Posted on 12/09/2022 8:01:46 PM PST by RandFan
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is taking a victory lap after standing in the way of legislation that would increase fees on large company mergers, saying “antitrust zealots” are getting in the way of free market activity even as they hoard federal power.
“To them, big is always bad. Except, of course, when it comes to the size and scope of government,” Mr. Paul wrote in an op-ed for Fox News. “These antitrust activists tried to rush legislation through the Senate that would give government more power over the economy.”
Mr. Paul, a Republican and well-known libertarian, said he blocked the Senate from considering the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, which would have boosted fees on transactions worth more than $1 billion while reducing fees for mergers valued at less than $1 billion.
It passed the House in September, but Mr. Paul said the bill would have punished a company for its success.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Ping
This man needs to run for President.
What’s the issue with increased fees on billion dollar mergers while decreasing fees for smaller mergers? That’s not bad but is it the only objection? Did Kroger and McConnell (his wife is on the board) get to Rand?
We need to break up big tech. Rand isn’t helping here. Pure libertarian theory is very practical on the blackboard, not so much in real life.
Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican and he knew that big could be bad when it stifled competition and crushed small business.
There was probably a lot of other cr*p in there.
It’s a win...
Green energy crap we don't need
“This man needs to run for President.”
He did and he went over like a water-filled balloon. Trump’s victory showed that average Republican voters aren’t Koch Brothers libertarians. They want Social Security protected. They want hedge fund billionaires to pay taxes. They want restrictions on immigration. They want US jobs protected from cheap foreign labor and destructive outsourcing of factories overseas. And they think that government has a role in preventing oppressive monopolistic business mergers. Most GOP voters favor breaking up big tech, for example.
Rand’s libertarianism gets applause at DC think tanks, but it did’t win voters in the 2016 primaries.
“Bravo Rand Paul”
I don’t know what else was in the bill, but Rand’s libertarian boilerplate against antitrust leaves me cold. We need to break up big tech and prevent such massive monopolies of business power in other areas as well. And it’s not “either or” as Rand implies - we also need to apply the same principles of decentralization, downsizing and competitive energies to government at every level.
The Bell Breakup was 40 years ago and all those Baby Bells have become 3 huge companies Verizon, AT&T and Lumen Technologies.
He did. He didn’t win.
No he’s not and I don’t agree with him. This is an antiquated ideal, one that diesbt wirk well with global corpratism and Chinese dominance..
And what he fails to seems that corporations and our government are already operating as one. Bone headed move Rand, though other times I like him. Hit or miss with him.
? Why is decreasing fees on small biz mergers bad?
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