6 ms·
What happened to antitrust? We were making great progress and then a few months ago this admin totally flipped?
by bix6 1y ago
What happened to antitrust? We were making great progress and then a few months ago this admin totally flipped?
- avs733 1y ago[flagged]
- M95D 1y ago[flagged]
- jt2190 1y ago> The transaction faces numerous regulatory hurdles and will serve as a key test of the changed thinking around antitrust issues under President Donald Trump. In other words, the companies have agreed to merge, but regulators will still have to approve.
- bix6 1y agoWhich they inevitably will. They’ve completely softened in the last few months. I think L*tnick has more power now?
- zanecodes 1y agoWe were making great progress under the previous administration until six months ago, yes.
- M95D 1y agoOh, no, you were not! The fact that it's way worse now, doesn't mean you had "great progress" before.
- idiotsecant 1y agoI think it's pretty much indisputable that the FTC was making huge progress in consumer rights and antitrust work. What, specifically, are you talking about in your comment. It's easy to make comments like this based on general 'feelings' without saying anything at all.
- sidewndr46 1y agoWhat great progress was made under the previous administration?
- zanecodes 1y agoAmong many others: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-sues-prescription-drug-middlemen-artificially-inflating-insulin-drug-prices https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/10/ftc-proposes-rule-ban-junk-fees https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/10/... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/06/ftc-sues-walmart-facilitating-money-transfer-fraud-fleeced-customers-out-hundreds-millions https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/06/... https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-ftc-accuses-intuit-deceptively-advertising-free-tax-filing-2022-03-29/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-ftc-accuses-intuit-decep... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/06/ftc-puts-online-marketplaces-notice-about-their-responsibilities-under-new-inform-consumers-act https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/06/... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/08/ftc-states-sue-rental-listing-platform-roomster-its-owners-duping-prospective-renters-fake-reviews https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/08/...
- sidewndr46 1y agoFTC sues, FTC proposes, FTC accuses. I see no actual change here.
- ethagknight 1y agoNone of those are antitrust, those are just examples of basic consumer complaints.
- Bilal_io 1y agoI think maybe Lina Khan was, but not the whole Biden administration.
- gruez 1y agoThe case for merger is that the the two lines don't really overlap, so it (arguably) won't decrease competition. Meanwhile a larger network would make things more efficient for shippers because goods can travel coast to coast without changing trains. https://archive.is/65ihv https://archive.is/65ihv
- jordanb 1y agoThis is absurd and easily and trivially disputed. Having a nationwide network absolutely lets you compete with networks that are more regional "If you want to use our western routes you have to use us in the east too." > larger network would make things more efficient for shippers LOL > goods can travel coast to coast without changing trains They already can.
- gruez 1y ago>They already can. I'm not a railroad expert, but here's the exact quote from the article, which cites a consultancy: >Going from coast to coast is a greater prize. Avoiding interchanges between networks would mean faster trains and fewer delays. According to Oliver Wyman, a consultancy, the share of intermodal goods in America that travel by rail on journeys longer than 1,500 miles increases from 39% to 65% when served by a direct line. Transcontinental railways would mean fewer lengthy stops in Chicago and may make shorter routes near the Mississippi river more profitable. Maybe Oliver Wyman is on the payroll of UP/Norfolk and this isn't true, but I'd like to see something more reputable than a HN comment of 1-3 word refutations.
- jordanb 1y ago"Interchange" means the train going from one company's tracks to another. It does not involve changing trains. It involves a phone call. Additionally, it probably still wouldn't be possible for most origins and destinations from going coast to coast without interchange because will probably have to use shortline tracks at some point, like the Chicago Belt Railway.
- 1y ago
- dashundchen 1y agoUnder Biden, FTC commissioner Lina Khan was returning the agency to enforcing anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws. I think she correctly identified corporate consolidation, collusion and legally entrenched middlemen as a threat to the working class and economic competitiveness. Her record wasn't 100% wins but I think she was setting the stage for a much more impactful 4 years had Biden or Harris won. I think she was one of the reasons big tech and oligarchs fell into line for Trump. Now we're stuck with the most openly corrupt and transactional corporate administration in US history. A good interview on her philosophy: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/opinion/lina-khan-monopolies-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/opinion/lina-khan-monopol...
- morkalork 1y agoCan you really call it a new Gilded Age without railway barons?
- dowager_dan99 1y agoMy money says this will get regulatory approval to compete with the CPKC which goes both east-west and north-south from Canada to Mexico. In this climate a rail network from coast to coast entirely in the continental US is probably viewed as "national security".
- AnimalMuppet 1y agoI don't see CPKC as a reason for approving this. It won't compete with them in Canada or Mexico at all (since neither UP nor NS go there). And it won't compete much with them in the US, since CPKC pretty much just does north-south in the middle of the country. I mean CPKC might be the excuse, but that's not the same thing...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- snapplebobapple 1y agoWhat happened to antitrust is you guys had an antitrust system that was going way too far (think breaking up regional gas stations too far) and then nixon appointed Rehnquist to the supreme court in 1972, then Reagan appointed him chief justice in 1986. Rehnquist made decent arguments for reforming that that were then taken too far over his tenure (and continuing to this day) and now we have multinational oligopolies. Taking a good idea too far, making it an extremely bad idea is basically the theme of the pendulum swings of human history.
- pc86 1y agoYou guys? How many people on HN do you think were around so that they could vote for Nixon in 1968?
- iwontberude 1y agoGiven demographics of HN they probably is British and talking to Americans
- snapplebobapple 1y agoBritish North American sir! Aka Canadian.
- lqet 1y agoI think that referred to Americans
- snapplebobapple 1y agoIt did, but I was so pleasantly surprised they were choosing to be offended due to incorrectly attributing my statement to ageist biases rather than racist biases that I was going to just let it slide. It was so nice to get some variety in the incorrectly offended miasma that is the modern internet....
- bix6 1y agoI meant more recently. Lina Khan was making progress and even Tr*mp seemed to be taking a harder line on the tech companies in particular.
- tallanvor 1y agoIt's hard to say if this would be approved even under a normal administration. If UP and NS get to merge, I would expect BNSF and CSX to try and do the same, leaving just two national train companies. But there are still hundreds of Class II and Class III railroads operating in the US, so as long as there are concessions made to ensure long-term trackage rights, it would not necessarily be rejected out of hand.
- FollowingTheDao 1y agoThis would have went through under either an R or D administration. Union Pacific gave 2x more to all politicians than CSX. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/union-pacific-corp/summary?id=D000000118 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/union-pacific-corp/summary?... https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/csx-corp/summary?id=D000000148 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/csx-corp/summary?id=D000000...
- SilverElfin 1y agoYes they flipped. Lina Khan should have supported mergers for smaller companies (to help startups needing an exit) while breaking up the largest and most abusive companies like Google or Amazon or Microsoft. Unfortunately now more will come. Warren Buffett is more likely to pursue his own rail merger for BNSF (owned by Berkshire Hathaway): https://www.semafor.com/article/07/21/2025/berkshire-bnsf-bankers-railroad-merger https://www.semafor.com/article/07/21/2025/berkshire-bnsf-ba...
- bix6 1y agoOk but even ignoring her this admin totally flipped? Tr*mp was taking a much harder line and now he’s letting everything through?
- khuey 1y agoIf you thought Trump believed in anything beyond whatever is good for Trump right now you fell for the con.
- uoaei 1y agoCould you explain why you think any "startup" "needs an exit"? Why should we accept businesses that cannot persist on their own? This comment caught me off guard with how blatantly VC-sycophantic it is.
- FollowingTheDao 1y ago> Could you explain why you think any "startup" "needs an exit"? Because it is, and always has been, profit over product (and people).
- SilverElfin 1y agoBut how can the product exist if people don’t make enough profit? Why would they take on the risk and stress of building a business instead of just taking another job.
- 1y ago
- josefritzishere 1y agoThis is patently illegal but the current administration doesnt care about that.