Be still my heart!
Can it be that I behold Eric Holder sporting a pair?
Can it be that the dusty, musty old antitrust acts of the past two centuries will resurrect themselves to do battle against the corporate mergers and monopolies which threaten humanity in the new millennium?
But ... a schism is threatened in the ranks of liberals ... a telecommunications union argues for the merger ...
Details of antitrust acts and the liberal schism below the fold ....
It is the 21st century, the new millennium, and we poor humans huddle frightened, bleeding and bruised, pressed up to the wall, the entire Earth sweats as CO2 levels steadily increase and corporate giants exhale foulness into our waters and atmosphere, and the fanged and clawed corporate monsters are whipped on and encouraged by their riders -- Rupert Murdoch, Lloyd Blankfein, Tom Doherty, the Fearsome Five of the U.S. Supreme Court (Anthony Scalia is screaming his heart out in triumph!), an army of corporate CEOs, the Koch Brothers and ALEC and its legislative acolytes at the state level -- hope seems to wane for the poor embattled Earth and its pitiful living inhabitants, but lo!
A champion appears!
Eric Holder, representing justice, waving the banners of Clayton of 1914 and Sherman of 1890, Eric Holder shouts:
Hold!
And the foul, incestuous coupling of AT&T and T-Mobile is halted -- for the moment at least.
Our antitrust ideals of the past:
Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914:
the following four principles of economic trade and business:
price discrimination between different purchasers if such a discrimination substantially lessens competition or tends to create a monopoly in any line of commerce (Act Section 2, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 13;
sales on the condition that (A) the buyer or lessee not deal with the competitors of the seller or lessor ("exclusive dealings") or (B) the buyer also purchase another different product ("tying") but only when these acts substantially lessen competition (Act Section 3, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 14);
mergers and acquisitions where the effect may substantially lessen competition (Act Section 7, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 18) or where the voting securities and assets threshold is met (Act Section 7a, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 18a);
any person from being a director of two or more competing corporations, if those corporations would violate the anti-trust criteria by merging (Act Section 8; codified at 15 U.S.C. § 19).
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890:
As explained by the U.S. Supreme Court in Spectrum Sports, Inc. v. McQuillan 506 U.S. 447 (1993),
The purpose of the [Sherman] Act is not to protect businesses from the working of the market; it is to protect the public from the failure of the market. The law directs itself not against conduct which is competitive, even severely so, but against conduct which unfairly tends to destroy competition itself. This focus of U.S. competition law, on protection of competition rather than competitors, is not necessarily the only possible focus or purpose of competition law. For example, it has also been said that competition law in the European Union (EU) tends to protect the competitors in the marketplace, even at the expense of market efficiencies and consumers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Now, a word from the folks at CWA, Communications Workers of America:
March 20, 2011, 8:35 pm
Mergers & Acquisitions | AT&T's Deal for T-Mobile
Telecom Union Backs T-Mobile Deal
By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED
8:53 p.m. | Updated
Combining two companies with significant overlap usually leads to howls of protest by employees facing potential job cuts.
But in the case of AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, the two cellphone service providers have a somewhat unusual supporter: the Communications Workers of America.
By securing the backing of a prominent union, one with more than 700,000 members, AT&T appears to be shoring up important political backing as it prepares for tough regulatory scrutiny.
In a press release issued on Sunday, the C.W.A. talked up the benefits of the merger, primarily its aim to expand next-generation wireless service to 95 percent of the country. The union has already focused on building out the nation’s broadband wireless network as an important driver of job growth, having rolled out an initiative called Speed Matters.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/...
According to some, the merger would;
Bring about the unionization of T-Mobile workers
No jobs would be eliminated
AT&T claims that an additional 5,000 jobs will be created
Where is truth?
Can AT&T be trusted?