Today’s links Venture predation: A pile of shit this big MUST have a pony underneath it! Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading Venture predation (permalink) They said it couldn’t happen. After decades of antitrust enforcement against Predatory Pricing – selling goods below cost to kill existing competitors and prevent new ones from arising – the Chicago School of neoliberal economists “proved” that predatory pricing didn’t exist and that the courts could stand down and stop busting companies for it. Predatory pricing – the economists explained – may be illegal, but it was also imaginary. A mirage. No one would do predatory pricing, because it was “irrational.” And even if there was someone irrational enough to try it, they would fail. Stand down, judges of America – predatory pricing is solved. Chicago School economists – whose job (to quote David Roth) is to find new ways to say “actually, your boss is right” – held enormous sway of the federal judiciary. The billionaire-backed Manne Seminars offered free “continuing education” junkets to judges – all-expense-paid luxury vacations salted with lengthy your-boss-is-right econ seminars. 40% of the US federal judiciary got their heads filled up at a Manne Seminar. For monopolists and other predators, the Manne Seminar was an excellent return on investment. After attending a Manne Seminar, the average judge’s legal decisions tipped decidedly in favor of monopoly, operating on the Chicago…Pluralistic: Venture predation (19 May 2023)