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Ahh! A billionare getting a expensive speeding ticket.  It's the simple things that make me feel happy.  :smile:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100107/ap_on_fe_st/eu_odd_switzerland_huge_speeding_fine (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100107/ap_on_fe_st/eu_odd_switzerland_huge_speeding_fine)

Swiss court fines speeding millionaire $290,000 

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland – A Swiss court has slapped a wealthy speeder with a chalet-sized fine — a full $290,000.

Judges at the cantonal court in St. Gallen, in eastern Switzerland, based the record-breaking fine on the speeder's estimated wealth of over $20 million.

A statement on the court's Web site says the driver — a repeat offender — drove up to 35 miles an hour (57 kilometers an hour) faster than the 50-mile-an-hour (80-kilometer-an-hour) limit.

Court clerk Heidi Baumann-Becker said Thursday the unidentified driver can appeal the decision, handed down in November, to the Swiss supreme court.

The Blick daily newspaper in Zurich reported the fine was more than twice the previous Swiss record of about $107,000... 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100107/ap_on_fe_st/eu_odd_switzerland_huge_speeding_fine (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100107/ap_on_fe_st/eu_odd_switzerland_huge_speeding_fine)

It's interesting they do it that way.  I've often thought money based punishments are extremely unfair as they have such different effects on different people.  An $80 speeding ticket is a big chunk of money for some people, but many can totally blow it off.  It's inherently a poor way of punishing people.  I'd rather they just used a purely point based system, where if you got too many you just lose your license or something like that.

For that matter, how is it fair that if you're wealthy enough to pay off your entire bail when you're being charged with a crime, you get it all back, but if you're poorer and have to use a bail bondsman, you lose a big percentage of it?  Just a related issue.