Indifference Our Downfall

Yesterday’s blog of the email with blatant lies just ticked me off. We want truth in advertising (January 14, 2012 a woman sue Honda for $10,000 for failing to meet the mileage stated and a judge on February 2 awarded her $9800 in small claims court; on April 29 we heard that Nutella has to pay out $3.5 million to buyers of their product - $4 per jar up to $20 per person) and on April 28 it was reported that the FDA is requiring 10 companies that make energy supplements with DMAA (the industry makes more than $100 million a year) to prove that they’re safe since they’ve killed 2 soldiers during a workout; manufacturers said DMAA is all natural and doesn’t require FDA approval; a Harvard doctor said it’s not found in any plant, it was only in a prescription nasal spray back in the 1940s and it should be banned nationwide since it can cause heart attacks and strokes. Heck you can’t trust the medical community-on November 20, 2011 Pfizer was ordered to pay $60 million to settle overseas bribery charges; November 23 Merck was ordered to pay $950 million for deceptive marketing of Vioxx; December 23 the Scientific Journal retracted its 2009 report linking Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to a virus. On January 12, 2012 a red wine researcher was accused of fraud in reporting information.

We’re tired of being harassed and on February 21 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began a crackdown on fake debt collectors. On March 18 the FTC said 181,000 complaints were filed in 2011 against debt collectors; older debt collection varies from state to state from 2 – 15 years and agreeing to pay a little on the debt restarts the collection statute of limitation date and sets you up for a legal suit and on April 27 we heard a West Virginia woman sued the debt collector RFA for harassment and won $10,086,000; she said she doesn’t care about the money but would like to see them shut down.       

We’re tired of being taken advantage of. On December 16 Victoria Secret (VS) promised an investigation after Bloomberg News reported allegations that West African child labor is used to pick the cotton they use and kids are pulled out of school and some are beaten; VS said they have strict standards and rely on fair trade organizations to assure workers aren’t exploited and farmers aren’t using children (VS’s cotton starts in Africa, goes to textile factories in India, then to garment manufacturers in Sri Lanka before they reach store shelves in the US and other countries.) On March 3 a counterfeit ring of clothes and boots (Gucci, Lacoste, Ugs, and others) was busted, the ring imported more than $300 million of items made in China. On March 21 Tommy Hilfiger, the Gap, Kohl’s and others are said to be getting rich off clothes and other products made overseas for as little as 22 cents per hour by companies without the safety conditions of US factories and many workers are dying. On February 21 we heard Apple was taking heat for how their biggest supplier (Foxconn) in China is run; accusations of forced overtime (work 60+ hours a week; $2 per hour), under aged labor, and safety concerns (explosions and chemical deaths); on March 29 the Fair Labor Association found about 50 safety violations but no indication of child labor and got Foxconn to lower employees’ work week to 49 hours without a decrease in pay. Now remember that on March 19 we heard that Apple had $97 billion to spend; Steve Jobs since 1995 didn’t allow dividends to be paid but the company is being pressured to spend $7.5-$14 billion on dividends to shareholders. And, on April 29 we heard that Apple made $34.2 billion in profits in 2011 and paid $3.3 billion in taxes (9.8%); they moved some of their profits to Nevada where the corporate tax is zero and 70% to companies overseas-they’re not the only ones doing this; it’s all a big legal tax loophole. On March 22 a Democratic Maryland US Representative discovered that states are licensing fake pharmacies (companies buying drugs from the manufacturers, hoarding them and selling to a drug wholesale company they also own). The drug wholesale company sells to a real pharmacy at a higher price. This process causes drug shortages and raises prices. ABC pointed out that a $15 bottle of fluorouracil is being sold to hospitals for $350.

On February 27 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started a campaign to get Wall Street traders and hedge fund leaders to blow the whistle on those committing fraud; since 2008 securities and commodities fraud and has grown 52% and they have 1800 cases pending. On January 19 New York (NY) hedge fund executive, Anthony Chiazone and 3 others were charged with engineering insider trading of Dell computer stock that resulted in a $53 million profit (the largest single trade profit in history). On February 16 former Olympus executives and a former Chairman were arrested for fraud. On April 26 the FBI arrested 4 associates of a NY man convicted of a $400 million Ponzi scheme and Citizens Bank reached a $137 million settlement in lawsuit regarding excessive overdraft fees.

I’ve said it before-politicians don’t become crooked because they’re in office-they’ve always been that way (remember the former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the second Illinois official to be sentenced, who was convicted of 18 charges of corruption and sentenced to 14 years).  Let’s hope that Professor Olson of the Hamline University School of Law never runs for office. Nothing will change until we all start telling the truth and start showing empathy for one another. I do agree with the email in that apathy (indifference) will be our downfall.