With the Microsoft antitrust suit near a final settlement, it is a good time to take an entirely new direction in antitrust. That new direction ought to be its complete elimination. Its underlying concepts in economics and political philosophy need to be thoroughly discredited, and the legislation on which antitrust rests in practice needs to be repealed.
While the politicians and their media allies prattle on about "winners" and "losers" in the Microsoft antitrust case, they miss the larger story, one that has become a typical American tale: the ongoing assault of the Leviathan State upon the once free and productive business sector.
Everyone complains about bad service. From the airlines to telecommunications, we hear of the increasing number of consumer complaints. Diane Brady, a writer for Business Week, believes that she has the answer to why some of us might believe service is bad. Last year, she informed BW's readers that, once again, capitalism is running amok and now needs the hand of government more than ever to force businesses to properly serve their customers. "Why Service Stinks" told of unfairness abounding as firms go overboard to keep "good" customers and do everything they can to get rid of "bad" ones.
In a market economy, marginally "superior" technology-where it can be objectively defined-doesn't necessarily end up dominating, and that's the way it should be.
Why do economists like Becker and others who say they favor free markets blindly support antitrust laws in all of their wretched excesses?
While government abuse and destruction does not usually garner enormous media attention, government's fervor to regulate is alive and well.
Are today's CEOs greedy executives who thrive on corporate profits when times are good and when times are bad?
The teachings of Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises offer the answer to those who say we should dismantle civilization to meet the supposed needs of nature. A very powerful speech by George Reisman.
In an earlier article in the FreeMarket, I questioned whether or not Joel Klein, who headed the US Justice Department's Antitrust Division during the Clinton administration's jihad against Microsoft, was doing so as a "public servant," or might there be a more personal agenda. We now have our answer: Klein was going for the big bucks.
Religious social services soon may be getting a new ally in their efforts to rescue people from the clutches of poverty, drug addiction and other personal problems: the federal government. The hook is "compassionate conservatism," and as the linchpin of President Bush's domestic policy, stand-and-deliver time has come early. But his plan, if fully realized, should succeed mainly in underscoring the folly of state-sponsored private charity of any type.
