oh how "they" play us like a cheap tin whistle...

for instance...do a word search on price-fixing...

see how we are manipulated by these folks...

oh sure...the corporation...deemed to be a "person" by some dubious legal fiction...gets a fine...

but...the guys that "do the deal" usually are not even named...not even named...

much less do they face indictment or do any "hard time"...after all...it's "white collar crime"...it's the corporation...not the individuals...guilty of the crime...

and...the corporations...though they pay millions in fines...they make billions...

and...they...the corporations...continue to sponser the "talking head shows" on Sunday...and...influence public policy...and...put a "lid" on any reportage that might cast "them" in a unfavorable light...

gasoline...vitamins...chemicals...pharmaceuticals...compact discs...art treasures...you name it...

and...the bottom line...the cartels defraud the consumer...the governments fine the cartels...and consumers get "horse exhaust"...no rebates...no reduced prices...no nothing...

and...remember...price-fixing is like an iceberg...we "see" about 1/8 in the subservient media outlets...about 7/8 is "below the waterline"...

also...remember...all the tv "news" is controlled by corporations...Westinghouse OWNS the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)...General Electric OWNS the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)...Disney OWNS the American Broadcasting Company (ABC)...AOL-Time-Warner OWNS Cable News Network (CNN)...

for a look at just the tip of the "iceberg"...

*** 11/29/2000...Mylan...Cambrex...Profarmaco...Gyma...SRL...conspired to give Mylan the ability to boost pharmaceutical prices by 2,000 to 3,000 percent...Mylan fined $100 million...

*** 10/6/2000...Christie's and Sotheby's colluded to fix commision prices and fees...Christie's "ratted out" Sotheby's and will pay more that $250 million in restitution...Sotheby's CEO Diana Brooks faces up to three year sentence...

*** 8/8/2000...Warner Brothers (owned by Time-Warner)...Sony Music Entertainment (owned by Sony Corporation)...Universal Music Group (owned by Seagrams)...BMG (owned by Bertelsmann)...and EMI Group...were sued by twenty-eight US states for alleged CD price-fixing via the MAP policy...minimum advertized pricing...

*** 7/28/2000...BP-Amoco...Exxon-Mobil...Marathon-Ashland...Phillips...Citgo...Kock...Equilon...subpoenaed by FTC for alleged price-fixing...

*** 5/26/1999...Roche...BASF...Rhone-Poulenc...conspired for nine years to fix global vitamin prices...Rhone-Poulenc "ratted out" the other two and escaped a fine...Roche fined $500 million...BASF fined $225 million...

*** 10/1996...Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)..."supermarket to the world"...$11 billion in sales...plead guilty to price-fixing from 1992 to 1996 and was fined $100 million...

note...per Steve Tally of Purdue News Service...price-fixing is "...a violation of federal antitrust laws..."...and..."occurs when companies conspire to set an artificially high price for a product."

"The customer is our enemy; the competitor is our friend"...comment alleged to have been made by former ADM executive Mark Whitacre...

pavlov's dog