Consumer Fraud Quotes
Although England had benefitted more from the industrial revolution than most nations, the English Aristocracy and its intelligencia saw business as inherently corrupt with minimal ethical standards and almost no transparency. See {629121} for a Christian religious version of this secular quotation.
Upton Sinclair’s Expose of the Chicago Meatpacking Industry—called “Packingtown” and triggered the government investigation which confirmed almost everything that had been alleged including the mislabeling of products and the use of the meat of diseased animals. As a result, the public pressure was so great that President Theodore Roosevelt was able to institute the first American federal regulation of food.
This is one of the earliest examples of regulation for consumer protection. Later, the Magna Carta would incorporate the concept of standard weights and measures.
The Grammar Curmudgeon
Even today, the ethics of the business world are much looser than ethics of most other areas. He was considered one of the 7 Great Greek Sages, although he was not Greek by birth.
This quotation has more than historical interest. The housing fraud technique of 1906 that Sinclair uncovered in his expose were essentially very similar to those that were used in the beginning of the 21st century on a much larger scale that contributed to the Meltdown of 2008, the Great Recession, and the weak housing industry for the next decade. The major difference is that by 2008, the banks and finance industry had developed ways to also get money from the taxpayer for the housing frauds. The expectation that the home buyer would not be able to keep making the mortgage payments was the key in both centuries.
See {629122} for a secular version of this religious text.
A Pure Food bill had failed to pass the Congress for years until Roosevelt took up the cause. The modern federal role in the quality control of food products had its origins with TR.
By the middle of the 20th century, the banks were no longer allowed to control the railroads and seemed less powerful, but by the beginning of the 21st century, the few largest banks, without the railroads or any other industrial holdings, were so big that the controlled credit, fraudulently manipulated rates and mortgage foreclosures and after losing huge amounts speculating in 2008, the government had to bail them out with taxpayer money while the bank executives who caused the failures tool million dollar bonuses. Never were banks so powerful in any country that they could have the government pay billions of dollars for their losses and mistakes.
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused immense damage and much of the damaged property was insured. But the insurance companies, faced with large potential losses, placed every legal technicality in the way of paying claims and even came up with new interpretations of their contracts and refused to pay many claims even for people who were told that they were fully insured. Hood sued the insurance companies on behalf of the citizens of the state. See in addition {590847}.
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused immense damage and much of the damaged property was insured. But the insurance companies, faced with large potential losses, placed every legal technicality in the way of paying claims and even came up with new interpretations of their contracts and refused to pay many claims even for people who were told that they were fully insured. See {590850}.
