It
is discouraging to read that a counselor to Microsoft Corp., the
foremost victim of antitrust in our time, has joined the chorus of
antitrust professionals who are singing that antitrust is, or can be,
"sound" ("The High-Tech World Still Needs Antitrust," Letters, Aug. 16).
Antitrust is unsound as
economics. It is based on a definition of competition that is neither
possible nor desirable—undifferentiated products in price equilibrium.
It is unsound as law because it provides no coherent set of
ascertainable rules to guide conduct. It is unsound as a matter of fact,
because it is based on a belief in the false legend of Standard Oil.
Antitrust is a religion
carried on by a cult of professionals. It gives government officials the
power to interfere whimsically with freedom of contract, frequently on
behalf of losers. It is a needless drag on the economy and of little
demonstrable public benefit.
Edwin S. Rockefeller
Washington
Mr. Rockefeller is a former chairman of the American Bar Association's section of antitrust law.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 