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Oooh . . . someone was caught cheating. And, this one is gonna leave a mark. LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes have all plead guilty to price-fixing.  Total fines? $585 million.  Life's not so good.

The three were found to have conspired to keep prices high on LCD panels, including those sold to Dell, Motorola, and Apple. LG was found to have fixed prices from 2001 to 2006, and they're getting hit hardest with $400 million. Sharp gets $120 million fines. As any maturing technology does, prices for LCD screens were dropping, but these companies didn't want to play with the laws of economics.

So, they have to pay the Justice Department. Consumers are going to get . . .

practically nothing.

According to the New York Times, "In the United States, private class-action suits have already been filed seeking damages for companies that purchased flat-panel screens, and for consumers who bought flat-panel-equipped products. Some of the private suits, if successful, could provide a way for consumers to benefit, though the compensation for any individual would probably be slight."

It seems like the money should go directly to consumers. In a perfect world, right? We might not see anything, but there is a bit of personal accountability. The executive staff of Sharp is taking a 10 to 30% pay cut, for three months. Poor babies. My heart bleeds. —Leslie Shapiro

The New York Times