Whom do you anti-trust, part deux

It doesn't really matter because the little guy gets the short end of the stick anyway. Besides, whenever the government gets involved to protect the consumer it never works out for the common person (see airline deregulation and the creation of an "Energy Czar").

The ONLY reasons our Corporate-bought Government would even THINK of getting involved would be:
1: Someone didn't grease somone's palm enough, or that palm is no longer eligible for greasing in such matters and the fresh new palm is wanting some grease.
2: A GROUP of Corporate Government sluts have figured a way to FATTEN THEIR WALLETS.
Neither of which will do ANYTHING for Joe "Profit Bearing" Taxpayer, except end up making things more expensive for us.

I can't imagine the Bush regime doing any significant anti-trust action. Look for both these investigations to languish until at least 2008.

The lesser of 2 evils is Google.

" According to the New York Times, Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett has sent letters to several state attorneys general, urging them to ignore Google's complaint. Barnett is a former partner in Covington and Burling, which represented Microsoft during its anti-trust battles with the Clinton justice department. "

Are you kidding me? Talk about a conflict of interest. And here we have Congress flapping their gums over USAG Gonzales & the 8 fired AUSAs. Why isn't Congress (and the Administration) looking into this very serious conflict of interest? Sheesh! So much for protecting the consumer. Oh and don't bet on the issue being resolved after 2008. Chances are whoever is appointed to replace Barnett will come from the private sector & will likely have represented some large software vendor. Call me a cynic but its likely to be reality.

And Hollywood wonders why less and less people go to the movies? Just pick up the newspaper and read about the incredible tales of the unholy bedfellow alliances, companies and governments.

Indeed, the little people get the short end of the stick. MS was slammed but never enforced making yet another mockery of our justice system.

Thanks for pointing out Thomas O. Barnett's past with Covington and Burling. I forgot about it. And he gets to be an AG, shivers!

Wasn't some MS director genius quoted a week ago as saying that people chose in the end? After two decades of locking up said people, it makes for a good laugh. In the end, it shows how scared and desperate MS is. Fighting irrelevancy is not an easy task.

Thanks for great articles I've been reading over a decade. Keep them coming.

Americans have surrendered reason and civic responsibility in favor of mind-numbing entertainment. We languish in front of the television willingly. We are skillfully and scientifically manipulated by this one-way medium. AG's are elected officials. An AG's or politician's only chance for re-election is to buy ad time. The only way to get the money is to prostitute themselves to special interests. When a large company like MS starts throwing cash around, people drop to their knees ready to render service.

Turn off your television, pay attention to what your politicians are really up to and don't blame anyone else when things go wrong.

What's the Surprise???

The state is not a benevolent parent, rather it is a massive bureaucratic system dominated by the selfish self-interest of hundreds of thousands of government employees.

Any "service" these people render you is only because their needs and yours just happen to intersect -- a rare serendipitous accidental conjunction; and hardly a reliable expectation.

Anyone who believes otherwise is in serious need of psychiatric care...

Carl Street
carl_street@cjstreet.com
http://cjstreet.com

Why complain? We have the system that we have made: Bread and Circus for the little people, education just good enough to have not too expensive workers easy to manipulate with lots of TV and cheap consuming goods and excellent but expensive Universities for the Elite so it can maintain itself up... and everyone -close to it- is happy... except YOU that are reading this lines and have still a brain between your ears and see what is going on.

Where is that big, strong and well educated middle class that made the succes of this Country and the stability of our society in much more difficult times in the 1950-1970ies? 5% went up and are now rich beyond decency but 50% went down. We see the results on the street everyday. I'm with John Q.'s comments.

I vote for Google.
Cheers!

GIVE ME A G-O-O-G-L-E! GO GOOGLE.

Wow! I'm all for cynicism and distaste for government, but could you all be a little less whiny about it? Jeez... Frank and John Q paint a vision of a society in collapse due to an outgrowth of brain-addled Americans too dumb or too numb to pay attention to the real problems. Yet, rather than do something about it... they are acting like a couple teenage potheads, sitting in their parents Mercedes, wearing $300 distressed jeans, and $200 ironic t-shirts, toking up and talking about the "need to fight those corporate bigwigs...man, they really suck." If you actually believe any of that...Stop Whining, Start Doing!

As for those that think Google is a better monopoly option, I would think again... at least Microsoft has been cowed by several run-ins with antitrust authorities, and for all intents and purposes is now a regulated company (despite what many here seem to think). Google, on the other hand, is still in that pubescent "I am a God and can do no wrong" phase... heck, they probably still believe that they are "Doing No Evil."

I *AM* doing something! I moved out in 2001 after the elections -one Computer Engineer less in California- plus my wife -I took one lawyer with me: Hey, say Thank you!-, I'm not anymore in USA. My contribution to the problems of overpopulation and traffic in LA. :-)

On the other issue, I doubt that Microsoft is really under any real regulatory control; nor that I would trust more Google but in general, customerS tend to find benefit on a market that is not monopolistic but competitive by -at least- two or three more balanced competitors. Cold be good to have a 3rd "Google like" Corporation around. Maybe more complex to handle but better in the long term.

I prefer the tension of MS and Google fighting each other. I am more partial to Google, and on a personal level I use their products more, but at work MS rules. It is good to have the conflict of interest exposed regarding the lax measures taken by the AGs office. Light is a very good sanitizer.