Federal Trade Commission - FTC

Oh, those naughty sellers. They lied. They stole. They claimed it would let you fly. Only it didn’t. It was the era when the US was in fast conversion from being a farming dominated economy to an urban business-y kind of economy. Still exporting a lot of cotton and guns to Europe...and opening an era when uneducated, unsophisticated consumers believe more or less everything they read in the paper. And yes, in 1914, the newspaper was a Thing.

At its essence, the Federal Trade Commission is supposed to be the protector of truth, justice, and the American way. They exist to prevent fraudulent or deceptive trade practices.

Fraudsters aren’t new to the American playing fields. They live in the form of telemarketers, funeral home salesmen, identity theives, and all kinds of other scams and schemes to bilk Joe Sixpack out of money he’s saved to, uh…buy a six-pack.

Well, after one too many city slickers took advantage of poor Farmer Joe, Woodrow Wilson (or Woody Woo, as his friends at Princeton like to call him) stepped in and created the Federal Trade Commission (or FTC for short...kinda like that Woody Woo thing).

Cut to…today. And this is lifted directly off of their website. It’s worth a skim. It says:

OUR MISSION

Working to protect consumers by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices, enhancing informed consumer choice and public understanding of the competitive process, and accomplishing this without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.

OUR VISION

A vibrant economy characterized by vigorous competition and consumer access to accurate information.

OUR STRATEGIC GOALS

Protect Consumers
Maintain Competition
Advance Organizational Performance

So what does all this mean?

It means that fraudsters will always exist, that Gullible Garys will always feed them enough gruel to continue to exist...and that we’ll at least have Uncle Sam on our side protecting truth, justice, and the American way.