Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Mojave (formerly, Mohave) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Mojave is located 50 miles (80 km) east of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 2762 feet (842 m). The population was 3,836 at the 2000 census. The town is located at the southwestern corner of the Mojave Desert, below the Oak Creek Pass. Telephone numbers in Mojave follow the format (661) 824-xxxx and the area includes three postal ZIP Codes. The city of Mojave began in 1876 as a construction camp on the Southern Pacific Railroad. From 1884 to 1889, the town was the western terminus of the 165-mile (266 km), twenty-mule team borax wagon route originating at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley. It later served as headquarters for construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.