Drivers did not engage their brakes in virtually all of the “sudden acceleration” cases with Toyota cars, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. While falling short of exonerating Toyota, the results suggest that that the congressional show-trials that occurred in February were – surprise – both preemptive and a political stunt.

Typically I would suggest that this is simply a case of Representatives attempting to score political points. But, in a time when the government holds a major stake in GM and Chrysler, it appears that the government has more nefarious motives. It makes a lot of sense to demonize the competition if you want to boost GM and Chrysler’s sales. The government is in a unique position where they can abuse their powers to grow their investment.

Just another reason why government should stay out of business – private companies are at a severe disadvantage when competing against government owned companies.