Introduction: Conditions and Causes of Distress

Employees at Rhodes Plastics in Linden, New Jersey, trudged through another dreary March day. The plant received its raw materials and supplies at one end of the building, converted them into sterile packaging for the food and drug industry, and shipped them out the other end. The office workers were the first to register shock and confusion when armed sheriff deputies stormed in and ordered everyone out of the building.

"You will take nothing, not even the family pictures on your desks!" one officer shouted. "Not until the bank figures out who owns what."

While locksmiths arrived to change all the locks, the plant workers were ordered out and told to leave even their own tools behind. Unbeknownst ...

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