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June 1940 Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive), Bild 101I-129-0480-25 by Boesig, Heinz CC-BY-SA
June 1940 Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive), Bild 101I-129-0480-25 by Boesig, Heinz CC-BY-SA

Diesel engines can be run on clean biofuel diesel made from things like old cooking oil, and many are. Anyone who ever thought a VW running on non-biofuel was “clean” obviously had a plugged nose anyway, or were busy waxing nostalgic for that smell of Paris – diesel fumes.

But, that’s not what this is about. It’s about one of many companies which got monopoly or oligopoly status due to Nazi German policies and seems to have learned from that experience that bad ethics are ok and go without punishment: “The Federal Trade Commission has charged that Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. deceived consumers with the advertising campaign it used to promote its supposedly ‘clean diesel’ VWs and Audis, which Volkswagen fitted with illegal emission defeat devices designed to mask high emissions during government tests.” (USFTC)

Executives involved in the nuclear industry, along with the petroleum industry should watch out. Reuters reported on Thu, 12 Jan. 2017 that “U.S. judge orders Volkswagen executive detained” without bail, awaiting trial, since he’s considered a flight risk. [1] See more: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volkswagen-ag-agrees-plead-guilty-and-pay-43-billion-criminal-and-civil-penalties-six.

Meanwhile, former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson “is trying to avoid giving testimony in a federal lawsuit over climate change” reports Reuters: “U.S. State Department nominee Tillerson fights climate deposition” Fri, 13 Jan 2017 [2]

As of September, there are an estimated 30 cases related to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in the court system with more than 10,000 plaintiffs. TEPCO executives have been indicted. [3]

It’s only been around a decade since a major scandal rocked Volkswagen:
“Scandal at Volkswagen: With Prostitutes and Shady Executives, There’s No Love Left in this Bug” By Dietmar Hawranek, Padma Rao and Sven Röbel, July 18, 2005  12:00 AM: “The sex, bribes and corruption scandal at Volkswagen is shaking the company to its core. But in a company whose largest shareholder is the German state of Lower Saxony, a number of politicians also have their fingers in this mess.” http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/scandal-at-volkswagen-with-prostitutes-and-shady-executives-there-s-no-love-left-in-this-bug-a-365752.html

By now most probably know that the original VW (people’s car) was actually a Hitlermobile: “… it soon became apparent that private industry could not turn out a car for only 990 RM. Thus, Hitler chose to sponsor an all-new, state-owned factory using Ferdinand Porsche’s design (with some of Hitler’s design constraints, …). The intention was that ordinary Germans would buy the car by means of a savings scheme … which around 336,000 people eventually paid into. However, the entire project was financially unsound, and only the corruption and lack of accountability of the Nazi regime made it possible.” (Tooze, 2006, “The Wages of Destruction“, p. 154, as cited in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen ) Volkswagen’s use of slave labor under the Third Reich is now well-known: “Faced with a new lawsuit over the use of slave labor during World War II, Volkswagen A.G. is to announce plans on Friday to set up a fund of about $12 million to compensate surviving workers.” http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/11/world/volkswagen-to-create-12-million-fund-for-nazi-era-laborers.html

Volkswagen and some other big name German companies seems to have learned that that they could get ahead without ethics but rather with unfair business practices. They became dominant under the Third Reich, and their dominant status allowed them to continue to dominate. In some instances getting ahead under the Third Reich was literally from take-over of other companies, including competitors, owned by ethic Jewish people: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/urencos-nazi-ancestor-degussa-took-over-a-jewish-firm-processed-the-uranium-for-the-nazi-nuclear-project-and-provided-the-ussr-with-nuclear-scientists-uranium/

Another root of German corporate success has been shockingly low wages for German workers. This includes reforms chaired by Volkswagen human resource director Peter Harz. While he was eventually fired for reportedly spending Volkswagen money on prostitutes and other bad things, his ideas to gouge ordinary Germans lived on.

One is reminded of the German nuclear waste scandal unveiled in the 1980s:
“When the investigators, unaware of larger payments at the time, first looked into the DM 6 million in bribes a surprising picture of the ethical standards of the German nuclear power industry began to emerge. More than 100 employees at nuclear power plants had held out their hands, accepting new automobiles and free visits to brothels. TN kept a secret fund to pay for kitchen cabinets and television sets, wads of cash… Initially, the suspicion that Transnuklear might have been using money and gifts to smuggle the dangerous shipments past all safety controls was not investigated…. why the reactor safety inspectors had been in on the deal: they had to certify that the contents of the waste shipments to and from Belgium corresponded to the manifests—which certainly was not the case in many instances. But the German reactor operators, i.e., the employers of the bribe-takers, also profited from TN’s Belgian transactions because they saved large amounts of money they would have had to spend on waste disposal. The fact is that the FRG [Federal Republic of Germany, i.e. W. Germany] still has no terminal storage sites for nuclear waste products…” And, it still has no storage site. Excerpted from “Reports on Illegal Activities of Transnuklear” US English summary-translation based on Der Spiegel in German No 53, 28 Dec 87 pp 18-23 JPRS-TND-88-005 14 March 1988 https://web.archive.org/web/20160531155037/http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA345472 While this may be the period where German radioactive sludge was reportedly buried in Italy (Carmine Schiavone testimony), lack of ethics by the German nuclear industry lives on with more recent burning of radioactive waste in Tennessee, and attempt to dump high level German nuclear waste upon America. Ownership of the THTR, which accounts for the majority of the radioactive waste proposed to be dumped on America is 31% RWE: https://web.archive.org/web/20160318133803/http://thtr.de/aktuelles-ges.htm RWE directly benefitted from unethical Nazi policies: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2016/03/19/paul-silverberg-lost-all-to-the-nazis-including-rag-and-rew-to-rwe-thyssen-flick (TN is currently an Areva subsidiary.)

All of this sounds more like the French than our stereotype of the Germans, but they are neighbors, after all. They are Charlemagne’s children. The Rhineland has gone back and forth between the two countries. And, part of France was occupied by the Nazis.

“Peter Hartz (born 9 August 1941 in Sankt Ingbert), was the human resources executive at the German public company Volkswagen AG (VW). Twenty percent of Volkswagen’s shares are owned by the state of Lower Saxony. Hartz became notable as adviser to German chancellor and former head of the state of Lower Saxony, Gerhard Schröder, with whom Hartz developed the so-called Hartz-reforms of the German labour market and job agencies – the German welfare benefit, ‘Hartz IV’, is named after the fourth stage of his reforms. On 8 July 2005 Hartz offered his resignation (which was accepted a few days later) amidst allegations of wrongdoings in his area of responsibility at Volkswagen, which include:
1. kickbacks to Volkswagen managers from bogus companies doing real estate business with Volkswagen, especially at the Czech subsidiary Škoda Auto;
2. favours to members of the workers council (Betriebsrat), which are illegal under German law (the chairman of the workers council, Klaus Volkert, had resigned 30 June 2005), and;
3. the use of prostitutes at the company’s expense, sometimes in company-owned apartments and under the influence of Viagra, which had been prescribed by the company’s medical service.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hartz
Harz started working at age 14 years. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hartz

Harz II: “New types of employment, Minijob and Midijob, with lower or gradually rising taxes and insurance payments“. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartz_concept

August 30, 2013: “Low-paid Germans mind rich-poor gap as elections approach
With no national minimum wage and a fifth of workers in insecure mini-jobs, critics say German prosperity is being built on exploitation of the downtrodden” “In Europe only Lithuania has a higher percentage of low earners – those earning less than two-thirds of the national average wage“. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/30/low-paid-germans-mini-jobs As of Jan 2015, Germany now has a minimum wage of €8.50 per hour ($9.47): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country

From Reuters: “Wed Feb 8, 2012 9:42am EST,
Insight: The dark side of Germany’s jobs miracle” STRALSUND, GERMANY, BY SARAH MARSH AND HOLGER HANSEN “Job growth in Germany has been especially strong for low wage and temporary agency employment because of deregulation and the promotion of flexible, low-income, state-subsidised so-called “mini-jobs… I’ve had some people earning as little as 55 cents per hour,” said Peter Huefken, the head of Stralsund’s job agency, the first of its kind to sue employers for paying too little. He is encouraging other agencies to follow suit.” http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-jobs-idUSTRE8170P120120208

Given the use of prostitutes at Volkswagen company expense, no one should be surprised at the “Three Old Wives Talk Dirty” Ad, which is probably the all-time worst TV advertisement ever, anyway.

“FTC Charges Volkswagen Deceived Consumers with Its “Clean Diesel” Campaign – Seeks Compensation for Those Who Bought or Leased Affected VW and Audi Vehicles over Seven-Year Period
FOR RELEASE March 29, 2016
TAGS: Automobiles Bureau of Consumer Protection Consumer Protection Advertising and MarketingEnvironmental Marketing

The Federal Trade Commission has charged that Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. deceived consumers with the advertising campaign it used to promote its supposedly “clean diesel” VWs and Audis, which Volkswagen fitted with illegal emission defeat devices designed to mask high emissions during government tests. The FTC is seeking a court order requiring Volkswagen to compensate American consumers who bought or leased an affected vehicle between late 2008 and late 2015, as well as an injunction to prevent Volkswagen from engaging in this type of conduct again.

In a complaint filed in federal court, the FTC alleges that during this seven-year period Volkswagen deceived consumers by selling or leasing more than 550,000 diesel cars based on false claims that the cars were low-emission, environmentally friendly, met emissions standards and would maintain a high resale value. The cars sold for an average price of approximately $28,000.

“For years Volkswagen’s ads touted the company’s ‘Clean Diesel’ cars even though it now appears Volkswagen rigged the cars with devices designed to defeat emissions tests,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “Our lawsuit seeks compensation for the consumers who bought affected cars based on Volkswagen’s deceptive and unfair practices.”

From Volkswagen’s “Three Old Wives Talk Dirty” TV spot. [Original has picture and video from the advertisement]

According to the FTC’s complaint, Volkswagen promoted its supposedly “clean” cars through a high-profile marketing campaign that included Super Bowl ads, online social media campaigns, and print advertising, often targeting “environmentally-conscious” consumers.

For example, Volkswagen promotional materials repeatedly claimed that its “Clean Diesel” vehicles have low emissions, including that they reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by 90 percent and have fewer such emissions than gasoline cars. In fact, the FTC’s complaint states that they emit up to 4,000 percent more than the legal limit of NOx — a dangerous pollutant that contributes to environmental harms and respiratory ailments.

The complaint alleges that Volkswagen also claimed that “Clean Diesel” vehicles met “stringent emission requirements,” were “50-state compliant,” and would maintain a high resale value. Yet, according to the FTC’s complaint, these claims were also false because without the illegally installed software, the “Clean Diesel” vehicles would not have passed federal emissions standards and the hidden defeat devices will significantly reduce the vehicles’ resale value.

The FTC also charged that Volkswagen provided the means and instrumentalities for others to deceive consumers, and that installing the emissions defeat devices was an unfair practice.

The affected vehicles include 2009 through 2015 Volkswagen TDI diesel models of Jettas, Passats, and Touareg SUVs, as well as TDI Audi models. The suggested sale prices for the affected vehicles ranged from approximately $22,000 for the least-expensive Volkswagen model with a 2.0-liter engine to approximately $125,000 for the most-expensive Audi model with 3.0-liter engine.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint was 4-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.

NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The case will be decided by the court.”
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/03/ftc-charges-volkswagen-deceived-consumers-its-clean-diesel

https://web.archive.org/web/20160401132417/https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/03/ftc-charges-volkswagen-deceived-consumers-its-clean-diesel

[1] “U.S. judge orders Volkswagen executive detained
Posted:Thu, 12 Jan 2017 16:27:33 -0500
MIAMI/NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered a Volkswagen executive charged in the Justice Department’s diesel emissions investigation held without bail pending trial. ” http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/businessNews/~3/tSw0OryfNTI/us-volkswagen-emissions-idUSKBN14W2YZ

[2] “U.S. State Department nominee Tillerson fights climate deposition
Posted:Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:51:59 -0500
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Rex Tillerson, the former oil executive under consideration for U.S. secretary of state, is trying to avoid giving testimony in a federal lawsuit over climate change, according to a lawyer for a group of teenagers who filed the suit.
http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/I0JTpCqPHtg/us-usa-environment-tillerson-idUSKBN14X2KF

[3] “From Fukushima: To Despair Properly, To Find the Next Step” by Norma Field
The Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus Volume 14, Issue 17, Number 3, Sep 2016
http://apjjf.org/2016/17/Field.html

Red tone added to top photo.