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Comment by kevmo | Hacker News Reader

When was the last time the Justice Department actually broke up a monopoly?

Don't these suits usually result in a fine and an agreement to stop doing XYZ while both parties wink and nod, then the government lawyers go work in lucrative private practice a few years later?

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Yes this is basically correct. The lawsuits can also drag out for years. They can be avoided by late changes - for example Microsoft just removed Teams from Office bundles, and will get away with having caused damage to users and competitors for years. Congress has avoided the responsibility of passing new harsher antitrust legislation that simply skips the lawsuits and goes straight to fines.

> Congress has avoided the responsibility of passing new harsher antitrust legislation that simply skips the lawsuits and goes straight to fines.

How would that work? Do you have some example of proposed legislation around this?

While maybe not pertinent to Ticketmaster...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMERICA_Act

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Innovation_and_Choice...

There is a recent story where they are attempting to preempt the creation of a monopoly in the grocery sector.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/investing/kroger-albertsons-m...

yeah, these geniuses are really doing a good job there. last time they "blocked" a grocery merger, the divested stores were sold to basically a mom and pop operation (haggen) who had no idea how to run a large chain and immediately went bankrupt, and most of the stores either stayed empty or were later re-bought by the big bad merged company they were supposedl reining in! Wow, big win for consumers who now have not only fewer chains to shop at, but literally fewer stores too! The same will happen again. Consumers will be the only ones to suffer.

Your stance is that preventing monopolies, as required by law, is _bad_ for consumers?

Historically, what do monopolies do when they capture a market is the opposite of lower prices and increase choice for the consumer.

Sorry for the long delay, but: Defining the grocery market as just supermarkets is the foolish thing I disagree with. Walmart, Target, Amazon, even Dollar General — along with Blue Apron and their ilk - and ethnic grocers - are all competitors of the supermarket. Kroger and Albertsons, even as a single unit, can’t simply jack prices up because Walmart and Target would LOVE to take all their customers, and easily will if they aren’t price-competitive. We already have competition and the notion that we wouldn’t if 2 supermarkets merged is lunacy. Honestly, I have a choice of either of the supermarket chains in question and I primarily frequent the one closest to me. I don’t cross-shop them against each other, but there are some things I buy at Walmart because I’ve learned it’s a better deal.

And yes, when regulators are so ham-fisted as to literally destroy many neighborhoods’ only grocery store with their dumb divestiture demands, yes, that was bad for consumers!

I believe it was the breakup of AT&T on Jan 1, 1982 (the result of a suit started in 1974).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System

Which is nuts. The DoJ needs to take a battle ax to Ticketmaster to set an example. They need to prove that they are still willing and able to throw down if necessary. TM is a disposable target, they don't build anything critical to the economy or national security. They could be deleted from the earth and dozens of replacements would spring up in a week.

TM is so hated that, if the DoJ goes for the jugular and misses, there might be appetite for Congress to re-empower the DoJ.

Monopolies aren't just anti-consumer. They can strangle the country's ability to innovate and compete in a global marketplace.

So true. I wish that we could just have corporate death penalty by referendum. If 85% of the voting public agrees your company is net bad for our society, and there is no national security reason to save it, nationalize it and liquidate it and use the proceeds to fund consumer protection regulation. Perhaps if shareholders stood to lose their entire investment by being deleted like this, they would find themselves hesitant to do outright evil things.

> Monopolies aren't just anti-consumer. They can strangle the country's ability to innovate and compete in a global marketplace.

This. As a small business owner I'm much more interested in the effects of monopoly on industries than on consumers. After all, most people have jobs, right? They feel the effects of monopoly at work, as well as at home.

They prefer to block monopolies before happening by blocking mergers.

The Bell system in the 1980s?

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