While we’re at it, President Obama should also be asked why his Treasury Secretary needs “new powers” to go after companies like AIG that are too large for the good of the country. That power already resides in the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, both of which can use their anti-trust authority to break up companies that are deemed anti-competitive—surely an apt characterization of AIG.
While average Americans all know that corporations have become far big and too powerful, making the old Rockefeller Standard Oil Trust look quaint by comparison, anti-trust in Washington has become almost a dirty word. It needs to be dusted off and trotted out as a major policy tool, if this country is to return to economic health.
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DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net
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