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Top US Antitrust Official Uncertain of Need For Four Wireless Carriers (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The head of the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division, Makan Delrahim, declined on Friday to support the Obama administration's firm backing of the need for four U.S. wireless carriers. Asked about T-Mobile's plan to buy Sprint for $26 billion, Delrahim declined to reiterate the view of President Barack Obama's enforcers, who had said that four wireless carriers were needed. Instead, Delrahim told reporters, "I don't think there's any magical number that I'm smart enough to glean." He also said the department would look at the companies' arguments that the proposed merger was needed for them to build the next generation of wireless, referred to as 5G, but that they had to prove their case.
The implication of the headline, given the current administration, is that this guy backs monopolies. But he really made a completely reasonable statement, and it is being presented in such a way as to fan the flames of those who are afraid of Trump. There is no story here.
How about your give some actual fucking empirical proof that:
a) The market is capable of achieving optimal outcomes
b) That corporations aren't lying cheating bastards who rig the system
c) That humans make rational decisions based on complete information
d) That groups of companies don't form cartels to price fix and change the rules
e) That the people who run companies wouldn't lie to their own mothers to make a buck
The market is bullshit in terms of achieving good outcomes for consumers. It's a fucking bedtime story they tell little capitalists, but it's a complete fairy tale.
Do you think a corporation is going to do anything other than maximize its own interests at the expense of everybody else? Because that's what really happens.
I shit on your free market, because it's a lie. It's a great cover story for thieving bastards, but it's never been real.
The market gives us assholes like Trump who did things like refusing to pay people for their work and trying them up with lawyers to grind them down. The market creates lying corrupt assholes looking out for their own interests.