If this were truly a crime, and prosecuted in only the most outrageous instances, the prisons would be flush with congress critters, state legislators, town council and school board members. In fact, entire states would have to turned into prisons to hold them all. I would imagine that more than a few prosecutors and judges would also be taking up residence.

and prosecuted in only the most outrageous instances, the prisons would be flush with congress critters, state legislators, town council and school board members.

Sometime my cynicismtakes over.......but,

Your diffinition of outrageous is must be quite a bit more extreme then mine.

The threat of jail for ANYTHING has NEVER acted as a deterent, for the obvious and simple reason that you don't ever really expect to get caught! Only fines, community service, public humiliation (ranging from chain gangs to media vilification) seem to have an effect.

An example of this would be, say, seat belt legislation. Resisted everywhere strenuously until it became socially unacceptable to NOT wear a seat belt. Similarly, smoking in public places...easy to say "there oughta be a law", and way different when it comes to enforcing it. Again, it only became enforceable after it became socially unacceptable to smoke after scarfing down that breakfast of steak and eggs. Fraud on this scale does not carry the same "evil" as say, stealing from a Salvation Army kettle.

Overcrowded court dockets have resulted in more loss of justice than any other single cause. There are only two ways to resolve this problem. Neither are cheap. I think the defence attourney's approach that the buyer did not do his due diligence might have merit. After all how many tax dollars are we actually prepared to expend in order to save people from themselves?

That being said....it takes a particularly low form of life to counterfeit an old Chevy....

Just my two cents...

The only time threats carry any weight, is when you're in junior high and the principal is driving you home, and the wait for your dad to find out. THAT was all the deterrent I needed.

Past that, Threats are meaningless, unless they are carried out to the maximum.

Yes, bring back the town square and stocks, with a supply of bad vegetables.

But as far as 'There oughta be a law', mentality............I believe we have enough of those. Just enforce and carry out the laws already on the books. And just get new laws to fill in the loop holes created by technology.

And as far as an overcrowded court dockets, That is correct. But there is a way to offset it. The convicted is a cheap form of labor, And I do not believe that is cruel and inhumane punsihment, but paying back your debt to society. But the draw back is safety to the corrections personel.