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Christine A. Varney heads up antitrust at the Department of Justice, and she's going hunting. She is the point person for a group consisting of the presidential administration and some Congressional Democrats that is looking to put the breaks on large companies in several industries.
Already, airlines have run into roadblocks when requesting relief from antitrust regulations. Varney & Co. are digging into complaints by AT&T (NYSE: ATT) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) that cable competitors – e.g., Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) – have locked them out of the market for cable company-produced programming.
(Imagine that, a phone company complaining! Usually, they're the objects of derision.)
Pharmaceutical companies and even agricultural operations are being looked at under the microscope, as every potentially anticompetitive situation is examined. Even Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), the "don't be evil folks," are being watched closely and could wind up in a situation closely resembling the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) battle of 1997.
An aggressive antitrust policy has led to some conflict within the Democratic Party and the Obama administration. Many have been waiting eight years for the chance to strengthen antitrust enforcement, but others are concerned that putting the cuffs on businesses right now would only delay what will prove to be a painfully slow recovery.
A battle between true believers and pragmatists is likely to erupt, with any stalemate certain to come at the expense of consumers who just want to get jobs and spend some cash.
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