illegitimate rip off companies & dishonest people

[francolettieri]

I have been living in Arizona for seven years now and am amazed at the large number of rip off businesses that operate out of here. I wish the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Comission would be far more agressive in dealing with sleezy companies that are constantly advertising, especially in the morning, afternoon, late at night on tv and in start-up business magazines and numerous websites. The could make so much money by fining the owners of these companies, and put the worst offenders (the Bernard Madoffs) in prison. As it stands right now, the bar is set so low when it comes to the definition of a legitimite company. There is so much fraud going on right now, especially for people who are behind on house payments and facing foreclosure. I really wish there were more aggressive agencies that could crack down on these and make life miserable for people who operate less than honest businesses.

Also here is a good way for law enforcement to make money off dishonest people....Police should purposly drop credit cards and blank checks on the ground, then wait for people to try and use them. Then when they do, it should me a misdomeaner with a 1 or 2 thousand dollar fine, payable in monthly installments. Stings like this would be a great way to teach people a lesson, and make money off them in the process (for use in public safety/police) with out permanently staining their records so they could still get a job.

for a great website on looking up complaints against companies, check out www.ripoffreport.com

[skids]

1. More slap-on-the-wrist stings are definitely needed...

...small fines like that help dissuade people who are starting
down that road. It doesn't do much for the people who are already
committed to living the life of parasite, though.

Just, you have to be careful not to allow the punishment on those
types of things to become so severe that it locks the culprit
into a vicious poverty and or criminal-justice cycle from which there's
no "going straight." Society should have a certain level of
forgiveness built in.

Also it would be nice if they could find out a way to do the same
for certain types of day-traders, not just paper hangers, because
having a "white collar common criminal" class that can't be
prosecuted isn't exactly just, either.

In the meantime, though, all the half-bit con men are working from
a world view that it is necessary to steal to prosper. This world-view
comes from a sense of injustice, which comes from watching people
who don't deserve it pull in huge pay checks. Most people can stand
the idea that someone is rich enough to live without working, but
when they see these CEO's not just living off old money, but pulling
in immense pay checks, it is much easier to rationalize crime.

We have to fix that as a country, because not everyone can chin
up and put their personal sense of integrity front and center
100% of the time... it takes the support of just society. With
modern media, that starts at the top with the biggest injustices.
Until those are fixed we'll have a lot more dishonesty on the street
level.