𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁” in the US?
What did it mean and has it evaporated? The “𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁” brand of antitrust populism ("everyday pocket issues for ordinary Americans") was the flag for the new leadership at DOJ and FTC, but has it met reality? Wall Street, corporate lobbyists, Big Tech affirmation and more. Antitrust seems wielded as a tool to fight elite culture wars rather than “pocket issues”. And the courts? With Google Search we had a strong liability finding which smashed against the limits of what an individual judge “feels” he can really do to fix vast monopolies. So is antitrust enforcement against digital monopolies futile? We failed in Europe, but what signal does a weak remedy give to global regulators on that path?
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗨𝗦 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴?
A frank conversation with Roger Alford, friend and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the DOJ Antitrust Division, who was fired by DOJ leadership for having dissented with the HP / Juniper a merger settlement, but remains a loyal Republican and supporter of AAG Gail Slater’s agenda.
