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.
Whitetail is a small, unincorporated village in northern Daniels County, Montana, USA. The area was first used as a camp along a cattle-driving route in the 1880s. The town grew with the arrival of the Soo Line Railroad in 1914. The line was planned for extension all the way to Glacier National Park, but work was stopped during World War I and the line never went any farther than Whitetail. At its peak the town had more than 500 residents, declining to 248 in 1940 and 125 in 1970. The town's chief industry was the manufacture of silo blowers from 1940, but the plant closed, followed by Whitetail High School in 1940 and the grade school in 1973. The small checkpoint along Montana's border with Canada, which serves about three travelers every day, will receive $15 million for repairs under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan. Until recently, the project was not considered a high priority for the Department of Homeland Security.