Quote:
Originally Posted by lustylad
And wtf are the "right reasons"? You can't just break up private companies because you're pandering for votes. It's a free country. Businesses operate under the Constitution and its legal protections. You have to prove anti-trust violations. Why would anyone trust the government to take a giant, successful business and make things better by dismembering it?
|
for the right reasons.. meaning harming competition... DOJ has to prove unfair competition took place.
there were a number of notable mega mergers that shouldn't have gone thru but did.
it had to do with the change in philosophy among the judges regarding anti-trust moves.
the thinking was that if it didn't harm the consumers, the merger would go thru regardless of the harm the merger would do to competitors,
this started around in the 1980s; just after the govt. forced the largest anti-trust break up of the century, AT&T. late 1990 - early 2000, the Microsoft anti-trust was a test case. what was their punishment??? a slap on the wrist. that was it.
