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.
Gaastra is a city in Iron County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 339. The city is named after Douwe Gaastra, a building contractor and real estate speculator who bought the land in October 1908 and platted the town. It was incorporated as a village in 1919 and as a city in 1949. Bucky Holm is the current mayor of Gaastra.