Shuffling the Antitrust Deck
delong, james v.
"SHUFFLING THE ANTITRUST DECK" BY JAMES V. DELONG At the start of the new year, Assistant Attorney General Charles A. James announced a reorganization of his Antitrust Division, effective in...
...But the Bose' Acoustic Wave' music system is definitely an overachiever...
...Enforcement Section (emphasis again added...
...SHUFFLING THE ANTITRUST DECK BY JAMES V. DELONG At the start of the new year, Assistant Attorney General Charles A. James announced a reorganization of his Antitrust Division, effective in February...
...The Antitrust Division could be a counterbalance to this consistently unfortunate tendency...
...The complete system, which is available in Platinum White or Graphite Gray, measures just 10.5'11 x 18"W x b.5" Ii yet features a compact disc player, an AMIFM tuner, built-in speakers, a handy remote control, and our patented svaveguide speaker rechnology: And it produces a rich, natural sound quality comparable to audio systems costing thousands of dollars...
...The history of telecom regulation is a sorry one...
...Why worry...
...in,r eIr.,.r r:mr IJJre,, • yr.,rr /ip 1 I).iyrrni Icirp„es InenmgTelephone u; l c m. ikpr...
...Take advantage of our installment plan and make 12 low interest-free monthly payments...
...The Pedest::i i~ :: 5 ,slue that will help you enjoy the performance of this w,%ard-winning system from Bose - the most respected name in sound...
...For information on all our products: www.bose.com/g5171 For a FREE Pedestal order by March 31, 2002...
...Call today for more information about our 30-day in-home trial...
...The Computers and Finance Section will morph into the Networks and Technology James VDeLong is senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Project on Technology & Innovation...
...For 70 years, the FCC, on its own and in league with Congress, has hobbled technological innovation through suppression of FM radio, attacks on cable and satellite service, delay of cell phones, constraints on low-power radio, protection of the Bell monopoly, creation of cable monopolies, extensions of universal service subsidies and, most recently, the inhibition of broadband...
...Now, the Division is caught in the coils of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the comments it files with the FCC mostly nit It mar he small...
...r)o,G5171...
...The saga is driven by corporate capture, by political corruption (which reached its classic form in the case of Ladybird Johnson's monopoly ofTV licenses in Austin, Texas) and by the hubris of people who think they can devise appropriate industrial policy for high tech...
...Not panic-that would be excessive-but worry...
...We know that's hard to believe...
...Both sections report to a Deputy AAG (Regulatory), constituting two-thirds of his bailiwick, with about thirty lawyers in each...
...The remainder staff a section on Transportation, Energy &Agriculture...
...Because in government morphology is destiny, and restructuring sends powerful signals of activism to come...
...1 ,,,%h, m. NIA 01'01.41, 8. Barter socrle rhrouyh research . JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2002 - THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 21...
...The existing Telecommunications Task Force will become the Telecommunications and Media Enforcement Section (emphasis added...
...Order now and you'll even get a free Pedestal with inputs for your TV VCR, cassette deck and another music source...
...G5171...
...But two changes are eye-catching...
...In this context, an important role of the Division would be to press the FCC to stop all this damn regulating and free up the market, a role it performed admirably in the Bell breakup of the early 1980s...
...So look at the implications of the two new units, starting with Telecom/Media first...
...Call today, 1-800-726-2073, ext...
...T:-•,- 11-,u n,.r:r...
...So we're ready to prove it...
...Indeed, as a part of the general revolution in antitrust thought that occurred during the 1970s, it became gospel that the Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission should focus much less on the actions of private business firms and much more on government-imposed monopolies...
...This idea that the Antitrust Division should be the scourge of the government waned during the Clinton years...
...Those who believe that minimal regulation and the free market are best for the tech business should worry...
...Much of the shuffling looks like routine bureaucratics, designed to even out workloads and reflect the current balances of internal power and competence...
Vol. 35 • January 2002 • No. 1
