Are unions behind Toyota hearings?

There is nothing funny about the individuals killed or injured while driving Toyotas with defects. However, it was comical to observe the company's senior executives being hauled before committees of the U.S. Congress this week where members posed pointed questions to the executives; and also obliged them to cower and apologize before, during, and after being pilloried.

The comedy in this scenario came when members of Congress second-guessed the managerial decision-making, engineering practices, and quality control measures of one of the most successful firms in history.

In contrast, collectively, the congressional inquisitors are the worst managers in the history of the earth. With few exceptions, members of congress know absolutely nothing about effective management. It was their own regulators that didn't prompt Toyota to act more quickly to address problems, just as their own regulators failed to snare Bernie Madoff, or the wild speculative behavior of AIG and the big banks. The only observable skills possessed by those who represent us in Congress are: (1) spending other people's money, (2) shuffling papers, (3) emitting hot air, and (4) hypocrisy.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, they parade and exhibit their ignorance too often. The Toyota people are talented and resourceful people. They didn't need the political theater of Washington to realize they had a serious problem that needed a remedy.

One cannot help but wonder if the current administration's assault on private enterprise isn't, in Toyota's case, fueled by the fact that it is a nonunion shop? After all, the GM and Chrysler bailouts taught us that the interests of the UAW trump the interests of the taxpayers.

Looking ahead, let's pick better people in November who will resist the temptation to become a member of the cast of the Washington Theater of the Absurd.

Charles F. Falk

Schaumburg