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Microsoft antitrust ruling: More costly than all the bank robbers in history

    WASHINGTON, DC -- The Justice Department's plan to break up Microsoft is not just a bad legal decision -- it's a case of "bureaucratic grand larceny" that has already stolen more wealth from Americans than all the bank robbers in history, the Libertarian Party charged today.

    "Move over Jesse James, John Dillinger, and Willie Sutton. There's a new criminal in town that makes you look like amateurs -- and it's the antitrust gang at the Justice Department," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director. "With its decision to eviscerate one of America's most successful high-tech corporations, the Justice Department has committed the most costly and malevolent act of economic vandalism in American history."

    Specifically, the Justice Department's announcement last month that Microsoft broke antitrust law -- and its decision last week to try to divide the Redmond, Washington-based corporation into two separate companies -- caused a massive meltdown in technology stocks. According to financial experts, the plunge in the stock market cost American investors $150 billion to $208 billion in lost wealth.

    By comparison, bank robbers steal "only" a few tens of millions of dollars a year, noted Dasbach. For example, the Justice Department reported that bank robbers stole $28 million in cash in 1994.

    "With its Microsoft decision, the Justice Department looted the savings and retirement funds of 80 million Americans who directly own Microsoft stock or invest in one of the 2,000 mutual funds that include Microsoft stock -- proving that the Justice Department is more costly than any criminal gang," said Dasbach. "After all, it takes crooks a whole year to steal $28 million from banks, but it took the government only one lawsuit to steal $200 billion from Americans."

    But was that harsh economic medicine necessary to "save" consumers from a predatory corporation?

    The alleged victims don't think so, noted Dasbach: A new public opinion survey by the Harris Interactive polling company found that 59% of Americans support Microsoft in the antitrust battle, and only 29% say the government is treating Microsoft fairly.

    "What we have here is a classic victimless crime," he said. "The Justice Department is supposedly trying to rescue consumers from the clutches of an evil corporation -- but consumers support the evil corporation. What does that tell you about the merits of the case?"

    And there's another important group that disagrees with the rationale behind the antitrust lawsuit: American investors.

    "The Justice Department claims that breaking up Microsoft will enhance competition and innovation," said Dasbach. "If investors agreed, the stock market would have risen after the Justice Department's antitrust announcement.

    "At the very least, companies that compete with Microsoft and presumably would gain the most from its break up -- Sun Microsystems and others -- would have benefited from the decision. Instead, their stocks took a drubbing, and their value plummeted.

    "Clearly, investors are trying to send the government a message: Attacking successful corporations is not good for the economy."

    Anyone who reviews the government's assault on Microsoft -- and considers the economic damage, the negative reaction of the stock market, and the rejection by consumers -- can reach only one conclusion, said Dasbach: The real criminal in this case is the Justice Department.

    "When bank robbers steal your money, at least they have the honesty to admit they're just thieves," he said. "When the Justice Department destroys $200 billion in wealth, it has the gall to claim that it is acting for our own good. That's the real crime -- and the reason why the tax-funded political power of the Justice Department is far more dangerous than Microsoft will ever be."

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