Looks Like They're All At It

BMW headquarters were raided by European Union officials investigating an alleged cartel among German carmakers, it said on Friday, as rival Daimler claimed whistleblower status in an effort to avoid fines.

uk.reuters.com/article/uk-eu-ant … =applenews

Which is a tactic MAN pulled off when they changed from poacher to gamekeeper for the same reasons. To save themselves money they threw all of the EU’s major truck manufacturers under the bus. Leaving them with huge fines (Scania were hit for $1.03 Billion Dollars alone).

bloomberg.com/news/articles … ice-fixing

Which begs the question. Does anyone fly straight in business these days? Or is everyone out to fleece the consumer?

the only surprise is that anybody is still surprised by this

I for one, appreciate your input… :unamused:

Scribe:
BMW headquarters were raided by European Union officials investigating an alleged cartel among German carmakers, it said on Friday, as rival Daimler claimed whistleblower status in an effort to avoid fines.

Which is a tactic MAN pulled off when they changed from poacher to gamekeeper for the same reasons. To save themselves money they threw all of the EU’s major truck manufacturers under the bus. Leaving them with huge fines (Scania were hit for $1.03 Billion Dollars alone).

Which begs the question. Does anyone fly straight in business these days? Or is everyone out to fleece the consumer?

Picture the scene when both Merc and BMW tells its workers that they have to face wage cuts and reductions in terms and conditions to increase ‘competitiveness’ against each other.Or production will now be transferred to East Europe if not outside the EU to take advantage of cheaper labour costs.Doesn’t exactly fit the script of the so called workers’ ‘protection’ offered by the EU. :unamused:

In the last few years they’ve been corruption scandals involving politicians, sports organisations, finance, big business and more. What have been the most recent, a Japanese steel producer falsifying data on the steel they’re and a major Hollywood producer ■■■■■■■■ assaulting women. The system is rotten to the core, maybe those at the top have it had their way for so long they believe they can get away with anything and maybe the whole thing is now so rotten it has started to implode.

muckles:
The system is rotten to the core, maybe those at the top have it had their way for so long they believe they can get away with anything.

I think you might be right sadly. :frowning:

I worked in food manufacture for many years, the horse meat scandal was the tip of the iceberg, when they DNA test for another animal, that is actually healthier for you than beef, that has been in the food chain for nearly 50 years, you will all be surprised…Money is and always will be king, to think that humans figure in all this, is to be naïve in the extreme…We are cash cows.

att:
I worked in food manufacture for many years, the horse meat scandal was the tip of the iceberg, when they DNA test for another animal, that is actually healthier for you than beef, that has been in the food chain for nearly 50 years, you will all be surprised…Money is and always will be king, to think that humans figure in all this, is to be naïve in the extreme…We are cash cows.

If it’s all about money then they obviously aren’t doing it for the benefit of our health and it’s our choice whether we want to buy a decent cut of beef with some proper fat on it.While it’s obvious that food fraud is a good earner for the scammers but with nothing like the penalties for drug dealing or other types of fraud.But obviously not much benefit to the beef producers and retailers if the customer is alienated and doesn’t trust the product.While if it’s mixed with something else that means less demand for the product anyway so both the beef farmer and the consumer suffers.Which then leaves the question of old dairy cattle ending up being sold as prime beef which is almost as much of a rip off as other cheap crap types of meat ending up sold as beef.As for wild animals or horses being needlessly slaughtered and used as food to make profit out of the money saved rearing domestic livestock,when we’ve already got much better farmed beef cattle for that,I’ve got moral issues with that regardless.Also bearing in mind that there’s no way that such food demand can be met by just natural wastage/essential culling of wild animals.

In answer to the original question no one in business ‘ flies straight’ these days and it’s dog eat dog. The Germans run Europe with French collusion so the EU might as well disband too [emoji57]

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att:
I worked in food manufacture for many years, the horse meat scandal was the tip of the iceberg, when they DNA test for another animal, that is actually healthier for you than beef, that has been in the food chain for nearly 50 years, you will all be surprised…Money is and always will be king, to think that humans figure in all this, is to be naïve in the extreme…We are cash cows.

The trouble with the horse meat fiasco IMHO wasnt that horse meat is particularly bad, but that the horse meat actually used in that case was non-documented, from old nags that could well have been contaminated with drugs to keep them going, that would be banned in food production. I know some have a dislike of eating horse, and misdescription is wrong, but the biggest risk in that case was from the sourcing of the animals rather than the type of animal, I think. I happily eat horse, but only if its from a clean food source, not an old pet/sport/work horse that`s been pumped full of various medicines not allowed in food production.

Re the original post: theres too much short-termism in business today. No one in management wants to earn the trust of consumers. They are looking over their shoulders at the last quarters figures, and trying to achieve an increase in their bonuses, rather than take a long term view. Pretty much the same with politicians. And investors (including those who hold OUR money in pension funds) are looking to jump in and of investmentsin short time frames. Capitalism has done a lot of good to get us to where we are, but isnt it a broken model for the future?
Where are the “caring capitalists” today? Where are the Levers, Cadbourys etc? Even Henry Ford, started out paying his workers over double the going rate. OK maybe their were some selfish motives involved, well paid happy workers dont leave and need new comers to be trained, but both parties benefited. As I said, short termism is killing business and lets not forget about the Green issues, short term gains, kill the future of following generations, but let`s not argue about that, again…

:sunglasses:

You had to mention Henry Ford. I am going to make myself a new shiny hat out of Bacofoil and sit in the wardrobe again [emoji12]

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Well almost by definition for there to be a cartel they all have to be at it! Or nearly all…twas ever thus! :grimacing:

Wheel Nut:
You had to mention Henry Ford. I am going to make myself a new shiny hat out of Bacofoil and sit in the wardrobe again [emoji12]

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:laughing:
Yep with the right contributers and a bit of careful management, I reckon this thread could reach 10 pages easily. :laughing: :laughing:

Oh the irony of the European Commission investigating underhand and shady practices of a cartel within its premier member state whilst promoting those same practices within the Customs Union it applies to those who trade with it and within it. The fact that the Commissionars have been dragged kicking and screaming to this position by the US authorities who threaten to open up the whole can of worms isn’t surprising in the slightest.

Stanley Knife:
Oh the irony of the European Commission investigating underhand and shady practices of a cartel within its premier member state whilst promoting those same practices within the Customs Union it applies to those who trade with it and within it. The fact that the Commissionars have been dragged kicking and screaming to this position by the US authorities who threaten to open up the whole can of worms isn’t surprising in the slightest.

Seems strange why drivers want race to the bottom under cutting stopped in the case of transport but not manufacturing. :unamused:

As for the US its economic and trade policies seem bonkers.IE happy to go along with a European type approval and duty regime which disadvantages if not totally stops US exports to Europe.Also happy to go along with economic policies which disproportionately benefit Germany when it suits it on one hand,then stitches up everyone including its own workers,either to benefit Germany or cheap race to the bottom Oriental imports.The latest example of economic suicide being Ford and GM effectively closing down the Australian car manufacturing industry to the benefit of GM Germany and obviously even more so the Oriental competition.The US government are a bunch of muppets that haven’t got a bleedin clue.

Bingo [emoji23]

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