I’m not a conspiracy theory guy. I believe President Kennedy was shot by a communist named Lee Harvey Oswald. I believe President Obama was born in Hawaii. I believe that terrorists carried out the attacks of 9/11 and that it’s not a sinister strategy by the Bilderberg Group to raise gas prices. However, I have to admit that it’s just a little strange that after the U.S. government purchased GM that Toyota is under fire from the government and the press due to recalls.
Toyota isn’t the first car manufacture to issue a recall. The press has been beating up Toyota for week. Every time there’s a wreck involving a Toyota my local news editorializes “could this be because of the accelerator problem?” The public hysteria is fuel by the media. Remember the Swine Flu? Remember the New Orleans cannibals? Theodore Frank has a op-ed in the Washington Examiner titled “I am not afraid of my Toyota Prius.”
Even if one believes all the hype, the reaction so far has been a giant overreaction. Fifty-odd deaths over 10 years and millions of Toyotas is a drop in the bucket compared to the general risk of being on the road at all. It’s entirely possible that more people will be killed driving to the dealer for the recall than lives will be saved from going through the safety theater demanded by the Department of Transportation.
It’s fascinating to me how people are consumed with worry about things that aren’t really dangerous. It’s like the lawmakers in Maine who are worried about cell phones. The most egregious aspect of the Toyota alarmism is when the Toyota executives were dragged before Congress. Or another way to look at it was that the executives were dragged in front of their competitors. Now that the government owns a large portion of GM isn’t it just a little bit of a conflict of interest for them to beat up Toyota?
Gee, what make of car does this author drive. Only 50 deaths…. One is too many. Did this author stand up and fight for Ford or GM when they were in the hot seat for roll-overs that were self-induced? I think not. Stay on the sidelines spambot.