I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV. I'm just an old broke down mechanic and current student trying to make sense of a world gone crazy. I think that is the case for many of my friends and readers. I'm going to present an article here along with my personal opinions and leave the final conclusions up to you. Which I hope you'll share with me and my guests.

Note, before you read further know this, I don't want the comments section of this article to degenerate into a partisan shouting match. So, if you can't refrain stop now. Go to those articles that allow partisan discussion, or write your own article. I do know you can take the opportunity as we all can to post comments of whatever you/we want within Newsvine's code of honor. I am asking for you to respect my wishes and stay with the point of this article.

What I would like to focus on in this article is the fact, as I understand it, that the Federal Government cannot do business with a Corporation that has been convicted of a felony. Seems kind of obvious.

A person that is a felon is generally barred for life from many Federal benefits; from Wikipedia

The consequences convicted felons face in most states include:

• Disenfranchisement (which the Supreme Court interpreted to be permitted by the Fourteenth Amendment)
• Exclusion from obtaining certain licenses, such as a visa, or professional licenses required in order to legally operate (making many vocations off-limits to felons)
• Exclusion from purchase and possession of firearms, ammunition and body armor
• Ineligibility for serving on a jury
• Ineligibility for government assistance or welfare, including being barred from federally funded housing
• Deportation (if the criminal is not a citizen)

So, what happens if you are a major corporation like say, Pfizer and are convicted of fraud?

Feds found Pfizer too big to nail

But when it came to prosecuting Pfizer for its fraudulent marketing, the pharmaceutical giant had a trump card: Just as the giant banks on Wall Street were deemed too big to fail, Pfizer was considered too big to nail.

Why? Because any company convicted of a major health care fraud is automatically excluded from Medicare and Medicaid. Convicting Pfizer on Bextra would prevent the company from billing federal health programs for any of its products. It would be a corporate death sentence.

What to do, what to do... Oh, this;

So Pfizer and the feds cut a deal. Instead of charging Pfizer with a crime, prosecutors would charge a Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc.

As a result, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc., the subsidiary, was excluded from Medicare without ever having sold so much as a single pill. And Pfizer was free to sell its products to federally funded health programs.

See how simple that is? You get your buddy to take the fall!

Note: not being a lawyer I guess fraud may or may not be a felony? I'm sure someone here knows better, then I and will let me know? But, in the above case I'm thinking it was a felony fraud case. Pfizer and our illustrious leaders were concerned enough to cut this deal.

So, how about this list from Wikipedia?

List of companies convicted of felony offenses in the United States

Are there any in that link you recognize? I just researched this little company, you may of heard of this one--General Electric?

G.E. Held Guilty of $1.25 Million Bribe

You'll have to scroll up on this next link to see all the fun and games General Electric has been up to: G.E. Habitual Offender. It appears as though G.E. has a long history of indictments. Three strikes and you're out? Three strikes laws appear to only be at the state level, damn!

Felons, as people, in the U.S. can have their records expunged in some cases and State by State, but according to the all telling Wikipedia on fraud,

Expungement

For state law convictions, expungement is determined by the law of the state. A few states do not allow expungement, regardless of the offense.

Federal law does not have any provisions for persons convicted of federal felonies in a federal United States district court to apply to have their record expunged. While the pending Second Chance Act which may change this, at present the only relief that an individual prosecuted in federal court may receive is a Presidential Pardon, which does not expunge the conviction, but rather grants relief from the civil disabilities that stem from it.

Hmm... seems G.E., the corporate person, is SOL (shit outta luck)

Damn it's nice to see the US Justice system at work.

So, the question I'm putting to my friends and readers is this;
Should the Federal Government do business with a Corporation that has been convicted of a felony?

by C. Cory Spencer

And once again
This article is not about party, so don't bring it here.
There are plenty of articles on Newsvine that are happy to have discussions about party.
So, please take statements about party there. Or, write your own article.