Screw Americans! Toyota Needs More Profit!

Greco

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2008
Messages
634
Haley Barbour is the current Republican governor of Mississippi. He's also a name that keeps resurfacing as a possible presidential candidate in 2012. Here's a bit of a preview of how he thinks.

He was in office during the disastrous period of time from Hurricane Katrina. Although his own state was clobbered, and at the time they had hospitals with no power, while FEMA diverted resources, at the suggestion of Dick Cheney, to getting oil pipelines functioning, he had nothing but praise for George W. Bush's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At the time he was praising Bush on national television like a loyal Republican, there were still residents in New Orleans standing on rooftops with flood waters swirling around holding "Help Me" signs. But after getting the oil pipelines restored, eventually his own Mississippi residents got the power restored in hospitals. He seemed quite pleased with that prioritizing.

Today, Haley Barbour is back in the national limelight with an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post. He starts his op-ed with, "When I announced three years ago that Toyota would open a U.S. vehicle assembly plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi I said Toyota was the world's premier automobile manufacturer. I still believe that. Make no mistake, the safety and reliability concerns identified in some Toyota automobiles -- although they occur very infrequently -- are serious. It seems to me, however, that the company is doing everything it should as quickly as possible to make things right."

While he comments that the safety issues "occur very infrequently", he never mentions they caused deaths. They were also issues known to Toyota, which they delayed addressing. On February 21, 2010 Associated Press released a story that said:

WASHINGTON - Toyota officials claimed they saved the company $100 million by successfully negotiating with the government on a limited recall of floor mats in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles, according to new documents shared with congressional investigators. Toyota, in an internal presentation in July 2009 at its Washington office, said it saved $100 million or more by negotiating an "equipment recall" of floor mats involving 55,000 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 vehicles in September 2007. The savings are listed under the title, "Wins for Toyota — Safety Group." The document cites millions of dollars in other savings by delaying safety regulations, avoiding defect investigations and slowing down other industry requirements.

Haley Barbour ignores the fact that Bush appointees met with Toyota executives and negotiated away safety for Americans, and Toyota executives boasted of the massive savings by not having to immediately act to fix the problems. Americans died because of that... needlessly. His claim that Toyota "is doing everything it should as quickly as possible to make things right" is a lie. They went to the Bush administration and cut a deal to save $100 million by putting American citizens at risk. That seems to be okay with Haley Barbour, just as it was during the hurricane disaster, where business profits took a higher priority than concern for the well being of people.

He further states in his op-ed piece, "The way that Congress and the Obama administration respond to this controversy will have real economic consequences." Where's his concern for the deaths of Americans? Where's his concern for Bush negotiating away safety for Americans so Toyota could save $100 million? Where is his concern that Toyota intentionally delayed acting on these known issues and those delays proved fatal for some Americans? His op-ed piece never even hints at it.

It's all about the money. Public welfare and safety are way down the list of what appears to be important to Haley Barbour. He's consistent in embracing that philosophy.
 
Werbung:
Well of course.:rolleyes:

I mean the Toyota plant is in his state. You don't seriously expect Haley Barbour to care more about the lives of Americans than the revenue Toyota brings into his state. I mean we can always make more Americans. Hell we're making them every day. If Toyota's are killing a few hundred Americans off here and there that's just the joy of doing big business.

Republicans like Haley Barbour... Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.


 
Back
Top