(Understanding vigilante justice - when employees of government, business or any institution can break existing laws (some in place for 100 years) without penalty - while their actions destroy large segments of the population - it's only a question of who does it and when it will occur. - CL)
But here's where I take it further: Having studied this area of the economy in great detail (most people haven't) I know damn well this conduct, all of it, is illegal and has been for a hundred years. Having run a significant-sized company as a CEO I wouldn't have dreamed of so much as having lunch with others in the industry and discussing a way to get a different price on some product or service than the next guy other than by a fully-transparent and clearly-justified means such as single-invoicing and thus single-payment-risk (e.g. I buy 20 or 100 of these and you send one bill to one known credit risk or invoice me monthly against a committed delivery schedule .vs. you selling 100 of them with each going to random people on the street with wildly inferior credit risks and no guarantee you'll sell and deliver any of them.) Oh, and incidentally when it came to my company said discounts were evenly available on the other side, that is for customers, as well provided you wanted to buy the same mix of services and/or goods and were of equivalent or better credit quality.
Why?
Because its illegal to do otherwise, that's why and when I ran MCSNet even the mere attempt to pull something like that was an act I'd expect to get 10 years in the slammer for -- because 15 USC Chapter 1 says that's the penalty for doing it even if you try and fail.
That law applies across international boundaries too which means every drug firm is in violation and every involved person is liable for a decade in the slammer with both persons and firms liable for a MONSTROUS fine FOR EACH PERSON WHO GETS SCREWED. Go read it yourself.......
......I WILL CHANGE MY OPINION AND OFFERING OF SAID TOASTS ONLY WHEN THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR DECADES ARE INDICTED, ARRESTED, PROSECUTED, IMPRISONED, ASSET-STRIPPED TO THEIR UNDERWEAR AND THUS THIS CRAP ALL STOPS -- NOT ONE SECOND BEFORE.
