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U.S. Gov't Still Fighting the Man Behind Buckyballs; Guess Who's Winning?
usacoder writes with news of Craig Zucker, former CEO of the company behind Buckyballs, the popular neodymium magnet toys that were banned by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in July 2012. Zucker ran a brief campaign to drum up opposition to the government's ban, but it didn't turn out to be enough. Unfortunately for Zucker, the story didn't end there. Despite the magnets being labeled as not for kids, the Commission filed a motion to find him personally liable for the costs of a product recall, estimated at around $57 million.
"Given the fact that Buckyballs have now long been off the market, the attempt to go after Mr. Zucker personally raises the question of retaliation for his public campaign against the commission. Mr. Zucker won't speculate about the commission's motives. 'It's very selective and very aggressive,' he says. ... Mr. Zucker says his treatment at the hands of the commission should alarm fellow entrepreneurs: 'This is the beginning. It starts with this case. If you play out what happens to me, then the next thing you'll have is personal-injury lawyers saying "you conducted the actions of the company, you were the company."'"
If you play out what happens to me, then the next thing you'll have is personal-injury lawyers saying "you conducted the actions of the company, you were the company.
So there is a chance companies will no longer get pathetic fines and be pretty much unaccountable for this misdeeds. Individuals who made decisions within the organization will be held responsible.
Good.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
What's the sense in having laws if you can't apply them selectively and perniciously.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Just shut up and take it.. Ask for more. How dare you create a product that could be misused if used inappropriately.
Now, joking aside this is really scary that the government is doing this.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
How about the parents who gave their [now dead] children (read: under 13) the thing be charged with manslaughter, unless giving them other things they shouldn't have which results in death [the list is is quiter long, but includes firearms, cutlery, chemicals, etc.] is also okey-dokey.
Corporate personhood is *not* a good thing, no matter what you corporate sycophants think. Elevating a corporation to the same level in the law as an individual is a recipe for abuse, and it's rife in the USA.
Corporations should have a set of *limited* and *enumerated* rights that are secondary to individuals, not personhood.
And, yes, there is a reason corporate personhood exists... it's because robber barons in the 1800s wanted that way. Corporate rights aren't sent to us by God.
As long as were piercing the corporate veil, shouldn't we go after the CEO's that have cost the US taxpayers billions of dollars first? Or are government rules and regulations, and punitive actions only applicable for the little guy?
1. The product was not defective.
2. No harm was done that I have read.
3. No, the banks were not prosecuted, which makes this even more egregious.
4. He didn't make a mistake.
This is the out of control Feds doing what they do best, punish people who are creative and trying to get ahead. It is about control.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
The shot-callers at the banks who are causing all this harm are wildly rich. Same with the oil companies. And of course that matters because everyone in government service wants a piece of that pie, and the way they get it is by allowing the harm to continue unabated.
We can pontificate about how government should serve the greater good all we want, and the saying of these words will not have the slightest impact on the actual incentives that governors face, nor on the mechanisms by which selfish bastards rise to power. Musing about how things should be will not make anything become that way.
So, asking the government to do things will never yield the desired result. Force is the only language these sociopaths understand. Unless sufficiently-large numbers of people wise up to how government actually works, we will never be able to mount that force.
In that regard, Snowden has done more good than all slashdot users combined, over slashdot's entire history.
Citizen's United didn't create the concept of corporations as people. That has been a longstanding principle carried over from common law. Note also that companies are not the same as corporations and the former does not have the privileges of personhood.
The company in question is Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC. The limited liability aspect should be enough to protect the owners from a rapacious civil servant but clearly some people are more interested in furthering their careers with safety-nazi crusades than properly observing the law.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
If it was me and I had my life's work taken from me, and now being forced into bankruptcy and poverty, I'd hold the CPSC leaders responsible.
A government without fear of the people is not a republic. Time to put the fear back into them.
Most infuriating was the commission's argument that a total recall was justified because Buckyballs have "low utility to consumers" and "are not necessary to consumers."
Quite a LOT of stuff is sold that is low utility to consumers, and not necessary. Should something, bought by consenting adults, for adults, be recalled because it might pose a danger, and is "low utility?"
The purpose of the limited-liability corporation is that corporate liabilities stop with the company's assets and do not follow into the pockets of the owners.
Certain insurance companies (Lloyds of London) do not have limited liabilities because the owners back the policies with their huge fortunes, giving you assurance the company has the funds to pay out if necessary. Some spectacular tanker and space shot losses about 10 years ago got them into trouble as some people had to sell their estates to make good.
Unless this guy was involved in some massive fraud, this isn't supposed to happen.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Like these? http://www.amazon.com/216-Neodymium-5mm-Sphere-Magnets/dp/B00EI846PK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378002899&sr=8-1&keywords=sphere+magnets
Why aren't they banned too?
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Kylie-Rose-Ricards-220881061.html
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.