Our friend Alberto Mingardi of the Istituto Bruno Leoni (a 2008 Fisher Venture Grant winner) has a piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal Europe, “Our Brave New Competitive World,” which is well worth reading. It comes in reaction to a record €1.06 billion fine against Intel for violating European Community Treaty antitrust rules, and with an eye towards new U.S. antitrust chief, Christine Varney, who announced an intention to take a more aggressive approach to antitrust issues.
The government’s distrust of successful big businesses stands in contrast to its unwavering support for failed big businesses. U.S. and European governments have bailed out large banks exactly because of their size and with the tacit consent of antitrust authorities. These competition watchdogs zoom instead on innovative business giants — such as Intel or Microsoft — that create jobs and prosperity. We face an absurd situation of government intervention: Companies considered too big to fail are kept alive by state aid while companies considered too big to succeed are cut down by state agents until they are too small or too intimidated to innovate.
We will pay the first bill as taxpayers, the second as consumers.
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