The Antitrust laws—an unenforceable, uncompliable, unjudicable mess of
contradictions—have for decades kept American businessmen under a silent,
growing reign of terror. Yet these laws were created and, to this day, are
upheld by the “conservatives,” as a grim monument to their lack of political
philosophy, of economic knowledge and of any concern with principles. Under the
Antitrust laws, a man becomes a criminal from the moment he goes into business,
no matter what he does. For instance, if he charges prices which some
bureaucrats judge as too high, he can be prosecuted for monopoly or for a
successful “intent to monopolize”; if he charges prices lower than those of his
competitors, he can be prosecuted for “unfair competition” or “restraint of
trade”; and if he charges the same prices as his competitors, he can be
prosecuted for “collusion” or “conspiracy.” There is only one difference in the
legal treatment accorded to a criminal or to a businessman: the criminal’s
rights are protected much more securely and objectively than the businessman’s.