I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. Whether or not George W. Bush winds up as the republican presidential nominee, I hope one of his more sophisticated policy ideas becomes part of the republican platform.
It's a radical position: the government should enforce antitrust laws when there's clear price-fixing, which, after all, is what they're for. What's radical is that it would greatly change Clinton policy. That's because right now, the government involves itself in mergers, investigates monopolies, pokes around in pricing decisions, and generally ignores its real business: protecting consumers.
The fact is, most so-called antitrust violations don't hurt consumers at all. What government trust busters call violations are more often than not sensible mergers or other business practices that result in lower prices for goods and services than could be offered before. The Reagan administration took the commonsense attitude to antitrust enforcement: use the law to prosecute price fixing. It's only been the Clinton administration that brought back the intrusive approach. But the George W. approach is better for consumers.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont. Next time, ending the earnings limit.