The European government (godfather) is feeling the cash pinch as well as feeling the growing angst of so many Marks and Patsies. Something has to be done. So in very predictable fashion, those higher up in the pyramid are tossing their underlings under the bus in order to extract huge fine and to show the people that godverment is really their honest friend. The liberals are eating their own.
What I'm referring to is the recent accusations of corporate collusion by the EU authorities that essentially ALL of the major German car manufacturers collaborated to defraud the EU of its emission performance.
"The European Commission has formally accused
BMW, VW, and Daimler of colluding to impede the rollout of emissions
limiting technology. These companies, whose car brands include Mercedes,
Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, and BMW, are said to have limited and
delayed the use of tech that would have reduced the emissions of diesel
and petrol cars."
So whereas these big corporations were tight as ticks with big government before, now they are seeing the truth which is that when the going got tough, the government never really was their friend. When it was convenient to make nice for political and money reasons, the politicians made nice and the big industrial (not just autos, mind you) felt invincible. I'm sure that government knew what was going on the whole time but why rock the boat when the herd is sleeping and there is huge tax revenue to be made? But now that the debt Ponzi is long in the tooth government has to begin telling some truths in order to keep the confidence of the people.
Where this could get ugly would be if the matter cannot be settled with just a bribe (AKA fine) like normally happens. IF government demands jail time as well then some canaries will begin to sing because they know where the bodies are buried and they have nothing to lose. The hold that Mammon Money has had over men is diminishing.
The marginal players are hit first and worst. I expect some very nasty skeletons to come tumbling out of closets over the next few years.
The original news is, not surprisingly, fake news. This is the case of accusing working committee for an industry standard of criminal collusion. In this case, it's the equivalent of accusing a working group of the IEEE or SAE to be guilty of defining a WiFi protocol or an automotive plug. But your conclusion is correct, it's just the government making an example for the sake of its own notion of importance.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually just the government making an example for the sake of the herd which is now demanding that heads roll for everything. It will get a lot worse before there is any peak in this trend, skeletons will be flopping out into the streets over the next couple years.
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