Scams and Other News
2011
Here are some notes on recent scams and reports on other news
you may have missed...
Insider Trading in Congress
Members of congress get to trade stocks on inside information,
unlike anyone else in the country. CBS News reported on this
last year, prompting Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's
office to call the report a "right-wing smear" (Since
when is CBS News a right wing outfit?). Here is a small excerpt
from one interview on CBS:
Schweizer: For example insider trading on the stock market.
If you are a member of Congress, those laws are deemed not to
apply.
Kroft: So congressman get a pass on insider trading?
Schweizer: They do. The fact is, if you sit on a healthcare
committee and you know that Medicare, for example, is-- is considering
not reimbursing for a certain drug that's market moving information.
And if you can trade stock on-- off of that information and do
so legally, that's a great profit making opportunity. And that
sort of behavior goes on.
Kroft: Why does Congress get a pass on this?
Schweizer: It's really the way the rules have been defined.
And the people who make the rules are the political class in
Washington. And they've conveniently written them in such a way
that they don't apply to themselves... We know that during the
health care debate people were trading health care stocks. We
know that during the financial crisis of 2008 they were getting
out of the market before the rest of America really knew what
was going on.
Corporate insiders who trade on non-public information can
go to jail. For some reason, lawmakers, who learn of non-public
information daily, are considered exempt from insider trading
laws. How convenient for them.
Legal Drugs
There are websites selling drugs which mimic their illegal
counterparts in their effects, but which are perfectly legal.
Ecstasy alternatives, cocaine-like drugs and others are marketed
openly. Though I'm reporting on this, I'm not including a link
to any of the vendors, so as not to encourage the use of these
substitutes. It is not a matter of anything being inherently
wrong with altering one's consciousness--meditation, coffee or
a good thought can do that--but due to the unregulated and undeveloped
nature of the industry, it seems likely that some of these substances
are dangerous.
No More Privacy With Swiss Banks
Since not laying one's taxes has long been treated as a civil
rather than criminal matter in Switzerland, Swiss banks have
been hesitant to release any information to U.S. authorities
in cases of tax evasion. That has been changing. Consider this
from The Huffington Post:
U.S. authorities, which suspect thousands of Americans
have used Swiss accounts to evade billions of dollars in taxes,
have been conducting a widening criminal investigation into scores
of Swiss banks, including Credit Suisse.
The Swiss government has been in talks with U.S. authorities
for months to seek a deal to get investigations dropped in return
for payment of fines and the transfer of names of clients suspected
of tax evasion.
Earlier this month a Swiss parliamentary commission approved
a government proposal to allow the country hand over data on
clients on the basis of patterns of suspicious behavior.
Car Scam
You may have considered getting what is called a "program
car" or "factory demo" when shopping for a deal.
But be careful. Industry insider Tony Iorio warns that these
one or two year old vehicles, usually with 30,000 miles or less
on them, are not what they are promoted to be. He says that as
much as 25% are lease returns, and 70% are rental cars. Some
are even problem cars that are sold back to dealers who then
dump them on unsuspecting buyers. You can get a good deal on
"program cars" according to Iorio, but you should get
a CARFAX Record Check so you know the history of the vehicle.
100% Orange Juice?
If you see "fresh squeezed, 100% pure orange juice,"
and "not from concentrate," what do you think you are
buying? It seems a reasonable expectation that the juice is actually
recently squeezed and is just juice. In fact, most major brands
offer nothing of the sort. Tropicana, Simply Orange, Minute Maid,
Florida's Natural and others use the same basic process. According
to a recent report on Gizmodo.com:
Once the juice is squeezed and stored in gigantic vats,
they start removing oxygen. Why? Because removing oxygen from
the juice allows the liquid to keep for up to a year without
spoiling. But! Removing that oxygen also removes the natural
flavors of oranges. Yeah, it's all backwards. So in order to
have OJ actually taste like oranges, drink companies hire flavor
and fragrance companies, the same ones that make perfumes for
Dior, to create these "flavor packs" to make juice
taste like, well, juice again.
They are allowed to say "100% pure orange juice"
because the flavors are derived from orange essence and oil from
the skin. They are allowed to call it "fresh squeezed"
because there is no legal definition for the phrase. On the other
hand, they are quite obviously promoting the image that the juice
was on the trees a short time before we buy it, and that it is
just juice, which in my book makes the whole marketing process
a case of fraud. Jail time for the executives seems reasonable
to me.
When a Huffington Post report was run, an industry spokeswoman
replied without denying any of the facts. She said, "By
utilizing state-of-the-art technology, Florida is able to provide
a consistent supply of high quality, nutritious orange juice
year round."
Copyright Webhiker LLC - Terms
/ Privacy / Contact |
