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Judge Approves $100 Million Dell Settlement
crimeandpunishment writes "It's official. Dell will pay the US government $100 million to settle fraud charges. CEO Michael Dell will personally pay a $4 million fine. A federal judge approved the settlement after Michael Dell assured him the company will deliver on the reforms it promised. Dell was accused of pumping up its profits over five years by improperly using payments from Intel, in order to meet Wall Street targets."
What I want to know is why is the government the one that always gets these settlements? Why not refund it back to the consumers or use it to subsidize the next year of computers that they ship out?
I know it's a fine, but still, in the end, it's always the consumers that lose.
"Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
Might those "payments from Intel" be related to Intel's attempts to keep AMD CPUs out of the market place as much as possible?
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
Why no jail time? It was a multi-million dollar fraud to bilk consumers and stockholders out of millions. How is this any different than blatant theft.
Shows how much bad thinking is left in Wall Street... when one of history’s most successful computer retailers thinks it’s better to artificially “pump up” its stock prices, rather than increasing its true overall value through better products and better customer service. And as Pikoro noted above, the settlement funds should go towards programs which provide or promote technology for the public good (i.e. pumping up Kno/iPad tablet availability for schools to replace textbooks, or funding a practical, decent, open school admin database), and not going directly into mysterious government coffers where people like defense contractors can get at it, which is doing nothing but *harming* the public good.
Thinkingman.com New Media
CEO Michael Dell will personally pay a $4 million fine
So, does personally, really mean personally, or is he going to get reimbursed the $4 million as a "business expense"?
The culture of growth used to be also a culture of contraction, due to a natural cycle. There was balance. Periods of expansion and contraction. People were responsible, bought only what they needed, saved like a squirrel during the good times, in preparation for the lean times.
Now this country is built on living the lifestyle you want NOW, by financing it on your future labor & productivity. And very few squirrel away during the good times, in preparation for the lean times.
People can adjust to contractions. But not if they're loaded up with bills and debt. If you're renting a big apartment, you move to a small apartment. If your paid-for-car costs too much to drive, you take public transportation, ride a bike, walk, or buy a used scooter. If you're commute is 100 miles, you get a different job, you move closer to your existing job. If you lose your job, you use your rainy day fund.
In the last several decades, contractions are increasingly viewed as absolutely negative, and at the first sign of a small contraction, central planners manipulate people so that the small contraction is prevented. This is done over and over, till the strategy fails, and nature gets her way eventually, and we see a huge contraction, that would test even the most responsible people, and for those who are severely leveraged out (just look at debt to income ratio), they have zero chance of adjusting. This is analogous to putting out every small fire in forests. Then one day, the whole thing goes up in a jaw dropping inferno. The natural cycle of expansion/contraction clears out bad businesses, bad debts, reminds people to be responsible on a regular basis with minimal blood on the street, and prevents expansion for expansion's sake. The side effects of a debt based society that embraces central planning, and the idea that we can expand forever, till the music stops, and people scramble for a chair ...it is unsustainable. We're watching it in action, right here right now. This ain't a Republican thing, this ain't a Democrat thing. It's an "us" thing. The leadership of both parties have grandiose plans that are not sustainable. And the sheeple follow along as if it's only one party or the other that is insane... when the reality is, both parties are insane, and they are perfect mirror of their constituents... ...sorry for my long post with the slide into politics ..it's a bad habit. But money, economics, politics, etc are all inseparable....