© Google
Leaked documents from the FTC's 2012 investigation of Google show exactly what is wrong with the state of American antitrust enforcement.
Eight years ago, the Federal Trade Commission had the chance to face down Google — the giant of Silicon Valley whose power now
alters the free flow of information at a global scale, distorts market access for businesses large and small, and changes the nature of independent thought in ways the world has never experienced.
Instead, the FTC blinked — and blinked hard, choosing to close the investigation in early 2013. A
remarkable leak to Politico of agency documents about the 2012 Google investigation reveals that,
despite ample evidence of market distortions and threats to competition presented by the agency's lawyers, the five commissioners of the FTC deferred instead
to speculative claims by their economists.
Records and reporting about the 2012 investigation suggest the FTC did so while
bending to political pressure from the Obama White House — which was, in turn, bending to political pressure from Google. William Kovacic, a former FTC chair under President George W. Bush, reviewed the more than 3,000 pages of documents leaked to Politico and concluded
the agency overlooked "what many experts and regulators would consider clear antitrust violations," calling the specificity of issues outlined "breathtaking."
Comment: A year of lockdowns has already seriously compromised immunity in the population, and it's likely that sacrificing children's usually robust health for the sake of this mass vaccination scheme could have dire consequences:
- Pregnant women advised not to get Covid-19 vaccine - UK government report
- 8 EU countries SUSPEND AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine amid reports of fatal blood clots
- HUNDREDS of Israelis get infected with Covid-19 after receiving Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
By the way, the French govt is toying with doing likewise; legally mandating vaccinations for all healthcare workers.And the Russian govt has taken the opposite stance.