We’re changing up today and will be featuring quotes from former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan.
Mr. Greenspan is a bit difficult to quote as he likes to take a page or two to solidify his points, but I think I have a few good ones here.
The world of antitrust is reminiscent of Alice’s Wonderland: Everything seemingly is, yet apparently isn’t simultaneously. It is a world in which competition is lauded as the basic axiom and guiding principle, yet “too much” competition is condemned as “cutthroat”. It is a world in which actions designed to limit competition are branded as criminal when taken by the businessmen, yet praised as “enlightened” when initiated by the government. It is a world in which the law is so vague that businessmen have no way of knowing whether specific actions will be declared illegal until they hear the judge’s verdict – after the fact.
Based on a paper by Alan Greenspan given at the Antitrust Seminar of the National Association of Business Economist in Cleveland on September 25th, 1961.