Potential DOJ Suits Against Apple and Google Delayed Amid Budget Woes (politico.com) 27
The Justice Department is still months away from deciding whether to sue Apple or file a new suit against Google over antitrust concerns, POLITICO reported Thursday, citing two people familiar with the discussions -- a question facing new financial complications after the collapse of President Joe Biden's social spending bill. From a report: DOJ antitrust prosecutors had earlier aimed to wrap up their probes of the two tech giants by Dec. 31, culminating years of scrutiny by the department into Apple's App Store and Google's command of the online ad market. But now the decision on going to court is likely to come in March or later because of continued discussions about where to file and who will make the call, the two people told POLITICO. They spoke anonymously to discuss internal DOJ deliberations. Another major concern for the department is the likely expense of a court battle with the two companies, each of which has a market value exceeding $1 trillion. That issue became more fraught this week when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) torpedoed Democrats' Build Back Better package, which would have given DOJ a $500 million boost for antitrust enforcement.
To big to go to court? (Score:4, Insightful)
Too big to fail... (Score:1)
A.G. Holder
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"We need small government": every Republican.
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"We need to cut government spending": every Republican.
Ok start with the biggest item, the military budget.
Oh that's completely unacceptable.
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The Republicans havent been fiscally responsible since before Reagan. The Democrats are only a teeny tiny bit better. The last president to reduce the deficit was Bill Clinton. But at least the Dems are honest about it: they would like to spend AND tax more, and they generally admit that the two are linked. The Republicans/Conservatives are living in this fantasy land where their pet government progra
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Trump cuts $3.8 billion from military
Sounds good.
to fund wall construction
Facepalm. Gotta keep all those brown people away.
Re:To big to go to court? (Score:5, Informative)
Ok start with the biggest item, the military budget.
The military is not the biggest item.
Oh that's completely unacceptable.
As a percentage of GDP, military spending declined during the Trump years.
Re: To big to go to court? (Score:5, Informative)
Umm...that has been the case since long before the first cyberpunk novel was released. Haven't you ever heard of the Dutch East India Company? They were the largest company the world has ever had, and there haven't been any even close to them since. They practically had a monopoly on trade in most of the world, had a very powerful navy that they waged wars with, and could even jail or execute you for not paying money you owed them. They were valued at what today would be about $9 trillion at their peak in the early 1700s.
Contrary to what you think, and what the communist party leadership has told you, private corporations have generally lost power and influence over time.
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So in other words, if you are rich or run a big company, you may be able to get away of being prosecuted if you hire on some expensive lawyers and lobby the government to cut the DOJ's budget?
"Budget woes" (Score:1, Troll)
Yeah that's the story,. they can't go after the big guys because of "budget woes".
But they can go after parents who complain to school boards about critical race theory. No "budget woes" there.
Pretty Fightening (Score:5, Insightful)
Pretty frightening when the actions of our democratically elected government are hindered due to a lack of funds relative to the funds of major corporations.
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Maybe if they stop blowing funds on bogus frivolous cases ("Russiagate", etc...shortsighted political stunts) they'd get so much more done, and for less taxpayer $$.
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The actions of your government are not in any way so hindered, but it is very convenient to be able to blame someone when lobbyists are pushing against one of those actions.
So submit legislation for the $500m (Score:2)
Pass it on a voice vote and go home.
Not everything has to be part of that multi-trillion-dollar train wreck.
If they had a case... (Score:2)
If their case was solid, they wouldn't need a crap ton of money to fund it nor would they need more time. As to the issue of where to file, sorry, but that smells like B.S. to me. Sounds more like they're hoping to get a friendly court (as opposed to one that follows the law) and ultimately extract more settlement money.
Build Back Biden (Score:1)
Hmmm.... (Score:2)
I wish I could be sure you weren't right.
Re: Hmmm.... (Score:2)
Biden won't do it, because his masters say not to. Every other reason he gives for not doing it is just window dressing.
Not that expensive? (Score:2)
Got an estimate for the cost of such a forgiveness? It would be a transfer of assets from taxpayers to the relatively wealthy, thus proving to non-graduate voters that the Democrats don't represent them. And it would be inflationary because the money which was disappearing into the government would become available to increase demand in an overheated economy.
The UK's approach is to offer loans that are repaid as an extra 10% income tax on what you earn over a medium level salary minimum, so it's not a burde
Budget Problem? No Problem! (Score:3)
Google and Apple have plenty of money. I'm sure that something could be worked out to ease your "budget problems"...
Just offer them a settlement, in which they admit no fault -but promise not to do it again (sound familiar? there have been several of these lately), and they pay a fine equivalent to your budget shortfall.
Cost of doing business... Nothing to see here... Move along...