Deck 3: Corporate Crime

Question 1

The text suggests that the Buffalo Creek dam break, and the earlier Johnstown Flood, would both be most accurately characterized as:

A) an "Act of God"
B) an intended crime of the corporate elite
C) an outcome of willful corporate negligence and disregard for safety standards
D) an outcome of criminal conspiracy between corporate and civic leaders.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A combination of centrally owned firms operating in different fields is known as a(n):

A) monopoly
B) oligopoly
C) conglomerate
D) transnational

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to the text, the air pollution problem in Los Angeles can at least partially be attributed to:

A) the building of too many auto factories in the area
B) the use of high-polluting buses in Los Angeles
C) the deliberate efforts of automobile companies to limit the growth of public transportation
D) the lack of application of the 1970 Clean Air Act to Los Angeles

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Upton Sinclair's 1905 novel The Jungle helped inspired legislation pertaining to:

A) pollution
B) mine safety
C) motor vehicle safety
D) meat market standards

Question 5

Marx and Engels accused capitalist corporations of all but which of the following?

A) Willful homicide of workers
B) Depriving workers of a fair return on their labor
C) Sponsoring mindless entertainment directed at workers
D) Dehumanizing workers by denying them control of their work

Question 6

Which of the following did not become more common in the 20ᵗʰ century?

A) Monopolies
B) Oligopolies
C) Conglomerates
D) Transnational corporations

Question 7

Large corporations are least likely to be associated with:

A) exportation of unsafe products
B) bribery and corruption of politicians
C) aiding and abetting revolutionary movements
D) complicity in human rights violations

Question 8

Contemporary "paper entrepreneurs" are associated with all but which of the following?

A) Corporate take-overs
B) Commitment to short-term profits
C) Decline of investment return for corporate stockholders
D) Loss of jobs for many corporate employees

Question 9

The 19th century "robber barons" built up great fortunes by engaging in all but which of the following practices?

A) Bribery
B) Stock manipulation
C) Progressive labor contracts
D) Price gouging

Question 10

It has been estimated that improper disposal of deadly wastes occurs _____of the time.

A) 10%
B) 30%
C) 50%
D) 90%

Question 11

The South Sea Bubble Act (1720) was inspired by:

A) a ship sinking
B) the exploitation of South Sea island natives
C) a fraudulent trading company
D) an oil mining scam

Question 12

What percentage of the U.S.population owns about half of the outstanding stock and trust equity in the United States and two-thirds of its financial securities?

A) 20%
B) 10%
C) 1%
D) 5%

Question 13

In 2008, American taxpayers were effectively bailing out financial corporations that had lost _____ of dollars on subprime mortgages.

A) millions
B) thousands
C) trillions
D) billions

Question 14

The rise of the Standard Oil Company partly inspired:

A) the 14th Amendment
B) the Child Labor Laws
C) the Environmental Protection Agency
D) the Sherman Antitrust Act

Question 15

Which of the following is not true of the corporate response to the problem of pollution?

A) They knew, or should have known, the inherent risks created by their practices of disposing of toxic waste.
B) They often opted for dangerous but low-cost methods of disposing of toxic waste.
C) They have protected their own interests by always relying upon legal means of toxic waste disposal.
D) They have typically denied responsibility for the harmful consequences attributed to their polluting practices.

Question 16

The domination of a market by several large corporations is known as a(n):

A) monopoly
B) oligopoly
C) conglomerate
D) transnational

Question 17

The earliest proto-corporations or "trusts" were:

A) churches, towns and universities
B) 16ᵗʰ-century trading companies
C) slave-trading outfits
D) 19th century oil companies

Question 18

Corporate violence is characterized by all but which of the following?

A) An absence of interpersonal violence
B) The lack of a clear causal relationship between corporate policy and harmful outcomes
C) Decisions made by a single person or a small group of people
D) Motivation based on economic considerations

Question 19

Large corporations are best positioned to maximize profits with harmful corporate practices in:

A) advanced capitalist nations
B) small European nations
C) Third World countries
D) socialist countries

Question 20

In the Bhopal toxic waste case, how many years after the event did numerous victims remain uncompensated and hundreds of tons of hazardous waste remain not cleaned up?

A) 15 years
B) 24 years
C) 30 years
D) 10 years

Question 21

Which of the following U.S.corporations has allegedly engaged in economic exploitation of employees, corporate stealing from employees, and unfair labor practices?

A) Wal-Mart
B) Ford Motor Company
C) Halliburton
D) Kraft General Foods

Question 22

Recognition that exposure to asbestos might be harmful to workers has been traced back to:

A) ancient times
B) the beginning of the industrial era
C) early in the 20th century
D) the 1970s

Question 23

The use of tobacco, described as the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., results in approximately _____ premature deaths a year.

A) 1 million
B) 440,000
C) 100,000
D) 2.5 million

Question 24

"Parallel pricing" refers to the practice whereby:

A) competing corporations conspire actively to fix prices
B) corporations attempt to underprice all their competitors
C) industry leaders set inflated prices and supposed competitors adjust their own prices accordingly
D) corporations set prices parallel to the rate of inflation

Question 25

The author of Unsafe at Any Speed, the landmark 1965 critique of automobile industry safety standards, was:

A) Alfred P. Sloan
B) Ralph Nader
C) John Z. DeLorean
D) Russell Mokhiber

Question 26

What percentage of the annual $1 trillion U.S.health care bill does medical fraud account for?

A) Between 40 and 50%
B) Between 15 and 25%
C) Between 2 and 8%
D) Between 3 and 10%

Question 27

Safety features were not a priority of auto manufacturers for much of their history primarily because:

A) studies showed that the safety features were too crude to do any good
B) polls revealed that the public was indifferent to auto safety
C) auto executives did not care if people were injured or killed in auto accidents
D) safety features were not regarded as enhancing sales and profit potential for automobiles

Question 28

Which pharmaceutical company agreed in 2007 to pay half a billion dollars to settle 18,000 lawsuits claiming that the users of its product Zyprexa developed diabetes?

A) Pfizer
B) American Home Products
C) Eli Lilly
D) Merck Corporation

Question 29

The primary concern with the Nestle Corporation's marketing of infant formula in Third World countries is that:

A) the infant formula is exorbitantly priced
B) Nestle's infant formula competes unfairly against domestic infant formula brands
C) mothers in these countries do not have the knowledge, means or conditions to use it safely
D) a very inferior grade of infant formula is marketed

Question 30

What type of contract was Halliburton awarded to rebuild Iraq's oil operation just prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003?

A) Long-term
B) Noncompetitive
C) Short-term
D) Competitive

Question 31

According to the text, there have been some concerns over certain parallels in the fraudulent practices of the _____ markets and the student loan markets.

A) subprime mortgage loans
B) military personnel loans
C) automobile loans
D) small business loans

Question 32

Energy giant Enron, while claiming massive profits, paid taxes _____between 1990 and 2000, but collected hundreds of millions in tax refunds from the government.

A) in only one year
B) regularly
C) only on profits made abroad
D) every other year

Question 33

The major response to false advertising has taken the form of:

A) civil lawsuits
B) criminal prosecutions
C) banning of products
D) requiring a modification or discontinuation of a misleading advertisement campaign

Question 34

The most celebrated case of corporate price-fixing, which led to several executives receiving jail sentences, involved:

A) the infant formula industry
B) the heavy electrical equipment industry
C) the milk industry
D) the airline industry

Question 35

Corporations place their employees under surveillance to:

A) verify that they sit at their desks
B) be able to reward them more quickly when doing a great job
C) prevent employee theft
D) help them avoid make mistakes

Question 36

According to the text, in recent years Halliburton has been accused of all but one of the following activities:

A) bribery
B) tax evasion
C) violations of international sanctions
D) systematic overcharging of the U.S. government

Question 37

The unethical activity of universities most likely to lead to legal action would be:

A) alleged defrauding of students by assigning large numbers of classes to underpaid, stressed out graduate students
B) accepting donations from wealthy individuals who have legal problems in their past
C fraudulent claims in connection with research grants and student aid
D) exploiting student athletes by using them for economic gain without attending to their educational needs

Question 38

The Thalidomide, DES, and Dalkon Shield cases had all but which of the following in common?

A) Pregnant women as primary victims
B) The involvement of major pharmaceutical companies
C) The eventual imprisonment of the executives responsible
D) Attempted cover-ups of pharmaceutical corporation liability

Question 39

The most unusual feature of the Film Recovery Systems case was:

A) the involvement of immigrant laborers
B) the death of a worker due to managerial decisions
C) the large number of victims
D) the criminal conviction of corporate executives

Question 40

In September 2001, the U.S.Justice Department announced that it would no longer seek to break up computer giant Microsoft because:

A) the Bush administration had declined to do so
B) money could be saved that was needed for the fight against terrorism
C) the judge admitted having made mistakes
D) the antitrust case against the corporation had no foundation

Question 41

Marx failed to recognize that corporations were no longer fully controlled by
holders of corporate stock.

Question 42

Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie became rich because their products and
ways of doing business were superior to their competitors.'

Question 43

Nineteenth-century American corporations were largely invulnerable to legal
controls.

Question 44

By some estimates, up to 90 percent of all cancers may be environmentally
related.

Question 45

Fines rather than prison sentences have been the most common disposition in
criminal cases involving corporate pollution.

Question 46

A positive view of corporations is widespread.

Question 47

Corporate crime is both a major form of white collar crime and a specific form of
organizational crime.

Question 48

In 1949, General Motors and other companies with a vested interest in gasoline-
fueled transportation were convicted of violating antitrust law by criminally
conspiring to eliminate electric transportation and monopolize the sale of buses.

Question 49

Because they operate internationally, transnational corporations have had to
comply with higher standards than companies who operate only on American
soil.

Question 50

Corporate crime was the primary focus of Sutherland's famous 1949 book, White
Collar Crime.

Question 51

Only a handful of corporate executives have been sent to prison in pollution cases.

Question 52

Corporations have long tried to avoid producing toxic waste and to properly
dispose of toxic substances because it is profitable for them.

Question 53

There has been a dramatic increase in the production of toxic wastes since World
War II.

Question 54

Corporate takeovers are not illegal, but are regarded as harmful by some
commentators.

Question 55

A clear recognition that capitalist corporations can be harmful emerged only in
the 20th century.

Question 56

Corporate violence typically results from the decisions or actions of a large
number of people acting collectively, rather than from the actions of isolated
individuals.

Question 57

The concept of the "socialization of risk" refers to the notion of allowing the
public sector to profit while the private sector absorbs risks.

Question 58

Adam Smith, the principal philosophical advocate of capitalism, believed that
merchants and manufacturers were best qualified to rule mankind.

Question 59

In November 2001, a federal appeals court confirmed as appropriate the $5.3
billion punitive damage award against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez oil spill case.

Question 60

Corporate violence differs from conventional violence in that corporate violence
is not specifically intended.

Question 61

According to the text, the problem of unsanitary and unsafe practices in the
meatpacking plants had been wholly eliminated by the latter part of the 20th
century.

Question 62

Criminal prosecutions for corporate health care provider fraud are complicated
and relatively uncommon.

Question 63

Defense contract fraud cases have been directed at many small corporations, and
rarely at major contractors.

Question 64

Since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, about 10
worker-safety prosecutions a year have occurred.

Question 65

Price-fixing is regarded as exceedingly unethical, but is not specifically illegal.

Question 66

The range of unsafe products is broad, not narrow.

Question 67

A high percentage of new weapon system contracts have been awarded without
competitive bidding.

Question 68

A Halliburton subsidiary was found to have charged the U.S.government $2
million to transport fuel worth just $82,000.

Question 69

It is estimated that smoking costs taxpayers $18 billion a year.

Question 70

There is much evidence to support the proposition that far more employees have
been killed and maimed as a consequence of the actions of employers than the
reverse.

Question 71

Bribery is the principal means used by contemporary corporations to corrupt the
political system.

Question 72

In the U.S., annual deaths from work-related accidents and diseases are estimated
at more than 30,000.

Question 73

Corporations' shares of the total tax burden increased dramatically in the second
half of the 20ᵗʰ century.

Question 74

Edwin Sutherland's landmark study of white collar crime focused almost entirely
on corporate offenses with economic as opposed to violent consequences.

Question 75

There has not been a long history of recalls of unsafe tires.

Question 76

Unlike the automobile industry, the airline industry has not been the target of
allegations of willful negligence on matters of safety.

Question 77

Price-fixing conspiracies have been uncovered for very few products, but virtually
all services.

Question 78

The criminal prosecution of corporate executives in connection with unsafe
working conditions has been legally upheld by more than one high state court.

Question 79

In 2006, it was found that oil and gas companies extracting some $60 billion
worth of these fuels were cheating American taxpayers by paying tens of millions
less in government royalties than they should have paid.

Question 80

The Manville Corporation only ceased to expose workers to asbestos dust when
its own physicians filed reports on workers contacting asbestosis.