DOJ’s New Antitrust Rule: “Too Big To Succeed”
James Gattuso /
For months now, the Treasury Department has been grappling with the consequences of “Too Big to Fail” — the idea that some enterprises are too large to allow to fail. Now here’s comes the Justice Department with “Too Big To Succeed,” the idea that some firms are too large to allow to suceed.
That at least is the implication of a policy change announced this week by new DOJ Antitrust Division chief Christine Varney. Specifically, in two speeches, she renounced a report developed by the Bush DOJ last year on monopolization law. That law, enacted as section two of the 1890 Sherman Act, is famously broad, making it illegal to “monopolize.” But finding the fine line between forbidden monopolization and pro-competitive success is a difficult if not impossible task.