[Briel]

>The order also imposes a $50 million judgment against Lumos Labs, which will be suspended due to its financial condition after the company pays $2 million to the Commission.

So does that mean after paying this fine, Lumosity is in financial trouble?

[drglitch]

Generally "suspended" means "we won't fine you now but if you screw up again, you're paying up". Kind of like probation. The reason given gives me thought that they also simply don't have $50M

[revelation]

It means they don't have $50m. I'd say that shouldn't matter, we don't give the poor a discount on parking tickets either (actually, we usually make them more expensive).

[jonlucc]

I have seen a proposal to make the cost of tickets based on value of the car. The thinking is that a person with an Audi is not at all disturbed by paying a $20 parking fine, so it isn't an incentive. It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to implement.

[mikestew]

Should be easy to implement, as the plate number is taken, so cross-reference that to make and model, cross-reference that to the book value. A mobile app for government ticket writers could be prototyped in a weekend with access to the right databases (I guess you really just need the DMV data, then cross-reference to Edmunds or something).

As for the proposal, I'd be for it. I make enough that under some circumstances I very well might just pay the $35 than drive around looking for a parking space. When I am in a car, though, it's usually in our ten year old Scion that cost $20K brand new, so I don't know that would it would be such a disincentive for me (and my illegal parking is a rare occurrence regardless, and usually by accident), but might work for the general case.

[jeffwass]

The UK does something like this, they call it "means adjusted" fines.

Usually it's done if you challenge a ticket and they still find you guilty. Then they may adjust the fine relative to your financial condition. (I'm not sure how they find that out, eg if they talk to HMRC or other).

[TheOtherHobbes]

Popular in the EU:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-fine

I don't think the UK does it much, except in the sense that if you lose a case you're liable for costs, and for a driving offence judges are more likely to apply a statutory criminal fine.

Smaller offences have an upper fine limit, and that won't be raised based on income. But it's always bigger than the token Fixed Penalty Notice fine you get from the police. Serious offences have unlimited fines, so judges can get more creative with financial penalties.

[tedmiston]

Does this only work to decrease the cost of the ticket?

[TeMPOraL]

It would most likely only create incentive to fake the value of the car so that it seems lower than it is.

[mikestew]

You don't get to fake anything, they look it up in a "book". States that tax you on plates/tabs based on the car's value do exactly that. State says a 2013 Audi is worth $20K, then that's what you're getting taxed on whether you think the car is worth that much or not, and mileage is not taken into account. Annoying, too, when NC said the motorcycle I was riding at the time was worth $3K. Umm, yeah, not with 120K miles on the clock, it's not. The state did not take me up on the offer to sell it to them for $3K, which is the way I think it ought to work. Kind of like the style of car racing where you can only modify it within limits, and anyone can offer to buy the car after the race for $XXXX.

[thaumasiotes]

> The state did not take me up on the offer to sell it to them for $3K, which is the way I think it ought to work.

Supposedly Athenian taxes were assessed this way. The government handed out a list of tax obligations, and if you thought your tax requirement was heavier than somebody else's who was richer than you, you could challenge them. A challenge meant they could choose either to swap tax obligations with you, or, if they didn't believe you were poorer, to swap all their assets for yours.

[TeMPOraL]

Sorry, I assumed that the state will be taking taking mileage and general "condition" into account, and personally I'm used to people mostly buying used cars - and used car market isn't exactly a paragon of business honesty.

[jonlucc]

Well I don't think you'd just walk up to someone and say: "I want to write you a ticket. What's your car worth?" It would have to be pegged to make model and year or something like that.

[abandonliberty]

Doing so would put many people out of work and throw families into chaos. Not everyone there, and certainly not all their families, deserve that.

Besides, these fines aren't based on actual damage to society. I suspect the total is high because Pharma would laugh at a $2M fine, and the FDA wants to keep their teeth.

[hyperdunc]

That's not a good reason for a business to continue to exist. A business should provide real value to consumers. Duping consumers is not ok, even if it helps to employ people. If you want to maintain the organization's structure then upper management should resign and the business can refocus under more moral leadership.