[CAUT] Pricing controls / fixing / discussion

[Kent Swafford]

1) I strongly suggest that the PTG e-mail lists are not the place for 
giving or getting legal advice.

2) I even more strongly suggest that the PTG e-mail lists are not the 
place to challenge antitrust laws as unconstitutional.

I'll take any further comments private.

Thanks,

Kent


On Apr 11, 2005, at 1:38 PM, Jim Kinnear wrote:

> Kent;
>  
> I think the US anti trust legislation came from the fact that there 
> were many wealthy folks ( who are now seen as shining examples of 
> successful capitalists)  who ignored/abused/broke with ethical 
> behavior to the distress of their employees and customers. . .  the 
> kind of thing, unfortunately we are hearing about daily with the Cdn 
> liberal govt, and have seen many examples of your govts of both kinds.
>  
>  
>  . . . respect for the laws of the land, and I consider any
> > characterization of that respect as "paranoid" or "fearful" to be
> > unfair and mean-spirited. . . . .
>   
> but well founded none the less . . .
>   
> if in fact it is 'safer' to keep this discussion of pricing hush hush, 
> what does that say for the Amendment which describes the right of 
> 'free speech ( & email ).
>  
> I'm unlikely to let some group tell me what I can or should charge for 
> my services, but if I found that all my peers were charging 50% more 
> than I was, I might give some thought to raising my price.
>  
> What if we all joined a 'piano tuners union', and decided to charge 
> $250. We could get the government to mandate yearly tuning, like the 
> auto insurance industry does, and no customer could get their piano 
> tuned for less.
> We could intimidate those tuners who chose to ignore the 'Association 
> Guideline' . . . that's legal, cause we see it all the time on TV . .
>   
> Would we then be protected by legislation, rather than threatened by 
> it . .
>   
> oh well . . . back to work in an unregulated, free market business . .
>   
>  
> Jim Kinnear
> Collingwood