Instead of straightening out its business problems, AOL has decided to spend its time and effort filing lawsuits against tough competitors – a petty, distracting pursuit that won’t help AOL or, for that matter, the U.S. economy, which depends on firms like Microsoft for…
Antitrust & Monopolies
Activism in Defense of Microsoft
For over four years, CMDC and its supporters have been outspoken advocates against antitrust and the current antitrust case against Microsoft. Before us today is the last chance to tell the government regulators that Microsoft should be lauded, instead of punished for...
Barriers To Entry
How badly flawed are the concepts of freedom of entry, monopoly, and competition that underlie the theory and practice of antitrust.
Microsoft Goes to School: You’re An Evil Predator; Now Teach My Kids
The settlement of the Microsoft anti-trust case got interesting this week — and developments revealed the laughably absurd nature of much of the suit against the company. Reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere revealed that...
Microsoft: Out of the Fire and Back Into the Frying Pan
First the good news: The new administration’s officials in the Department of Justice have decided not to murder the Microsoft Corporation and carve up its corpse. Now the bad news: They have chosen the more humane option of slow torture. The Justice...
How Microsoft Competes
Beside Bill Gates, what does Microsoft have that contributes to their success? The authors spent a couple of years trying to find out. Their conclusions: seven complementary strategies and a small set of basic principals of operation. First, find smart people who know...
New State Regulations During ‘Deregulation’ are the Cause of California’s Energy Crisis
The attacks against deregulation of the California power industry by the enemies of capitalism are attacks against a straw man. Deregulation means that government removes onerous regulations that violate the rights of producers and consumers to trade freely (markets...
The Antitrust Laws Require the Government To Initiate Force Against Innocent Citizens
The antitrust laws are thus a palpably unjust legal doctrine, and respect for individual rights demands that the District Court’s judgment against Microsoft be reversed and the antitrust laws held invalid and unconstitutional.
Microsoft Assault is an Inept Stab at “Industrial Policy”
The federal government’s persecution of Microsoft is a travesty–the worst combination of third-rate economics and special- interest politics. Last year’s ruling against the company may be a victory for envy-driven bureaucrats at the U.S. Justice...
California’s Antitrust “Deregulation” of the Power Industry
The power crisis in California now threatens to shut down Silicon Valley–and if Silicon Valley goes, it could end up shutting down America’s economy. To save itself — and the rest of us — what should California do? That depends on what the...
Microsoft and the Mythology of Anti-trust
The biggest question about anti-trust law is whether there really is any such thing. There are anti-trust theories and anti-trust rhetoric, as well as judicial pronouncements on anti-trust. But there is very little that could be called law in the full sense of rules...
Microsoft and Liberty
Think about the government’s case against Microsoft and, just as importantly, it’s implications for our liberty. Let’s ask a general question just to get started. If there’s an act we all agree is immoral and unacceptable when done by an...
TAFOL Files An Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) Brief Supporting The Microsoft Corporation
The Microsoft antitrust case represents a breathtaking and frightening extension of antitrust law to a new American technological industry that is the envy of the rest of the world.
Is Microsoft a Hypocrite?
I was saddened to see the lead article in last Tuesday’s (12/5/00) Wall St. Journal “Microsoft Tries to Lob Monkey Wrench Into AOL-Time Warner Deal.” In the story, reporters alleged Microsoft might be cooperating with the Federal Trade Commission to...
The Microsoft Saga
In a decision generally hailed as a victory for Microsoft, the Supreme Court rejected the government’s plea to hear a direct appeal of the government’s Antitrust case against Microsoft. In April, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft had...
The Antitrust Craze
Most of us can name no more than a dozen antitrust prosecutions under the Clinton Administration. However, since 1994, the Department of Justice has filed over 500 antitrust suits against American companies. The majority of suits went unnoticed, and only a select few...
Antitrust Morals and the Success of Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods’ remarkable run of success continues. In winning the last three major tournaments, two by record margins, he set new standards of golfing excellence while his competitors fought over second place. Some media commentators have wondered whether his...
Abolish Antitrust!
Good afternoon. I want to address four issues regarding anti-trust as they apply to the Microsoft case. Anti-trust Paralyzes the Thinking Process In my research on the traits of great wealth creators ( The Prime Movers: Traits of The Great Wealth Creators ), I...
Mythical Roots of Antitrust: Definition Unnecessary
The antitrust laws and their enforcement are every bit as arbitrary as the “perfect competition” doctrine. Consider only those provisions relating to price setting. If a business sets a price above the prices of its rivals, it can be charged with...
Mythical Roots of Antitrust: ‘Perfect Competition’
Antitrust law relies heavily on flawed economic theory–particularly its theory of competition. It’s a view held explicitly or implicitly by most economists, politicians, and journalists. It’s been taught for decades in the universities....
Mythical Roots of Antitrust: Economic Power vs Political Power
From the time great business leaders were first maligned as “Robber Barons,” socialists have tried to obscure the difference between economic power and political power. They’ve insisted, against all evidence, that productive giants such as Andrew...
Mythical Roots of Antitrust: Preface
Most of you will recall the scandal during the winter Olympics a few years back, when disgruntled skating competitor Tanya Harding hired a thug to take a pipe to the shins of Nancy Kerrigan. Harding was envious of Kerrigan’s superior ability and tried to cripple...
Orrin Hatch reveals how antitrust laws are tools for power lusters
In a recent speech to businessmen at a technology industry conference, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), a long-time proponent of breaking up Microsoft, stated that he supported “strict enforcement of antitrust laws” because they are “essential to the...
Assault Microsoft, Assault the NASDAQ
Earlier this month US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued his “conclusions of law” in the Microsoft antitrust case. BAM! Nearly $90 billion in value was destroyed–at Microsoft alone. The firm’s stock plunged 14%. The broader...
Microsoft Breakup Is a Throwback to Socialism
Only a month ago, the Justice Department filed its motion that the Microsoft Corporation be broken into pieces as a “remedy” under the antitrust laws. The government wants to split the company into two pieces, one to make the Windows operating system, the...
Bill Gates Failed to Make a Moral Self-Defense
Locke said that the only way Gates can fight government prosecutors is for the Microsoft founder to “assert proudly his right to his own existence — which means: the right to do business not as a public servant but as an individual with inalienable rights.”
Microsoft’s Real Sin: Sanction of the Victim
Like other antitrust targets, Microsoft, is guilty–of something. They’re guilty of something terrible. They’re guilty of believing they’re guilty. They’re guilty of believing they’re evil. They’re guilty of apologizing for...
The American KGB: The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Department (Part 6)
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...
The Railroading of Microsoft
The press coverage of Microsoft’s antitrust trial, up through the testimony of the final witness, has conveyed one consistent theme: Microsoft is losing. Its witnesses, we are told, have been caught in inconsistencies; Bill Gates’s videotaped testimony was...
The Roots of the Microsoft Antitrust Case: An Analysis of Judge Jackson’s Finding of Fictions Part 4
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...
The Roots of the Microsoft Antitrust Case: An Analysis of Judge Jackson’s Finding of Fictions Part 3
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...
The Roots of the Microsoft Antitrust Case: An Analysis of Judge Jackson’s Finding of Fictions – Part 2
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...
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