>Anti-trust laws were slowly defanged for decades until the main metric considered was 'will consumers see lower prices?'
That seems like the correct metric to use, no? The other definition didn't make much sense either.
>GOLDSTEIN: 1966, United States v. Von's Grocery - can two local grocery store chains merge in Los Angeles?
>MALONE: I don't know, merger?
>GOLDSTEIN: OK, but after the merger, they'd only have 7.5 percent of the local market.
>MALONE: Supreme Court was like, no. No, you can't do it. It would be too hard on mom-and-pop shops.
>GOLDSTEIN: OK, 1967, Utah Pie v. Continental Baking - can big national frozen pie companies sell really cheap pies in Utah and make business tough for a local pie company?
>MALONE: No way.
>GOLDSTEIN: OK, but what if the local pie company controls most of the local market and keeps making a profit through most of the price war?
>MALONE: Still no, nope.
>GOLDSTEIN: So in case after case, the court kept ruling for the little guy, kept ruling for team David, and expanding the definition of what was illegal, what was bad for competition.
>which is very easy to promise and temporarily deliver for the merging corporations. Then you just start rachetting up prices once you're a year or so out because unwinding a merger is tough.
But amazon didn't get here by a series of mergers?
That seems like the correct metric to use, no? The other definition didn't make much sense either.
>GOLDSTEIN: 1966, United States v. Von's Grocery - can two local grocery store chains merge in Los Angeles?
>MALONE: I don't know, merger?
>GOLDSTEIN: OK, but after the merger, they'd only have 7.5 percent of the local market.
>MALONE: Supreme Court was like, no. No, you can't do it. It would be too hard on mom-and-pop shops.
>GOLDSTEIN: OK, 1967, Utah Pie v. Continental Baking - can big national frozen pie companies sell really cheap pies in Utah and make business tough for a local pie company?
>MALONE: No way.
>GOLDSTEIN: OK, but what if the local pie company controls most of the local market and keeps making a profit through most of the price war?
>MALONE: Still no, nope.
>GOLDSTEIN: So in case after case, the court kept ruling for the little guy, kept ruling for team David, and expanding the definition of what was illegal, what was bad for competition.
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/696337392
>which is very easy to promise and temporarily deliver for the merging corporations. Then you just start rachetting up prices once you're a year or so out because unwinding a merger is tough.
But amazon didn't get here by a series of mergers?