SOPHISTICATED CHEATING

        

                                                                                 

Dr. T. Rama Prasad   
    BIG CAR and  SMALL BANANAS

We go to a roadside vendor who is selling fruits. The vendor says that all the fruits are fresh and tasty.  We bargain a lot and take home a dozen or two of the fruits and find that one or two of the fruits are not good.  We feel short-changed.  And we make a big fuss about being cheated by the vendor.

Now (September 2015) there is the news from the US Environmental Protection Agency that the Europe's biggest car maker, Volkswagen used software for diesel VW and Audi branded cars that deceived regulators measuring toxic emissions.  The CEO of the company which held up for generations as a paragon of German engineering prowess has resigned, taking responsibility for the biggest scandal in the 78-year history of the giant facility. The EPA said that Volkswagen may face penalties of up to $18 billion for cheating emissions tests on its cars.

The scandal that has battered Volkswagen’s image in the United States has spread to the automaker’s core market in Europe.  It is reported that 11 million diesel cars were equipped with software that could be used to cheat on emissions tests, and that Volkswagen officials admitted to officials in the United States that the diesel cars sold there were programmed to sense when emissions were being tested and to turn on equipment that reduced them.  At other times, the cars had better fuel economy and performance, but produced as much as 40 times the allowed amount of nitrogen oxide, a pollutant that can contribute to respiratory problems including asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.   In short, the secret software in the car satisfies the testing authorities (of low pollution) and the owner (of high mileage), yet polluting the atmosphere while running on the roads contrary to its claim and certification.

The CEO of Audi (parent Volkswagen), Rupert Stadier, was arrested in Germany on June 18, 2018, in connection with the cheating by selling the diesel cars in Europe.

Who cheated us more ?  The poor fruits vendor or the big business tycoon ?  The impoverished vendor may be excused for that one fruit of bad quality, if at all it is cheating.  Don't be harsh to the hapless victims of fate.  Help the poor street vendors.  Don't  bargain (unless you are also poor !) and don't exploit the poverty related predicament of the small-timers. You don't save anything substantial  by bargaining.  Think about the money you waste in malls and food courts. And think that you are helping the downtrodden vendors  by not bargaining .  They are struggling to make ends meet, not to mint money to buy ‘Volkswagens'.

KINDNESS  COSTS  NOTHING

Dr. T. Rama Prasad,

drtramaprasad@gmail.com,  'PAY WHAT YOU CAN' Clinic,  Perundurai,  Erode Dt.,  TN,  India.,  Former Medical Superintendent (Special),  RTS & IRT Perundurai Medical College and Research Centre.