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Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Curious as to whether or not entities such as The Wall Street Journal, or Forbes, or Fortune have ever (or will ever) speak out in favor of the DOJ in matters of antitrust? It hardly seems likely to me.
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It's a matter of economic theory and philosophy. In general, the free market economic theory holds that over time the only way a monopoly can survive is with the aid of the government. Thus, anti-trust isn't really needed as long as the government stays out of the picture.
To take the example of the ebook case. If the major publishers get together and set a price for ebooks, then over time, consumers will buy from cheaper authors and publishing companies. The big 5 can not enforce a price point one other entities. The same goes for agency pricing. The big 5 can insist on agency pricing, but if other publishers and independent authors are willing to allow the ebook store to set the price, then customers will tend to buy more of the cheaper books over time. In both cases, there is no need for anti-trust acts since any attempt to fix prices, or control supplies tends to fail over time.