[Am-info] Microsoft forecast to make lots of money!

[Hans Reiser]

John Poltorak wrote:

>There are article forecasting that Microsoft will be making big profits 
>this year here:-
>
>http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,51896,00.html
>
>
>Now, what a surprise!
>
>
>If you can't enjoy the fruits of Monopoly why bother being one?
>
>
>BTW can someone remind me about this thing called competition which you 
>Americans are supposed to be so good at?
>
>Hmm...  would anyone familiar with the Tunney Act or the Sherman Act 
>provide a brief outline of what is the point of either of them?
>
>
>  
>
The Sherman act makes it illegal to conspire to restrain trade.  Its 
very few words have enormous and complex consequences.  This means that 
you cannot conspire to fix prices.  It also means that you cannot force 
persons to buy product A as a condition for buying product B if doing so 
impedes the ability of a competitor to sell an alternative to product A 
because he doesn't have a product B to sell.  Engaging in a violation of 
this aspect of the law is called market leveraging.  It is extremely 
effective in the software business because the marginal cost of products 
is practically zero.

In practice, most businesses act in semi-competitive markets, not 
competitive markets, and are constantly engaged in endless schemes to 
force you to buy products for reasons other than that they have the best 
product at the best price.

Most of the very wealthy persons made their money by selling in markets 
without much competition.   It is very important to them to not be 
impeded in this.  This is why most of the judiciary has been lobbied 
into not enforcing the anti-trust laws.

Generally speaking, the more monopolized an economy is, the greater the 
gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Does this help?

Hans