It is something else entirely for the government to decide who owns or has the right to use a firm s assets. This is called nationalization. This was practiced on the other side of the Berlin Wall. The proposal reportedly goes much further, which is to say that it gets much worse. The state attorneys general call for ongoing access to Microsoft s internal e-mail and for veto authority over significant business decisions.
Economic regulation bears a heavy burden of justification.
With computer and software prices falling more than a dozen browsers are now free the government is hard pressed to explain how Microsoft has harmed consumers. The recent settlement proposal is a step toward a governmental Department of Microsoft and a step away from consumers control of the marketplace through their purchasing power. At its essence, economic regulation is a statement of belief. Regulators believe that they know more about what is good for consumers than consumers do. This belief leads to some indefensible conclusions.