Justice's Monopoly Guidelines Assailed

The Justice Department issued a report yesterday establishing how and when it will crack down on misbehaving monopolies, but its approach was immediately assailed as too lax and the work of an administration willing to allow big business to run roughshod over consumers. A bipartisan majority of the Federal Trade Commission characterized the report as "a blueprint for radically weakened enforcement" against monopolies that engage in predatory pricing and other illegal tactics. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, called the report an assault on the Sherman Act, the basis for much U.S. law on monopolies. The report comes as the Justice Department has faced criticism for failing to take a more aggressive stance to foster competition and protect consumers in antitrust matters. Notably, the Justice Department has allowed the mergers of the Whirlpool and Maytag appliance companies and of satellite radio providers XM and Sirius. The department is investigating a partnership of Google, the dominant provider of search advertising, and Yahoo, its nearest competitor in the field. Thomas O. Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of the department's antitrust division, defended the legal outlook outlined in the report as being "pro-consumer" and a synthesis of commonly accepted legal standards.