Word: antitrusters
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...proposed changes would make mergers less difficult for rivals in industries beset by imports, like steel and apparel. Among other reforms, they would ease penalties in antitrust suits brought by one company against another and would make it harder for courts to block a merger on grounds that the combined firm might eventually become a monopoly...
Administration officials said the proposals would strengthen U.S. firms in their struggle with foreign manufacturers, which are often part of vast industrial enterprises. Attorney General Edwin Meese said the changes would "bring antitrust laws into conformity with modern times" by making them "compatible with the global market." Concurred Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige: "We are living in an era of intense worldwide competition, and we think American companies should merge if it is going to increase their competitiveness...
Business groups had mixed views about the proposed changes. While companies generally favor efforts to loosen antitrust restrictions, many fear that calls for broad reforms may arouse strong opposition. Some observers were particularly wary of the provision to relax laws to allow mergers of rival firms in distressed industries. Said Joe Sims, a Washington, D.C., antitrust attorney who represents large industrial companies: "It's got to be a real lightning rod. It's going to attract a lot of controversy and criticism...
...public concern that the merger wave has already gone too far, and that sentiment is likely to be reflected among legislators. Peter Rodino, a New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, predicted last week that his panel will not support "substantial or precipitous changes in the antitrust laws." The overhaul should receive a warmer greeting in the Senate, where South Carolina Republican Strom Thurmond, who heads the Judiciary Committee, plans to give it careful consideration. An aide described Thurmond as a longtime advocate of "sensible" antitrust reform. --By John Greenwald. Reported by Gisela Bolte/Washington
...alternative legislative approach to the insurance crisis is tighter regulation of insurance companies. At the federal level, trial lawyers and consumer advocates are pressing for repeal of the insurance industry's exemption from antitrust laws. That exemption allows insurers to share information and, according to their opponents, engage in collusive premium-setting policies that would be illegal in any other industry. In state legislatures, many proposed bills would enlarge the authority of insurance commissioners to block arbitrary policy cancellations and gargantuan premium increases. The Florida department of insurance has written a proposed bill that would require insurers to disclose what...