The Greedy Capitalist: David Veksler's Homepage :: Archives

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.-- Helen Keller

February 06, 2003

The Antitrust Racket

Check out this blog from initium:

In 1977, Congress passed the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, a law intended to make life easier for FTC and Antitrust Division officials in deciding which mergers to prosecute and stop. Under HSR, all mergers worth at least a certain value (approximately $50 million under the current law) must be reported to the government prior to consummation. This "pre-merger notification" grants the government a waiting period to decide whether they wish to act against the merger. In most cases, the waiting period is terminated early, and no official action is taken. In a handful of cases-less than 2%-the FTC or Antitrust Division will seek conditions to allow the merger or attempt to stop it outright. Such official action generally results in a "consent agreement," where the merging companies agree to surrender a portion of their assets to a third-party chosen by the government.

Every Hart-Scott-Rodino "notification" must be accompanied by a filing fee. For mergers valued at less than $100 million, the fee is $45,000; for mergers of more than $500 million, the price is $280,000. The fee is non-refundable, and the monies collected from said fees are what finance the $330-plus million of the FTC and Antitrust Division budgets not financed by direct appropriation.

In other words, the government is forcing businesses to pay for the very antitrust enforcement that is targeted directly against their interests. This is a classic racketeering scheme. A business is forced to pay protection money to a thug who could turn against them at any time.

Posted by David at February 6, 2003 01:23 AM | TrackBack

Comments

Post a comment

Interact:

Forum
Chat Room
Listserv
Contact Me

Top Shelf:

Friends:
Absolute Reason
The Economistress
The Rational Egoist

Objectivist Bloggers:
Alexander Marriott's Wit and Wisdom
EGO
About the War
Fredrik Norman
wickens.ca
Nous Poetikos
Venting Steam
Chris Davis

Bloggin' Intellectuals:
The Agitator
VodkaPundit
The Patriette
Commiewatch
Free North Korea!
Little Green Footballs
Eye On The Left
Future of Russia
Free Will
Tim Blair
::Freespace::
InstaPundit
Hootinan

Organizations:
The Center for the Advancement of Capitalism
The Rule of Reason
ObjectivismOnline.net
Aggie Objectivism Club
Ayn Rand Institute
GMU Objectivist Club Blog
Utah Objectivist Club Blog
Geeks With Guns
Free Republic

E-Zines:
Capitalism Magazine
RightWingNews
The Intellectual Activist
The American Individualist
Drudge Report

Techies:
TechCentralStation
.Net Weblogs
Dive Into Mark
kottke.org
Scriptygoddess
Scripting News
C:/Pirillo
GeekPress
The War on SPAM
Textism

Humor:
Cox and Forkum
Baloo
Fillibuster Cartoons
DaveBarry
Dave's Columns
ScrapleFace
Allah is in Da House
Penny Arcade

Miscellaneous:
Quent Cordair: Artist's Studio & Gallery News
My Favorite Art
Everything in Moderation
Sekimori Live Blog

« LibertyLoggers »
Blogroll Me!

Calendar:

Archives: