U.S. Department of Labor investigators visited blueberry farms in the Willamette River Valley near Salem, Oregon in July 2012 to audit their records. Although most pickers prefer to be paid the ‘piece rate’ to increase earnings, total compensation for each worker must exceed the federal minimum hourly wage. Using the piece rate metric, workers appeared to earn more than the minimum federal wage of $7.25 per hour. However, the investigators concluded that the workers were underpaid because the picking totals must have been done by more workers than were recorded.
The DOL informed two producers that they were being fined $220,000 and must consent to admission of labor law violations. The investigators insisted that the owners sign agreements to pay remedial labor payments and not contest the fines. The investigators slapped the ‘hot goods’ provision on the berries meaning that they could not be shipped and processed.
Faced with the loss of perishable berries, the DOL documents were hastily signed by the farmers and the berries were shipped. After failing to receive help from state organizations or the Farm Bureau, Pan-American Berry Growers of Salem and B&G Ditchen of nearby Silverton filed suit in U.S. District Court in Portland in 2013. Although the judge found reasonable cause for the case to proceed, the farmers must abide the grinding jurisprudence of the federal legal system to crank out what they hope is a favorable verdict. Whether the farmers win or lose in court, they have wasted time and money and lost faith and trust in their government.
In spite of laws passed by Congress with names like the ‘Fair Housing Act of 1968’, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, the ‘Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975’ and the ‘Community Reinvestment Act of 1977’, the government claimed virtually no responsibility for the sub-prime mortgage collapse of 2008. Taxpayers bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with more than $187 billion. The mortgage companies and banks were taken to the woodshed and told they were going to cough up about $200 billion to Uncle Sam for damages. These assessments were purportedly to compensate for the failure of these companies to apprise Fannie and Freddie of the quality of the loans underlying the mortgage bonds that had substantially complied with government rules.
Bernie Madoff told his senior employees in 2008 that, “It’s just one big lie” before turning himself in to the FBI. He pleaded guilty in federal court in 2009, admitting that he had defrauded thousands of investors of more than $17 billion in principal and received a sentence of 150 years. The US Department of Justice filed suit of more than $2 billion against Madoff’s bank, JP Morgan Chase, for their failure to inform the Securities and Exchange Commission of suspicious activity. Evidence shows that the SEC was warned repeatedly about Madoff’s dealings and government auditors issued only minor citations following numerous visits.
The government uses ‘disparate impact’ to expose discriminatory lending practices related to purchases such as cars and homes. Disparate impact is a method of reviewing the files for loans by banks, dealers and mortgage companies and comparing down payments, interest rates, terms and peripheral costs and fees related to various protected groups with the predominately Caucasian population. When women, Blacks, Hispanics, handicapped and ethnic minorities are found to have more stringent terms (disparate impact), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) files a discrimination claim against the alleged violator. Fines and fees are collected using only statistical data without proof of intentional discrimination.
These are just a few examples of methods employed by government to fund an ever-increasing bureaucracy accompanied by a growing litany of confusing and duplicitous regulations. The process of fighting a government suit or claim is expensive and time-consuming. Government has time, money and squads of lawyers. Congresses past and present pass legislation with overlapping, overwhelming and overarching laws and regulations enforced in the spirit of the law, the letter of the law and feeble common sense.
