There is something tyrannical and anti-American about a White House that takes to court one of the nation’s most innovative and profitable companies on the grounds that the company is TOO successful, and consumers like it TOO much.
That is the essence of the Biden vs. Google case that went to trial before a federal court this week. I know many of my readers don’t like Google’s politics and some of its search algorithms – and neither do I. But putting that aside, the villain in this case is the Justice Department – not Google.
I have noted many times the reason that the United States emerged as the massive winner in the “tech wars” of the last three decades is that Congress made a rare wise decision by passing a law in the mid-1990s (thank you Chris Cox), which essentially declared this new and revolutionary communications device called “the internet” tax-free, regulation-free, and lawsuit free.
This laissez-faire strategy sparked a wild west gold rush of creativity and entrepreneurial explosion – unimpeded by government – that created tens of trillions of dollars of wealth and sprouted trillion-dollar companies from Google to Apple to Amazon to Facebook. They are all predominantly owned by more than 100 million American shareholders. If you are wondering who America won this tech race big time. We blew away the Europeans, the Japanese, the Chinese – all who got left picking up the crumbs.
Google was the first monster search engine – a great American success story. It now dominates 79% of the U.S. search market and an even higher share internationally. Why? Because it’s a monopoly. Hardly. There are scores of search engines from Bing to Apple’s Safari to Mozilla. Why does Google dominate? The same reason the Boston Celtics won 11 titles with Bill Russell. They have a superior product. Period. It processes a mindboggling 100,000 words per SECOND, and some 10 billion searches a DAY.
As I have said dozens of times on these pages, monopolies are supposedly harmful because they use their market power to raise prices and hurt consumers. Hello!!! A Google search is FREE. It’s the greatest consumer bargain in world history. Google is rated one of the most trusted brands in America.
Are the prices of Google services to consumers going up? No. Even in the era of Bidenflation, the technology/smartphone sector is lowering prices.
As usual, the government lawyers and regulators are three moves behind the industry on the high-tech chess board. In the months ahead, there is going to be a flood of new competition in tech and it isn’t coming from nuisance government lawsuits, but from the creative gales of destruction in the AI orbit (which could be bigger than the internet).
In the case of Biden vs. Google, I am rooting for Google all the way.
Share your thoughts.
