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Samsung To Pay Out $300 Million In Anti-Trust Suit

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-a-lot-of-ram dept.

infernalC writes "Reuters is reporting that Samsung has agreed to plea guilty to charges of price fixing in the memory market in a $300 million settlement." From the article: " Samsung would become the third chip maker to plead guilty in the wide-ranging probe of the prices of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips. The Justice Department has blamed the price-fixing conspiracy for driving up the price of chips used in products ranging from personal computers and servers to cell phones, cameras and game consoles."

2 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Micron Tech organized the price fixing, then ... by rlglende · · Score: 4, Interesting


    I believe the story here is that Micron Technology organized the price fixing ring, then informed the government(s), thereby obtaining immunity.

    This is an interesting strategy for handling competition, but dont' fool yourselves that it means lower prices for anyone.

    Lew

    --
    "The Constitution, the WHOLE Constitution, and nothing but the CONSTITUTION."
  2. Re:Cue the libertarian economists by dada21 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There isn't easy empirical evidence or equations to be had.

    The Austrians (Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, Rockwell) point to the fact that money is a commodity affected by supply and demand and that prices are as well.

    When you involve a million regulations, tariffs, taxes and fees, it is very difficult to scientifically attribute prices to reality. Fox example, gas. The price of gas is affected by too many government mandates to set an equation to. Mandated blends, refinery monopoly, distribution restrictions, price controls, etc. Did you know we sell our oil to Iraq for pennies a gallon? Government gas needs also raise prices by reducing supply.

    In a free and unregulated market, the best quality and best price occur from billions of consumers making unique choices.

    Economics to me is philosophical today. How else can you account for nearly every American putting faith in legal counterfeiting (inflation) and legal bubble-building (artificially low interest rates and artificially high loan acceptance due to FNMA)?

    Don't read Mises for junk science, read Mises to better understand those you put in public office.