Does anyone have a link the the analysis done by Carl Shapiro?
AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
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Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#182[deleted]
Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#183Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#184> The judge indicated during the trial that he wasn’t buying Shapiro’s projection. After his testimony, Leon said he was "confused." Further explanation from Shapiro didn’t help. "I’m not sure I got it, but it’s too late and too hot to belabor the point any further," the judge said. Amazing on so many different levels. (Shapiro is the economist whose model the DOJ based their case off of).
Absolutely shameful. AI judges can't come soon enough.
And who gets to decide what training data/processes the judges use?
Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#185Can't we have a system where the bigger the merger, the more compelling the arguments for it should be? Like a $10M merger should have 1 strong argument in favor of the consumer, a $100M merger should have 2 strong arguments, and a $100B merger should have 5 strong arguments in favor of the consumer (and I'm being forgiving by using a logarithmic scale here).
Hot take: An $X m merger should never go through.
(I haven't thought about the downsides, but I can't see anything obvious?)
Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#186The DOJ had tried to stop the deal[1] but it appears that the court ruled it could carry on [2]. Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said in a statement the DOJ was "disappointed with the Court's decision today. We continue to believe that the pay-TV market will be less competitive and less innovative as a result of the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner. We will closely review the Court's opinion and…
The irony is, their monopoly power and the conflicts of interest could be much less worrisome if net neutrality were in place.
Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#187Since the government already logs the content of all internet pipes, I think that they should nationalize all ISPs... it would be much cheaper.
Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well let's not grab our pitchforks just yet. I'm sure if this was a thread discussing Judge Leon's 2013 opinion that NSA metadata collection violated the 4th amendment, HN would be singing his praises. But in this case he's approved a merger we don't like so he must be a total idiot or (as is being suggested further down in the thread) was bribed and has family members that will be getting board AT&T seats pretty soo…
We can still pull out the pitchforks based on the notion that he didn't understand the "expert" opinion presented and just decided not bother?
I didn't find the exchange particularly extraordinary. The judge is expressing his opinion that he doesn't buy what Shapiro is selling. The judge will have already studied Shapiro's written arguments before the trial. During the oral arguments, the judge has a chance to clarify things from the written arguments. I haven't read the full transcript, but I imagine Leon didn't feel fully convinced by the written arguments, asked Shapiro to address some of his concerns, continued to feel unsatisfied and decided to move on. That's how it goes sometimes. Time is not unlimited and there are always too many things to cover.
At the very least, Shapiro's argument is complicated and novel (it has never been used as a part of an anti-trust case before). Tellingly, the Bloomberg article doesn't not even attempt to explain or summarize the economic theory. It's not like Leon is pigheadedly refusing to accept some widely accepted, basic economic principle.
If we are going to criticize the ruling, let's do so by discussing the substance of the judge's opinion, not courtroom banter.
Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#189Lenin wrote about the inevitability of monopoly in 1916. He would not have been surprised that the 1911 break up of Standard Oil would be undone in 1999 with the ExxonMobil, nor the slow reconsolidation of the Baby Bells, nor the other monopolies bringing us back to the gilded age.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/ch0...
Re: AT&T Cleared by Judge to Buy Time Warner
#190The DOJ had tried to stop the deal[1] but it appears that the court ruled it could carry on [2]. Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said in a statement the DOJ was "disappointed with the Court's decision today. We continue to believe that the pay-TV market will be less competitive and less innovative as a result of the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner. We will closely review the Court's opinion and…
#CorruptFederalJudges