5 Industries That Are Mercilessly Robbing the American People

[madokie]

This system is tearing our once-great society to shreds.


There are more than five ways, of course. There are numerous product ripoffs, as described in a recent article by Lynn Stuart Parramore, who identified textbooks and bottled water and print cartridges as a few of the ways Americans are duped into paying a lot more than reason and regulation would dictate.

And there are many industry-specific ripoffs, most notably in health care. We have the most expensive health care system in the world, and yet we're falling behind other developed countries in numerous health measures.

Here are five more industry-specific ripoffs of the American people:

1. The Retail Industry (Walmart): Building Owner Fortunes with Public Tax Money

http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-industries-are-mercilessly-robbing-american-people

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Speaking of robbing, didja click on...

any of those ads on the bottom of the page?

[Live and Learn]

2. Yep! nt

[dipsydoodle]

3. Spare me.

"who identified textbooks and bottled water and print cartridges as a few of the ways Americans are duped into paying a lot more than reason and regulation would dictate."

Textbook pricing is partly a reflection of reward to the author. You don't want to pay the price then don't buy it.

Print cartridges are part of a business model. From the outset manufacturers had a choice of high price machine / low cost consumables or low price machine / higher cost consumables. The model they chose meant that cost matched usage as had been the case with photocopiers for example back to at least the sixties.

Bottled water ? Words defeat me other than to say in the UK we've got taps which you call faucets. Why would anyone buy bottled water other than carbonated ?

[Earth_First]

4. If I may...

I followed through on the link in the OP to the article which specifically mentions the textbook 'scam' referenced in the OP.

It's not exactly being honest in claiming it's a scam per se, just how inflation on textbooks has increased 812% since the late 70's.

So there is that.

A textbook costing $210? Okay. Wherein the 'scam' comes in is the 'buyback' in which a student would be lucky to recieve $70-100 back and that's *if* the edition is not being retired that semester, in which case it's even less.

I'm not sure how the buyback formula is calculated, ill have to read into that later.

However, there is also the 'bundle' mentioned in which useless software is being attributed to the additional cost of the textbooks. I recall in the early 2000's this becomming a trend. Never once was the software required as part of the class, nor was it groundbreaking course review material. This is probably less attributes to any author, and more bloated add-ons by the publishers to increase profits. Unnecessary if you ask me.

So there's my opinion, I'm willing to discuss it further if you have additional thoughts...

[dipsydoodle]

7. It may well be that there are differences on that subject between the US and the UK.

All I can say for the times being is that I don't recall any of the many students I come across here whilst out dancing, who study a huge array of subjects , complaining about text book pricing - other things maybe but not books.

I've not bought any myself since the early '70s on Economics, Operation Research etc at which time used copies were not as easy to find as would now be the case. As such I had no appreciation of the effect of inflation you mention. Yes - $210 is a Mickey Mouse price.

Only expensive reference book I possess is a mint copy Akira Tsumura's 1001 Banjos : lovingly known as the Banjo Porn book. They usually change hands for about $1500 - $2000 and cost c. $2300 each to produce as a limited private run back in the '90s : Tsumura gave them away to friends apparently. I think he's out of prison now having been sentenced for fraud by the Japanese Government- using the companies funds to amass the finest collection of banjos the world will ever see. I believe the collection to be owned now by the Japanese Government. Sample sale ad here http://fineestateliquidation.com/one-thousand-and-one-banjos-the-tsumura-collection-akira-tsumura/

[mwooldri]

6. About bottled water...

Coca-Cola got it so messed up in the UK with their Dasani brand... most people associated bottled water with water that comes from a spring. Dasani turned out to be filtered tap water. London's finest city juice - bottled.

As for carbonated water... Sodastream devices are good for carbonating water. Get good quality water, filter it and refill those Perrier bottles...

Printers... yup I agree it is their business model. I can play their game too. In addition to having a regular inkjet printer, we have a used laser printer. In our case we saved it going to the dumpster. The colour printer is for printing colour. New inkjet, used laser. Works for me... don't have to feed the ink monster.

[dipsydoodle]

8. "Spring water"

Just across the road from where I go fishing in some disused gravel pits there is a pumping station which extracts ground water. That is bottled a few miles away and sold in our supermarkets. If I wanted some I might as well drink water from the lake.

Over here any real sign of contamination causing illness in our tap water the supply is shut down pending investigation and the water company delivers free bottled water in volume. So yes - I can see the need for it on occasions.

There are protests in the south east re, fracking and if / when it starts I'll guarantee the locals will have the water tested constantly for contamination. Blows my mind when I hear of methane coming out of the taps over your side.

[Cha]

5. K&R.. thanks madokie