Archive | Antitrust

The antitrust laws are based on the economic theory of “pure and perfect competition” and deeper, on the ethical theory of altruism, or self-sacrificial service to others. What do the laws require? What illegal behavior do they cite? What punishments do they endorse? The antitrust laws are as arbitrary as the “perfect competition” doctrine and [...]

The morality of altruism or self-sacrifice is often presented as a form of benevolence, as if it simply means being nice to other people. But the actual meaning of this philosophy is a hatred of success. Under this morality, anyone who achieves some extraordinary wealth or distinction owes it to his fellow men to sacrifice [...]

Judge Jackson’s visceral antagonism to business is also revealed by his condemnation of Microsoft for winning the browser battle against Netscape when “superior quality was not responsible for the dramatic rise [in] Internet Explorer’s usage share.” (Paragraph 375) Note the implicit premise in this condemnation: If Microsoft hasn’t produced a product that is technologically superior, [...]

Microsoft’s achievements should be held up as a model of how to create and maintain a highly productive, innovative company. Yet Judge Jackson is unable to view any of these facts in a positive light. While Judge Jackson recognizes many of the concrete facts that demonstrate Microsoft’s productive achievement, he is incapable of praising the [...]

United States District Court Judge Thomas P. Jackson is crystal clear in his recent “findings of fact”: Microsoft is marked for destruction. But why does Judge Jackson want to punish one of the most successful corporations in American history? Because Bill Gates proclaimed that he wanted “to prove that a successful company can renew itself [...]

The judge’s “finding of fact” in the Microsoft antitrust trial has declared the company to be a dangerous monopoly, which will now be open to punishment by the courts–including everything from regulation to a complete breakup of the company. This ruling will have a far-reaching effect on all of our lives–not just in its practical [...]

Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has released his “findings of fact” in the Microsoft antitrust case. While his report did contain some correct information–such as the truism that a successful company tries to defeat its rivals–the central claims of his report are blatant falsehoods. Let us examine five of these fictions. Fiction #1: Microsoft is a [...]

Part 1 of 6 in a Series of articles on Capitalism, Free-competition, Antitrust, and Microsoft The following article is an adaptation of a lecture Mr. Salsman gave at Harvard University, in May of 1999. The print version has been edited lightly in order to retain it’s spontaneous quality. Mr. Salsman has not reviewed the edited [...]

The suit against Microsoft by the U.S. Department of Justice is, in fact, a grave act of injustice. To understand this, it is necessary to look at the background and legal context of this case. America’ antitrust laws are highly ambiguous. They create offenses for which there is no clear definition, such as “unfair competition,” [...]