DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Free markets in the US? Only when it is convenient for business

**affozyBoomi** · 06-29-2007, 12:35 PM

Why are ALL websites either 100% lefty or rightwing? Are people unable/unwilling to actually look at the issue at hand?

1. Regardless of empty rhetoric, no particular party in the US has consistently sided with freedom of enterprise/competition. Both GOP and Dems have routinely sheltered/subsidized/coddled certain industries and even companies. Just think of farming and farm trade in the US. The same happens in spades elsewhere. There is no hypocrisy here, just realpolitik.

2. You need to understand a subject to comment on it intelligently. The Sherman antitrust act was a useful but flawed piece of legislation. The corpus of law built around it was, unfortunately, at times used to beat up any business that got ‘large’. This is counterproductive.

Modern antitrust law has moved toward legislating/ruling as if consequences mattered (Posner has been a major intellectual foundation of this), rather than based on abstract, fairly arbitrary principles like concentration %, etc.

The meat of the issue is in this quote:

“The court struck down the 96-year-old rule that resale price maintenance agreements were an automatic, or per se, violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In its place, the court instructed judges considering such agreements for possible antitrust violations to apply a case-by-case approach, known as a “rule of reason,” to assess their impact on competition.”

This is eminently reasonable and in line with the evolution of jurisprudence globally about this.

If people are willing to debate this intelligently and with facts, let’s go, otherwise, tacit stulti.

06-29-2007, 12:35 PM	#5
affozyBoomi Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 469 Senior Member	Why are ALL websites either 100% lefty or rightwing? Are people unable/unwilling to actually look at the issue at hand? 1. Regardless of empty rhetoric, no particular party in the US has consistently sided with freedom of enterprise/competition. Both GOP and Dems have routinely sheltered/subsidized/coddled certain industries and even companies. Just think of farming and farm trade in the US. The same happens in spades elsewhere. There is no hypocrisy here, just realpolitik. 2. You need to understand a subject to comment on it intelligently. The Sherman antitrust act was a useful but flawed piece of legislation. The corpus of law built around it was, unfortunately, at times used to beat up any business that got ‘large’. This is counterproductive. Modern antitrust law has moved toward legislating/ruling as if consequences mattered (Posner has been a major intellectual foundation of this), rather than based on abstract, fairly arbitrary principles like concentration %, etc. The meat of the issue is in this quote: “The court struck down the 96-year-old rule that resale price maintenance agreements were an automatic, or per se, violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In its place, the court instructed judges considering such agreements for possible antitrust violations to apply a case-by-case approach, known as a “rule of reason,” to assess their impact on competition.” This is eminently reasonable and in line with the evolution of jurisprudence globally about this. If people are willing to debate this intelligently and with facts, let’s go, otherwise, tacit stulti.
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