http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...97D14D20130814
An antitrust law is a regulation that prevents individuals from conducting business because the government considers the intended business to negatively affect consumers.
The companies US Airways and American Airlines have been blocked by the US Department of Justice from merging because the "creation of the world's largest airline that would result would stifle competition, drive up airfares and reduce services." The merging airlines argue that they "would be weaker rivals if the merger did not take place, an outcome that would not be good for consumers who deserve more choices..." The airlines said "a merger would increase competition by adding a viable competitor to two dominant carriers, Delta and United Continental, both the result of recent megamergers."
I think it's a gross miscarriage of justice that a citizen has to argue for his social utility in order to maintain his liberty. These two companies have to argue that consumers could use them better if they merge. I wouldn't be surprised if Delta or United Continental paid the US Department of Justice to prevent the merger. Consider this exchange:
Defendant
"A prisoner brought to trial can defend himself only if there is an objective principle of justice recognized by his judges, a principle upholding his rights, which they may not violate and which he can invoke. The law, by which you are trying me, holds that there are no principles, that I have no rights and that you may do with me whatever you please. Very well. Do it."
Judge
"The law which you are denouncing is based on the highest principle - the principle of the public good."
Defendant
"Who is the public? What does it hold as its good? There was a time when men believed that 'the good' was a concept to be defined by a code of moral values and that no man had the right to seek his good through the violation of the rights of another. If it is now believed that my fellow men may sacrifice me in any manner they please for the sake of whatever they deem to be their own good, if they believe that they may seize my property simply because they need it - well, so does any burglar. There is only this difference: the burglar does not ask me to sanction his act."
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What do you think about antitrust laws?
Should you be required to prove to the government that your business should be justified by social utility?
That your RIGHT to sell a good or service rests on the principle that other people must benefit from them, whether you consent to their use or not?
That people have a right to your goods and services merely because they benefit from them?
Antitrust laws are widely popular among Congressmen and Senators, among Democrats and Republicans. There is a stench of cronyism around antitrust laws, where one business can pay a Senator to stop another business from being more competitive.