GMU Econ alum Bryan Cutsinger asks if the theory of greedflation fits the facts.
Gus Hurwitz and Geoffrey Manne decry “antitrust regulation by intimidation.” Three slices:
The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission’s proposed revisions to the merger guidelines represent the Biden administration’s latest effort to bypass Congress and the courts to rewrite a major area of law. These changes would increase the cost and uncertainty that businesses face when considering mergers—and damage the agencies’ reputations.
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Writing in the Journal on Monday, FTC Chairman Lina Khan and Justice Department antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter assert that the “proposed guidelines are faithful to the legal principles that have guided our enforcement efforts for generations.” On the contrary, the proposal states what the agencies’ current leadership wishes the law to be and reflects a desire to change merger law by administrative fiat rather than through successful litigation or an act of Congress. Look at the antitrust agencies’ string of recent losses in major merger cases, including Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision and Meta’s acquisition of Within, to see that their views of antitrust law differ substantially from those of the courts.
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Ms. Khan has said that the agency interprets antitrust law as a “broad mandate aimed at prohibiting mergers even when they do not constitute monopolization and even when their tendency to lessen competition is not certain.” Far from providing a helpful distillation of the law for firms and courts, the proposed guidelines will discourage companies from conducting activities permitted under current law. This regulation by intimidation is the sort of abuse one expects of tin-pot dictators, not U.S. regulators governed by the rule of law.
Sam Staley praises Oppenheimer.
Guy Denton reviews Dennis Rasmussen’s biography of Gouverneur Morris.
Vinay Prasad tweets: (HT Jay Bhattacharya)
The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth is not run by Talented People 👇
They are still masking kids in JULY 2023
Imagine, being both incapable of reading evidence AND incapable of looking around at your peers.
“stop the spread” — PS: it is not possible
