When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do? -- John Maynard Keynes

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

FTC Wastes Taxpayer Funds "Investigating" Google

Obama administration's war on business (and waste of taxpayer money) continues:

FTC brings in former government prosecutor to dig deeper into Google’s business practices - The Washington Post: "Wilkinson is best known for helping to convict Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1997. Now a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, in Washington, D.C., Wilkinson also has experience in antitrust law and white-collar criminal cases. The FTC stressed that Wilkinson’s hiring shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign it intends to sue Google Inc. “We are delighted to have someone of her caliber helping us on such an important matter,” said Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition."

Delighted? Really? Here's a question no one seems to be asking: why are taxpayer funds being used (wasted) to pay a high-priced D.C. lawyer working a no-bid government contract to provide legal services to pursue a meritless claim against a legitimate business (Google) that has done nothing wrong?

Also, how much will Google have to spend to defend itself against the FTC's waste of taxpayer funds?

Does the FTC not have any legitimate work to do? Perhaps the Romney administration should abolish or severely cut back funding of the FTC as it seems to have gone "astray" and is lost in its "inside the beltway" bureaucratic mentality.

Thankfully, I am not alone--others are waking up to the FTC's waste of resources hassling Google:

Economists tell FTC to 'buzz off' on Google antitrust investigation | The Daily Caller: "Economists have had it with the forceful gaze of government regulators directed at Google. 101 economists from some of the nation’s most distinguished universities, and from the National Taxpayers Union, expressed concern over the swath of scrutiny directed at Google in an open letter published Monday. The Federal Trade Commission recently announced it hired a prominent outside litigator as part of its current antitrust investigation into Google. The NTU letter openly criticized the antitrust regulatory framework that the government has forced businesses to operate under, claiming that it is doing more harm than good to the economy. . . “Policymakers should instead deploy their talents on restructuring our broken, burdensome regulatory and fiscal management systems in order to foster strong competition and economic growth into the future,” the economists wrote."

Read more: http://www.ntu.org/news-and-issues/telecom/57an-open-letter-to-public.html

   

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