What happened to antitrust? We were making great progress and then a few months ago this admin totally flipped?
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Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
31–40 of 100 posts
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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 ser…
"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.
This depends on the train lines and what trackage rights they have with the others. So it's not a given that one company will haul cargo from the west coast to the east coast. Interchanges will continue to be important since even within a specific train company the goods may have to be changed to a different train at least once.
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
What great progress was made under the previous administration?
Among many others: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/10/... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/06/... https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-ftc-accuses-intuit-decep... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/06/... https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/08/...
None of those are antitrust, those are just examples of basic consumer complaints.
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, why? Is it (much) more outlandish than the merger that created BNSF? Is it much more outlandish than CP and KCS? What makes this more outlandish than the previous mega-mergers?
Seems to be ~20x the value of the BNSF merger(~10x accounting for inflation). So yeah its pretty outlandish?
OK, but why does that make it "outlandish", as opposed to just "really big"?
It's smaller than Pfizer buying Warner-Lambert in 1999. It's smaller (at least inflation adjusted) than Exxon-Mobil or Citicorp-Travelers. It's a lot smaller than AOL-Time Warner in 2000. It's smaller than Dow-duPont in 2015.
Why is it outlandish? Because it involves railroads?
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#35Both workforces are union and I doubt employees will see much benefit from this. I would expect to see the unions block this unless they get major concessions.
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#36What happened to antitrust? We were making great progress and then a few months ago this admin totally flipped?
What 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.
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#37What happened to antitrust? We were making great progress and then a few months ago this admin totally flipped?
It'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.
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#38What happened to antitrust? We were making great progress and then a few months ago this admin totally flipped?
What 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…
You guys?
How many people on HN do you think were around so that they could vote for Nixon in 1968?
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#39Cool, more railroad monopolies, yay.
Re: Union Pacific to buy Norfolk in $85B mega U.S. railroad deal
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The 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
This 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.
Disputed does not mean disproven.
There are reasonable people who think this merge would be good, and reasonable people who think it would be bad, and perhaps we can discuss pros and cons without acting like asses?