A Word About Toyoda

Are you okay? by Daifuku Sensei. Toyotas comprise the majority of Japan's armada of taxis, such as this cab in Tokyo.

An empire is slowly crumbling, and with the accelerator pedals out of order, it's impossible to stop the decline. When I first heard about the automotive recall by Japan's largest car manufacturer, I brushed it off as a minor footnote to the corporate biography of the most powerful company in Japan, if not the world. But this wasn't Hyundai circa 1986. This was Toyota, is Toyota, and a car company in free fall.

I'm not hopeful about Toyota's future. I say short that stock, and do it now. The scandal has been met with denial, indifference, and even arrogance, quickly followed by primal fatalism.

Martin Jacques ruthlessly noted that empires in decline usually do not notice an ongoing state of deterioration until it is too late. What does this mean for a company that embodies post-war Japan? I foresee seismic changes ahead, a threat to business as usual that's also an opportunity in disguise. I hope I'm not alone.