3 LCD firms plead guilty in price-fixing scheme

[IAMX 3,055]

Eh, already have a Samsung HDTV and was a very reasonable price. That's why people hunt for sales and bargain prices.

Did you read the original article? It suggests that the current market prices are not realistic and we all paid too much, irrespective of "big" discounts or "clearance" sales.

Uh, it doesn't say anything about prices, other than a "plot" to price fix. It doesn't say what affect any attempt at price fixing did.

Right here in the article you're telling me to read:

Hammond did not have a cost value for the losses, and said the investigation is continuing.

Then we have the fact that prices for HDTV's have plummeted since a year ago. I don't see where prices are being inflated.

So really it's just you asserting something even further than the article is.

Key point: Three electronics firms have agreed to plead guilty and pay $585 million in fines for conspiring to drive up prices for people buying computers, TVs and other LCD screens.

What are you missing here? It seems clear to me....The firms agreed to plead guilty? Hello?

They plead to conspiring to price fix. Do I need to whip out the law dictionary for you? It means THE INTENT TO price fix, or some action toward moving in the FUTURE to commit the acts. It says in the godforsaken article the investigation doesn't even KNOW how much. How much more obvious does it need to be for you? You can conspire to commit a crime (you know, like conspiring to commit murder?) without actually committing it and be tried. I have no idea what you're hung up on here but you're way off target.

You might want to actually start checking the prices and tell me where they've jumped up.

The salient points by others on your perspective are accurate. You just cannot agree with anyone. Cheers.

Look, you decided to correct me, and you were wrong. If your ego is too big to admit you f*cked up, then the problem is not on this end.

[William33 110]

Eh, already have a Samsung HDTV and was a very reasonable price. That's why people hunt for sales and bargain prices.

Did you read the original article? It suggests that the current market prices are not realistic and we all paid too much, irrespective of "big" discounts or "clearance" sales.

Uh, it doesn't say anything about prices, other than a "plot" to price fix. It doesn't say what affect any attempt at price fixing did.

Right here in the article you're telling me to read:

Hammond did not have a cost value for the losses, and said the investigation is continuing.

Then we have the fact that prices for HDTV's have plummeted since a year ago. I don't see where prices are being inflated.

So really it's just you asserting something even further than the article is.

Key point: Three electronics firms have agreed to plead guilty and pay $585 million in fines for conspiring to drive up prices for people buying computers, TVs and other LCD screens.

What are you missing here? It seems clear to me....The firms agreed to plead guilty? Hello?

They plead to conspiring to price fix. Do I need to whip out the law dictionary for you? It means THE INTENT TO price fix, or some action toward moving in the FUTURE to commit the acts. It says in the godforsaken article the investigation doesn't even KNOW how much. How much more obvious does it need to be for you? You can conspire to commit a crime (you know, like conspiring to commit murder?) without actually committing it and be tried. I have no idea what you're hung up on here but you're way off target.

You might want to actually start checking the prices and tell me where they've jumped up.

The salient points by others on your perspective are accurate. You just cannot agree with anyone. Cheers.

Look, you decided to correct me, and you were wrong. If your ego is too big to admit you f*cked up, then the problem is not on this end.

I will not argue law with you, as I am not a lawyer. The lawsuit explains it all, enough said by me. You get the last word.

[IAMX 3,055]

I will not argue law with you, as I am not a lawyer. The lawsuit explains it all, enough said by me. You get the last word.

Here you go, if you just want to poo-poo me off about "conspiracy", poo-poo off Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(c...e_United_States

Conspiracy has been defined in the US as an agreement of two or more people to commit a crime, or to accomplish a legal end through illegal actions. For example, planning to rob a bank (an illegal act) in order to raise money for charity (a legal end) remains a criminal conspiracy because the parties agreed to use illegal means to accomplish the end goal. A conspiracy does not need to have been planned in secret in order to meet the definition of the crime. One legal dictionary, law.com, provides this useful example on the application of conspiracy law to an everyday sales transaction tainted by corruption. It shows how the law can handle both the criminal and the civil need for justice.

[A] scheme by a group of salesmen to sell used automobiles as new, could be prosecuted as a crime of fraud and conspiracy, and also allow a purchaser of an auto to sue for damages [in civil court] for the fraud and conspiracy.

Conspiracy law usually does not require proof of the specific intent by the defendants to injure any specific person in order to establish an illegal agreement. Instead, usually the law only requires the conspirators have agreed to engage in a certain illegal act. This is sometimes described as a "general intent" to violate the law.

So basically it could just be a third party forwarding an e-mail to the feds of them conspiring to price fix. Voila.

Yet you haven't even shown, in your assertion that this has happened, that prices have been affected at all. In fact, they have gone down, not up.

Edited November 14, 2008 by SRVT

[aidan80 9]

You can buy a 13" colour CRT TV for about $80. An LCD equivalent *should* only be about $50. We know it doesn't work that way, though.

That said though, I would continue to pay the current price IF they were made here in the US. At least the money would be doing all of us some good. Call me heartless, but I really don't give a f##k if someone in Mexico or China goes without a job if it means that someone here gains one.

Your sense of humanity is quite inspiring . Here and there, us and them fixes nothing it's like sticking your head in the sand.

[IAMX 3,055]

It's not like they aren't affordable. $1500 gets you a very nice 40" LCD HDTV, Samsung or Sony at that. If you want to be cheap, hell, maybe $1000 for a Sharp or Olevia. A year ago they were at least double the price. I remember waiting for a 40" Bravia to come down from $2999 at Best Buy. Now at Fry's they're half.

Edit: They also had, at Frys, when I got my Samsung LCD TV, a VERY good discount on a 50" Plasma LCD TV, also for $1500. I dunno what people expect these TVs to be, but this is not in the slightest bit unreasonable anymore.

Edited November 14, 2008 by SRVT

[IAMX 3,055]

Oh, I'll also commend whoever caught or snitched on these people. Since OLED is right around the corner in the U.S., and is going to be expensive enough for a good few years (OLED is the type of material you can watch TV on your sweater with), it would suck to not have the market plunge these prices as well since there should be quite an impending demand for it. Imagine having your WALL be a TV.

[pedroh 21]

Oh, I'll also commend whoever caught or snitched on these people. Since OLED is right around the corner in the U.S., and is going to be expensive enough for a good few years (OLED is the type of material you can watch TV on your sweater with), it would suck to not have the market plunge these prices as well since there should be quite an impending demand for it. Imagine having your WALL be a TV.

oh noes, like in fahrenheit 451??

[IAMX 3,055]

Oh, I'll also commend whoever caught or snitched on these people. Since OLED is right around the corner in the U.S., and is going to be expensive enough for a good few years (OLED is the type of material you can watch TV on your sweater with), it would suck to not have the market plunge these prices as well since there should be quite an impending demand for it. Imagine having your WALL be a TV.

oh noes, like in fahrenheit 451??

Here's a video of it in "action".

[pedroh 21]

is your name Guy Montag?

[IAMX 3,055]

is your name Guy Montag?

Yep, me and Clarisse are going to tie the knot. No idea how I ever let the government get involved in this tho.

[pedroh 21]

is your name Guy Montag?

Yep, me and Clarisse are going to tie the knot. No idea how I ever let the government get involved in this tho.

[pedroh 21]

ohh they're making a remake in 2010

[Niels Bohr 72]

The dawn of cheaper laptops will arise....sub $300 range for a mainstream.