Todd Walton said:
> My take on the matter is that anti-trust legislation was created as a
> way to punish perceived wrong-doing. I believe that Microsoft is not
> maintaining its position in the market due to wrong-doing.
Then I would maintain that you haven't been paying attention. It is
exactly the wrong doing of Microsoft that is being punished. Let me be
specific.
1. Stealing other companies intelectual property, to incorporate into
their products because "We're so big we can"
a. Stac Electronics
b. Sun Java
Purposely breaking competitors software then blaming the competitor,
or lying about it.
a. DRDOS
I'm sure other people can recite other examples of illegal and
extralegal business practices of Microsoft that have lead to their
domination in the marketplace.
> I have to ask, though, if government has a legitimate role in making
> the economy function better, not just punishing wrong-doing, then why
> limit it to monopolies? Why not just say, "The government shall have
> the power to create or destroy any business, and take whatever other
> actions it deems necessary to insure the strongest possible economic
> functioning of the nation."? Perhaps the Soviet Union's socialist
> system was simply administered badly, and there's nothing wrong with
> it in principle?
The government has a legitimate role in making the marketplace an even
field of competition, not in picking winners and losers. When
corporations act in anti-competitive ways to eliminate their
competition, it is the role of government to curtail that action. When
the marketplace elevates one companies product over anothers because
the purchasers have made a legitimate choice based upon cost, benefit
and suitability, the government has no role. The exception would be
for products that cause harm to the purchaser, but that is an entirely
different topic.
> To repeat: Why is government limited to busting up monopolies in the
> interests of the economy's health? Why don't they have the power to
> bust up *any* business?
Falacious argument. Red herring.
--
Neil Schneider pacneil_at_linuxgeek_dot_net
http://www.paccomp.com
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The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed
by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing
about them. -- George Orwell
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