Major LCD companies to pay millions for price-fixing scheme

Yes the states get the money and then the companies raise the prices to make up for it and we who are buying them get nothing. Looks like a payoff to me

Just another variation of the scam government has played on us regarding smoking. The people that got ripped off won't see a dime because the greedy government grabbed all the fine revenue for themselves.

Glad to see someone else see that the smoking tax is just another rip off. I have never smoked but I still think it bad that most people do not even see what the government is doing with all that tax that smokers have to pay. The government says the extry tax payed by smokers help pay for the health cost of smokers but what they do not tell people is that the government was already getting so much from tax paid by smokers that would pay for the health cost over and over again.

The fact that this happend all the time is proof that the fines are too low to matter. Sure 553 million is a lot of money, but not if they made 10 billion in additional profit by breaking the law. Record profits mean huge bonuses for the management team, especially when there are record profits after the fines. Fines need to be a percentage of revenue based at least twice the effect of the illegal activity.

As far as taxes go, I am completely amazed that there are so many people out there screaming for more corporate taxes or more taxes on anything. There are two facts that people need to remember.
1. Every tax is a tax on the consumer, tax any product or service and the consumer pays not only the tax but also the disproportionatly high cost of recordkeeping and reporting, which for most corporations is several times the cost of the tax. It all gets passed along to the consumer, all of it. Politicians push this scheme of taxing corporations and making them out to be "evil greedy corporations" as a way to make people thing they are paying less of the total, but they end up paying more. Corporations just raise the prices to compensate, but they don't like it because the laws are so poorly written that it is impossible to know if they are paying enough and if they don't make enough ploitical contributions they risk some federal agency comming in to "Investigate" costing them millions if not billions and several years.

2. It doens't matter how much money you give a politician, thy will ALWAYS spend more than they have. ALWAYS! This is why the world is having so many problems right now. Even durring the best ecconomy in history almost every country was spending far more than they were bringing in. Mostly for additional social programs to keep getting re-elected. Any government ruled by professional politicians is doomed to fail.

Don't forget the billions the government extorted from the cigarette companies. The fact is that government doesn't want people to stop smoking because the tax revenue will dry up. If smoking is as bad as the government claims then why don't they just ban it? We all know why. They want the tax revenue from cigarette sales. Also, many people that get sick from smoking have private insurance and the government pays NOTHING for their healthcare. Government is the biggest scam artist by far here in the USA.

Great post and absolutely true. People that think the consumer isn't the ultimate payer for any tax that government levies on any business or individual doesn't understand how things work. Companies have two choices. One is to not raise prices and eventually go bankrupt or raise prices and let the consumer pick up the tab. The best government is a small government that taxes the least. Anyone that thinks the government is going to take care of all their needs and will always look out for their interests is only in for disappointment in the end. When politicians have the least amount of money to be responsible for then there will also be the least potential for them to be corrupt.

I think they should raise yours UTR and cut mine

.... and that brings up a whole other problem here in the USA. Almost half the country pays no federal income tax. Then many of those paying no tax actually get a tax rebate! IMO, everyone should pay a net federal income tax or no one should pay it. Even if it is $1 per year.

How did this go from scalping of LCD to paying taxes??? Those are so far apart in discussion as well as politics. Also how about we see some hard figures if where going to do such debates about he said she says and be independently ferret out whom is telling the real truth about what numbers says and don't say......

The truth is readily available for those that care to look for it. As you said, this is starting to deviate from the original topic but here is a link for you: Click Here The truth shall set you free.