Economics: Antitrust - Why Does The Government Punish Success?

 (Drivebycuriosity) - America´s economy was based on success. Entrepreneurs like Henry Ford or the steel magnates Andrew Carnegie & Cornelius Vanderbilt did not only get super-rich, they created America´s superior industry and wealth. They were admired and the hope to be very successful inspired many inventors, entrepreneurs & investors, fueling America`s rise. 

Not anymore. The Biden administration punishes success and harasses corporations which are exceptionally successful. Two mighty government agencies, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), are suing three very successful companies: Amazon, Google & Apple. The administrations claim that these corporations are monopolies in their markets.

Amazon became a behemoth by being very efficient and being obsessed with cost cutting and delivering goods cheap, fast & reliably. They have been constructing a network of huge fulfillment centers which are very efficient and save a lot of costs. Amazon`s huge size also helps to keep costs low (efficiencies  of scale). The competition with Amazon forces Walmart, Target and many other retailers to be efficient and curb their prices as well. Today also Shopify, Wayfair and many other e-commerce companies, who are competing with Amazon, have to sell at relatively low prices. This way Amazon´s efficiency  & success benefits even consumers who shop elsewhere.

Apple became a giant because people love their services & products. Apple´s late Steve Jobs gave the world a powerful supercomputer for the pocket and created a new economy based on Internet applications. Apple products are bestsellers because they are cool and very functional. What is wrong with that?

Google pioneered Internet search engines in the late 1990s and invested tons of money to develop them further. The continuous innovations raised the quality of their services, which are free, and made Google market leader in the US and many other countries. I have been using Google`s free search & maps for two decades because their American competitors Bing (owned by Microsoft), DuckDuckGo and others are inferior. What right does the government have to restrict these services?

None of the sued corporations is a monopolist. Amazon is competing against Walmart, Target, Ebay, Shopify and aggressive newcomers like the shopping apps Temu and Shein (driveby). Nobody is forced to buy Apple`s iPhones, iPads, iMacs, MacBooks and services. Customers can purchase similar products & services from Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Huawei and a lot of other technology companies. And customers can choose between Apple´s iOS and Google`s Android. Nobody needs to use Google´s services like search & maps. There are other search engines like Microsoft`s Bing, DuckDuck Go & WolframAlpha and people also can use maps by Apple, Microsoft and other providers. Why does the US government side with inferior competitors, including foreign companies like Russia´s Xandex or Chinese apps like Temu?

Amazon, Apple & Google want to make profits, as all entrepreneurs do, and they are successful. Profit seeking is the engine of America´s success. These firms are investing ever-increasing amounts on research and development to innovate new products and stay competitive.

But the government tries to stop that.  

Biden´s mighty bureaucrats hate Big Business; they want to replace it by Big Government. The government follows China´s leader Xi Jinping, who has curtailed successful corporations like Alibaba, Tencent & Baidu, because he does not accept other gods beside him and he is turning China´s economy back to a rigorous socialist system.

The real purpose of the law suits is to gain control over America´s largest corporations and to be in charge of their business ( driveby). Biden protege Khan tries to expand her already extensive might. She argued - in an article for a Marxist paper - that antitrust must be reconfigured toward the redistribution of economic and political power and away from concerns regarding price (lpeproject  realclearpolicy). According to former FTC-Commissioner Christine S. Wilson Khan`s FTC represents a Marxist ideology and tries to replace the market process of supply and demand by a continuously regulated environment (ftc.gov ).  

Although neither Khan nor Kanter are democratically elected, they have the power to throw a lot sand into the gears of successful companies, which are the engines of the US economy. The law suits reduce Big Tech`s abilities to further innovate, even if Khan & Kanter will lose. The law suits are occupying management capacities and are slowing decision processes - making business more complicated and costly. Innovators and startups are getting discouraged when they know that strong growth will get punished.

If the crusade against Big Tech succeeds it will not only reduce competition (by harming the market leader), it also will lead to waste, corruption and nepotism. If corporations get punished for being efficient and for keeping costs low, it will slow economic growth, raise price level and reduce living standards of low income households who depend on purchasing cheap goods. 

Why trying to create a very successful company when success will get punished?