Economists send letter to Clinton to stop anti-trust nonsense.
quote.bloomberg.com
Economists Send Letter to Clinton Decrying Antitrust Actions
Economists Send Letter to Clinton Decrying Antitrust Actions
Washington, June 2 (Bloomberg) -- President Bill Clinton was urged by a group of 240 economists to curtail his administration's antitrust enforcement.
The Independent Institute of Oakland, California, in newspaper advertisements covering almost a full page, said the administration has acted in behalf of competitors to alleged antitrust violators and not for consumers.
Investigations of such companies as Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. short-circuited the free-market economy by responding to protectionist demands of companies, the institute said in an open letter to Clinton. ''Antitrust is supposed to be about protecting consumers against higher prices and other consequences of monopoly power,'' the letter said. ''However, consumers did not ask for these antitrust actions -- rival firms did.''
Consumers of high technology have benefited from falling prices, expanding outputs, and new products and innovations, the letter added.
David J. Theroux, president and founder of the institute, said that administration ''policies can only slow competition, raise prices, impede technological innovation and waste taxpayer dollars.''
The administration has repeatedly defended its conduct of major antitrust investigations, arguing in the Microsoft trial, for example, that its aim is to prevent monopolists from excluding competitors and harming consumers.
The Independence Institute, founded in 1986, describes itself as a non-partisan public policy research and educational foundation
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