But in 1997, the system was dismantled by a Supreme Court judgment arguing, in part, that the educated and privileged, far from deserving better treatment, should be doubly sanctioned because they of all people should know better.
Far from backing better transparency, the Abbott government is actually working to shield huge firms from any public scrutiny.
They will be a far-from-generous £33 better off.
These mishaps are cautionary exemplars for a society that has traveled far, for better or worse, from the mindset of my parents' generation, men and women growing up in the Depression, losing their youth to World War II, and finally, perhaps not surprisingly, settling down into jobs at companies with which they more readily identified than workers do today.
The consensus that arrived from the star-packed six days, in which the Knicks beat Denver, battled Boston and bowed to Miami, was that they were better, but far from the best.
He has had pangs of conscience in recent years about re-ripping the music at higher quality, and knows that the digital versions sold are from far better sources often derived from master digital recordings than a mass-produced CD.
The males fly out and head far from home, the better to minimize the chance of mating with kin.
This allowed insurgent forces to hide these weapons far from the road, better camouflaging them and making them far more deadly.
Far from suggesting that better times are here to stay, they indicate that policymakers are becoming more pessimistic about the economy's prospects.
"Too many of these companies pick the last dollar out of consumers' pocket and, far from leaving them better off, push them deeper into debt, even bankruptcy," Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the F.T.C., said in a statement announcing the regulations.
