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Penguin Schuster Merger Defeat a Different Kind of Anti-Trust Win [1]

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Date: 2022-11-02

The department of justice has successfully blocked the merger of two of the big five publishing houses:

A federal judge blocked Penguin Random House from buying Simon & Schuster, arguing that the combination of the two book business giants would illegally reduce competition. Judge blocks Penguin Random House's purchase of Simon & Schuster | CNN Business

This is undoubtedly a good decision, for writers and readers (aside from the fact that we will not get a company Named Simon's Random Penguin House. Sacrifices must be made in the pursuit of a just society). Allowing one publisher to dominate the market would result in lower pay for writers, shrinking the kinds of books that would be written, and inevitably less competition for readers to choose from.

What strikes me as unique about this case is that the Justice Department did not try to rely entirely on the right-wing driven notion of consumer harm in this case. Instead, they focused on the harm done to writers -- i.e. labor.

In its lawsuit, the administration said the deal would give the combined company too much control over how much authors are paid. The challenge emphasized the potential harm for authors since the merger would reduce the number of potential bidders for highly-anticipated books. Judge blocks Penguin Random House's purchase of Simon & Schuster | CNN Business

You might be surprised to see that an anti-trust case focusing on anything other than consumer prices. That is because right wing activist judges have succeeded in rewriting anti-trust law from the bench, discarding every other consideration but that of "consumer welfare" and business efficiency.

But anti-trust law was not written that way -- it was purely an invention of judicial activists. The anti-trust laws actually take into account the power of large business not only in terms of consumer welfare but in terms of raw power, power over competitors and power of labor. These acts focused on ensuring competition in all its forms, because the best way to protect society is to ensure that no business becomes larger than society's ability to control it.

The fact that the Justice Department focused on an aspect of competition and not just consumer protection and won is a hopeful sign. It is entirely possible that the Republican judges that invented the false reading of antitrust law and that still control too may appeals court, not to mention the Supreme Court, will overturn this on appeal. But law changes slowly, until it doesn't. The fact that the DOJ brought this case combined with the fact that a judge accepted the argument is encouraging. It cements the approach of bringing back the actual meaning of antitrust laws. Mergers will now be evaluated on their effects on the whole of the economy, as they should be, as they were intended to be.

It will be a long haul to root out the lies that Robert Bork inflicted on antitrust enforcement, but a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. The DOJ and the judge have taken those fist steps.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/2/2132956/-Penguin-Schuster-Merger-Defeat-a-Different-Kind-of-Anti-Trust-Win

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