Discover more from Stoic Observations
It seems to me that there are four problems. The first is that Warren doesn’t understand digital high tech. The second is that unwinding what’s done is destructive. The third is that it’s a bad precedent to try and start a grass roots movement from the Senate. The fourth is this is inconsistently applied.
On 4
Why not unwind Martin Marrietta? Why not Dow + DuPont? Why not CVS + Aetna? Why not Dell + EMC? I say this is about generating emnity against specific companies and not about anti-trust. Why not ATT + DirecTV?
On 3:
What Warren is not doing is castigating the government functionaries who approved these mergers in the first place. She’s trying to establish a groundswell from people who have no gripe with these companies at all. They’re just big. recognizeable and they’re high tech.
On 2:
The way to insure small businesses are competitive is to support small businesses. Not to cut off the leg of a large business and call it a small business.
On 1:
What the hell does Zappos and Whole Foods have to do with the reason Amazon dominates? Nothing. These are companies that would not have survived if they were not purchased.
“ It’s how we protect the future of the Internet.”
The arrogant nerve of this final statement betrays any familiarity with what the internet is and aims to be. It pretends that AWS, Google and Facebook are the final size and shape of the internet. It’s like saying Ford was too big before General Motors and Chrysler even existed.
The problems of the digital high tech industry have nothing to do with size, but with shape. Not with profile, but with process. Cutting things up is not reform — it’s assault.