The cost to the Japanese regulators/government in renegotiating or unwinding the NCB deal will be as great as the cost of breaking up Microsoft to the US government will be, in lost opportunities, taxes, jobs, morale, momentum, credibility, and moral authority.
NCB may have been gotten cheap by 9984 and Co., but other bidders were free to step up to the plate to play, had they dared.
For NCB, a fair price, by definition, is the price at which the trade cleared the market.
For Microsoft, fair competition, by definition, is the competition that resulted from previous and continuing hard work, diligence and the result market clout.
Should NCB be unwound, and Microsoft be broken apart, then so ends the current cycle of prosperity and it will be time to go to 100% cash (zero government bonds, zero stock) and load up on gold mining shares. This follows from the then clear fact that children has taken over the governments, and dumb children at that. |
