about the new GM’s future location. GM is being courted to move its headquarters to nearby Warren, Michigan. And Mr. Bing told the Detroit News that he had …
