US: Hillary Clinton on antitrust

In a fact sheet released on the Clinton campaign website Monday is a little-noticed set of bullet points that signals something important about how Hillary Clinton would govern. The campaign outlined an aggressive plan for beefing up the nation’s antitrust laws in order to “address excessive concentration” among major industries and end the “abuse of economic power” by corporations.

The proposals are significant because they don’t require passing legislation in Congress. Simply by choosing officials devoted to more vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws, Clinton can bring about a big shift in the way the nation’s antitrust laws are enforced.

The Obama administration has already taken a stronger stance on antitrust issues than President George W. Bush did. The antitrust principles outlined in Clinton’s fact sheet suggest she could beef up antitrust enforcement even further. As President, she will work to promote competition and take on abuses of market power, by taking action through government at every level, and rewarding innovation and entrepreneurship in the private sector.

Appoint strong leadership at our antitrust agencies. Strong enforcement officials…increase the resources and staffing…building up jurisprudence that supports strong enforcement.

Aggressively enforce and strengthen merger reviews as well as our antitrust laws and guidelines. Make sure that mergers and acquisitions do not excessively concentrate market power.

Prevent the inappropriate exploitation of excessive market power where it already exists. When large firms abuse their power by excluding potential rivals or stifling entrepreneurship, innovation, and free competition, those abuses undermine consumers, businesses, workers, and our economy as a whole.

Ensure post-merger retrospective reviews, and transparency. Empower the antitrust agencies to conduct post-merger monitoring…regular, thorough study and data collection on market concentration and its impact.

Full Content: Mother Jones

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