Once in a while I read something that makes my blood boil. Yesterday, around noon, a flurry of articles were published indicating that the Department of Justice intends to begin stricter enforcement of antitrust laws. Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney said the Justice Department is abandoning legal guidelines established by the Bush administration in September 2008.
So who is in the cross-hairs of the sniper rifle this time? Sure it is Citibank, Bank of America, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo, right?
Wrong! Google, Intel and Microsoft are the main targets. Obama is shifting to the European approach to anti-monopoly action. Since Google, Intel and Microsoft are constantly in trouble with European regulators, we can expect the same from the good old Federal Government.
Now, as much as I like small competitors like Borland (now dead), Yahoo (dying) and AMD (also in trouble), I know better than to think that monopoly power did it. AMD simply failed to compete with Intel. There were some very bad decisions there, such as the merger with ATI. I know Yahoo has not been competitive with Google in terms of apps & hard information research for years now. That isn't Google's fault. Yahoo wanted to be a celebrity tabloid machine. They decided move towards People Magazine on their own, and now they are fucked. Borland died because it didn't seem to know how to market to corporate America. They had awesome persuasive powers with true programmers, but they had no idea that they needed to market direct to corporate officers. The CIO needed to be in the crosshairs. They also had no idea that they needed to recruit MS Office power users. It is a horrible thing that Borland basically died, but market-wise, they were stupid.
So, instead of breaking up the Banks, who fucked the entire world, the Justice Department intends to prepare anti-trust proceedings against Google, Intel and Microsoft. These are the three most powerful and important firms in the high-tech sector of the world. Incidentally, the tech sector is the only thing keeping our American economy afloat right now. Boy, these supreme assholes in the Justice Department really don't have a fucking clue do they?
I have nothing against Trust Busting. Teddy Roosevelt did it all the time. He is one of my favorite guys, and I don't much like presidents and politicians. If you are going to bust some trusts, bust the dangerous ones. Don't go after the healthy, useful and benevolent ones. For crying out loud! Shoot strait will yah!?!?!?
This new policy statement indicates indicates that the Government does not know the difference between its ass and hole in the wall. This has to be the most AFU announcement I have heard in sometime.
