house Bill H.R. 5645
Will Standardized Anti-Trust Laws Help Prevent Private Sector Monopolies?
Argument in favor
The Federal Trade Commission and Dept. of Justice will be more effective at reviewing proposed mergers and acquisitions for antitrust violations if they use the same procedures with similar standards.
05/09/2018
As long as the standards are updated, then yes. We need to modernize our antitrust laws, as well as work to keep them modern.
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05/09/2018
We need to minimize Winner-Take-All Capitalism and again promote an atmosphere where entrepreneurial capitalism is allowed to flourish.
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05/09/2018
Because they will establish a baseline, on what is acceptable Buisness practices with respect for competition and fairness.
Argument opposed
There’s no need to standardize procedures used by the FTC and DOJ in reviews to determine if a merger or acquisition weakens competition or creates a monopoly.
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05/09/2018
The FTC and DOJ are assigned different areas of responsibility based on their missions; it makes sense that the standards each uses would also be different. I am sure there are areas which do overlap and where harmonization is appropriate and desirable, but given the separate scope of oversight, some diversity should be expected. While police, fire, and paramedic services are all charged with protecting public safety, the focus of each necessarily differs and applying identical rules would hinder their duties. Publicizing and consistently enforcing the respective standards is a better approach, and leaves more room for updates when new developments or strategies by businesses emerge as a response to the existing regulations. Harmonize where possible, but don’t handcuff by requiring exact alignment.
05/09/2018
My question is : WHAT HAPPENED to the ANTI-TRUST laws that Teddy Roosevelt got pushed thru and then again when in 1984 there were more monopoly laws that broke up Ma Bell into lots of Baby Bells?? Now AT & T is a monopoly and paid millions of dollars to Cohen’s slush fund LLC. Our country is FULL of monopolies and it’s getting worse. In the 1970s there were 350 carpet manufacturers in this country and today there are less than 6 because the others were bought up or run out of business. MONOPOLIES ARE PART OF THE TEASON WHY MANUFACTURING HAS STALLED also. Look at the drug companies. Costs are prohibitive because they have been sucked up by other companies
05/09/2018
How about utilizing the Department of Ethics to enforce the policies already in place and to address new issues that may require attention to protect the citizens from corrupt or unethical business practices, as well as to protect the citizens from Government agencies and specific agents seeking to perform unethical acts for their person benefits.
As long as the standards are updated, then yes. We need to modernize our antitrust laws, as well as work to keep them modern.
The FTC and DOJ are assigned different areas of responsibility based on their missions; it makes sense that the standards each uses would also be different. I am sure there are areas which do overlap and where harmonization is appropriate and desirable, but given the separate scope of oversight, some diversity should be expected. While police, fire, and paramedic services are all charged with protecting public safety, the focus of each necessarily differs and applying identical rules would hinder their duties. Publicizing and consistently enforcing the respective standards is a better approach, and leaves more room for updates when new developments or strategies by businesses emerge as a response to the existing regulations. Harmonize where possible, but don’t handcuff by requiring exact alignment.
My question is : WHAT HAPPENED to the ANTI-TRUST laws that Teddy Roosevelt got pushed thru and then again when in 1984 there were more monopoly laws that broke up Ma Bell into lots of Baby Bells?? Now AT & T is a monopoly and paid millions of dollars to Cohen’s slush fund LLC. Our country is FULL of monopolies and it’s getting worse. In the 1970s there were 350 carpet manufacturers in this country and today there are less than 6 because the others were bought up or run out of business. MONOPOLIES ARE PART OF THE TEASON WHY MANUFACTURING HAS STALLED also. Look at the drug companies. Costs are prohibitive because they have been sucked up by other companies
How about utilizing the Department of Ethics to enforce the policies already in place and to address new issues that may require attention to protect the citizens from corrupt or unethical business practices, as well as to protect the citizens from Government agencies and specific agents seeking to perform unethical acts for their person benefits.
The bodies need to be independant, not a monopoly regulating monopolies.
It doesn't give enough information, so I'm going to have to say no
Anytime I see a bill sponsored by a Republican I wonder what the motives are. Seems to me there just trying to make more money for the monopoly instead of trying to keep small business in business!
Because they will establish a baseline, on what is acceptable Buisness practices with respect for competition and fairness.
We need to minimize Winner-Take-All Capitalism and again promote an atmosphere where entrepreneurial capitalism is allowed to flourish.
No, the government isn’t good at NOT creating monopolies- just consider what’s happened to media, utilities, and healthcare.
If we had better anti trust laws maybe we wouldn’t have monopolies! We would have more open competition. We also would have real news and not companies like Comcast and Sinclair dictating what is reported.
I support the passage of the SMARTER Act — which would standardize procedures used by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) when reviewing proposed mergers or acquisitions that may lessen competition or lead to monopolies. Both agencies are responsible for enforcing anti-trust laws, but the way exercise the authority under current law is different. The Federal Trade Commission and Dept. of Justice will be more effective at reviewing proposed mergers and acquisitions for antitrust violations if they use the same procedures with similar standards. 5*8*28....
Fairness and consistency would be a valuable and rare thing under this administration.
Because the purpose of the bill is to reduce the government’s ability to identify and respond to businesses attempting to monopolize markets, which is deemed illegal by the U.S. Constitution. It is necessary because as time passes, people (and therefore entities) get smarter about how to break rules. https://business-law.freeadvice.com/business-law/trade_regulation/anti_trust_act.htm Greed is a natural inclination. Rules are put in place to help people and entities from harming others. They level the playing field and keep is collectively aligned with the spirit and goals of the nation.
The two agencies mentioned have differing responsibilities. Standardize those areas that are common and leave those that are not distinct.
Each agency has it’s own areas/interests to monitor. Two sets of eyes are better than one.
SMART Rusky Republicans turn their backs on 100 years of reform as started by a Republican President, Teddy Roosevelt. I guess they want to revisit their 100 year anniversary, the Bolshevik Revolution.
If the House passed this bill, it will solely benefit the corporations at the expense of hard-working American citizens. Yes-I distrust the party in power 100%!
Eliminate all anti-trust laws, which are merely tools of big corporations to keep out competition and efficiencies!
Having different proceedures for review ensures that a potential issue is less likely to be missed. We need agencies to look at mergers from different angles to determine if they could be bad for the public.