Toyota

Think about it. When you press the accelerator, the pad gets stuck. Its definitely scary for a regular driver. I always thought accelerating is a straight forward operation but Toyota story now tells us its not. Rather, its so complicated and has become a threat to Toyota's long enjoyed reputation for quality. Halting the production in the US plants only made the consumers more nervous, though it was the right thing to do.

Though Toyota CEO acknowledged that the company was chasing the numbers and compromised on quality, I feel there was also a 'pull' factor from US consumers. Every other person in the US wanted a Toyota and dealers did not mind stocking Toyotas in large numbers. The only way for Toyota to deliver such large numbers were outsourcing parts from across the world and probably that's where the things started going wrong.

Though Honda stands to gain from this mess, I feel it helps Ford better to emerge as a profitable business in 2010. Also, their product lines are more stylish and better quality. Especially when it comes to trucks and SUVs , Ford has some good products American consumers love to take look at.

Volker Rule

Bad part of Volker rule was that I lost a couple of grants in the unexpected stock market crash. I am not alone, everyone in the lunch table today was whining about bad timing Obama chose for this announcement and how the Volker rule and now doubtful Health reform bill will make him a failure. On a side note, I really wonder the President understands the amount of bad mouthing happens when the stock market goes down a couple of points. This one thing is, probably, the most significant, contributing variable in to his approval rating.

Some channels were showing the way stock market tumbling as Obama started speaking and by the time he was finished, it was well below the day's open levels.This reminds me of an old Saturday Night Live show where Mr. George Bush (Will Ferrel ) says that he decided to speak only in the night because whenever he speaks during the day, the stock market goes in to the crapper. I hope that's not the case with Obama as I have no plan to track his public appearances -:)

Jokes aside, I think the 'Volker rule ' is a formal acknowledgement from the Government that the taxpayers were held hostages during the crisis. If implemented right, these measures could bring the credibility back to the US financial markets(of course with a bad hit on their bottomlines). Its not just Paul Volcker, otherwise moderate Geithner also agrees that such regulations are required to minimise the future risks. Volcker Rule was announced just after the "Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee" and I guess that's what pissed the markets off. We will have to wait and see what's the real impact of Volcker Rule on the financial institutions and how diluted it would be when it comes for implementation. I still want to believe that Obama team wants to implement some sensible policies to avoid the future troubles and if it was just for a political mileage, they were better off without this announcement.