[Random-bits] Robert Reich on AOL/Time Warner merger

[James Love]

http://www.americanprospect.com/archives/V11-7/reich.html

The American Prospect - Online

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                      AOL-Time Warner's Kingly Prerogative

                                Robert B. Reich

Any time now, government economists will decide whether America Online's
(AOL's) $165-billion proposed take-over of Time Warner is likely to be
good or bad for consumers. If good, the government will sign off. If
bad, there'll be negotiations with AOL and Time Warner until an
agreement can be reached on what the new company would have to do to
answer economic objections. The inquiry will be quiet and businesslike,
occurring in colorless offices and occasionally in meeting rooms filled
not only with economists but also with government lawyers and the
counsel and investment bankers representing AOL and Time Warner.

I'll save all those economists and lawyers and bankers a lot of time and
trouble, and answer their questions right here:

   [snip]

So the take-over should fly through.

But if government officials were paying proper attention, they wouldn't
let this one slide by. The antitrust movement of the last decades of the
nineteenth century wasn't animated by concerns about consumer welfare.
Reformers worried that concentrations of economic power would undermine
democracy. Republican Senator John Sherman of Ohio, chief sponsor of the
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, said the power of the trusts amounted to
"a kingly prerogative, inconsistent with our form of government."

Here's a checklist of questions government officials should ask about the
proposed take-over, and the answers:

   [snip]