“The U.S. Department of Justice has not only successfully sued Apple for arguably non-existent anti-trust violations in the e-book market. It has even demanded – and gotten – a court-appointed ‘monitor’ placed inside the company to supervise the company’s pricing decisions,” Hunter Lewis writes for Breitbart. “This is a company that went from an $18 billion market value in 2000 to a $455 billion market value in 2013… Should anyone expect the success story to continue now that the government is meddling with all the company’s pricing?”
“Among the interesting facts that have come out about the “monitor,” Michael Bromwich, it has been revealed that he bills for his time at $1,100 an hour and charged $138,432 for his first two weeks of ‘work,'” Lewis writes. “Apple has labeled Bromwich’s appointment “unprecedented and unconstitutional.” We wish it were unprecedented. This form of government price interference and intimidation has become increasingly common.”
“This is not just the small-time corruption it might seem. It is tremendously damaging to the economy. The collapse of the Soviet Union should have demonstrated once and for all how important honest and unimpeded prices are for an economy,” Lewis writes. “If the government takes control of pricing, as it is doing in more and more sectors of the economy, it is guaranteeing unemployment and economic suffering. It is also guaranteeing an ever greater problem of crony capitalism, as companies respond by increasing their campaign contributions or take other steps to buy influence in Washington.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Rad Wagner” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
In pretrial view, judge says leaning toward U.S. DOJ over Apple in e-books case – May 24, 2013
Lawyers have complained for years that Judge Denise Cote pre-judges cases before she enters the courtroom – August 14, 2013
Apple urges U.S. appeals court to void ‘radical’ e-books ruling – February 26, 2014
Apple’s e-book appeal to higher court: Toss out the verdict, or give us a real judge – February 26, 2014
U.S. Federal Puppet Denise Cote: ‘Apple’s reaction to the existence of a monitorship underscores the wisdom of its imposition’ – January 16, 2014
Judge Denise Cote denies Apple request block her friend as ‘antitrust compliance monitor’ – January 13, 2014
Antitrust monitor Bromwich rebuts Apple accusations of ‘unconstitutional’ investigation – December 31, 2013
Apple seeks to freeze its U.S. e-books ‘antitrust monitor’ – December 15, 2013
The persecution of Apple: Is the U.S. government’s ebook investigation out of control? – December 10, 2013
Apple’s Star Chamber: An abusive judge and her prosecutor friend besiege the tech maker – December 5, 2013
Where is your Messiah now?
What does Graham Kerr have to do with any of this?
graham kerr, the galloping gourmet? that’s funny!
Yeah.. he’s my Messiah!
Jeff Bezos ?
Bout’ time we replaced that broken record.
Do you ever look in the mirror and regret the lack of life?
do you ever look in the mirror and regret why you cast no reflection?
Greed, stupidity and an unlimited supply of trigger happy gunslingers are a formidable force for bad.
Yea, but just try and make our government workers smart, take a pay cut and get rid of their secret service.
Way to generalize from a few people to the entire government work force!
That work force, by the way, includes the military, law enforcement, fire department, and other people who work hard every day to take care of their responsibilities for America and its citizens.
It is so easy to disparage the entire public sector…so easy and so misguided and irresponsible and just plain unfair. You should be embarrassed to casually trash the character and abilities of so many people just because of the decisions or actions of a few.
I believe most people will see my comment as the general opinion of the idiots in congress. Too many there that have forgotten what their job is supposed to be.
The article was about the DOJ, not Congress. That is in addition to the fact that you are an anonymous poster and stated your position with respect to “our government workers,” not “Congress.”
Given the strident tone of the vocal minority on this forum against government and government employees, I believe that my interpretation was reasonable. But I admit that I have been sensitized to the crassness of some of the (mostly) anonymous posters on this forum. I apologize for misinterpreting your intentions. But I have to say that even in Congress, there are some good folks trying to do the best that they can.
Where is Judge Judy in all this crap?
Curious if a change.org petition against the government to get out of the business of price fixing and over billing against apple, sent to congress would have any impact?
Everytime it hits the threshold, the threshold will be raised until a quarter of the US population adds its votes.
This administration is anti-business to its core. Let’s face it–Apple’s too successful and needs to be brought down a peg or 2 because they’ll have more sway than King Government does.
This isn’t the only administration to do this. This type of corruption began in the 80s and got worse from 2001.
Scary suposition, but based on what has transpire till now and the russian comparison, it might not be far fetched.
Cashing out and leaving the country might be the only out, but where to and what for? The world is diseased with greed and corruption
All this bickering and division has killed the goose that laid the golden egg : The good ol’ U.S.A.
Together we stand divided we fall, one and all.
Supposition…
Switzerland hasn’t been in a war since 1805.
Not true. Switzerland was involved in Afghanistan from 2003 to around 2008. Granted it was only a handful of officers, but that’s about all they have left after their previous civil war of 1847. And that was a result of a number of states forming a seperate alliance to protect themselves from too much centralization of power. Wow! Funny how that problem keeps popping up over time.
Well, technically, I suppose you are correct. Your latter point is very significant.
Cool place Switzerland. Everybody gets a government purchased sub machine gun when they turn 18 or something.
Talk about a place Americans would like to move to.
Canada of course, BC best, closest province and warmest climate.
Lower corp taxes too.
So our forefathers fought for liberty against great odds and *you* figure that the best option is to “cash out” and leave. Some patriot…
Believe me our forefathers would leave too if they saw the current state if our dysfunctional union
No, they would not have bailed. They would have worked to fix it. They would organize the great minds of the time to sit down and discuss the issues and work towards a solution, no matter how long it took. They would acknowledge their differences, sometimes engaging in emotional debates seemingly without a chance of compromise, but keep working until they came up with something that the majority could accept and support.
Today, we are polarized – my way or no way – unwilling to compromise and substituting labels, sound bites, FUD, and ad hominem attacks for well-reasoned, open-minded debate. We have gridlock because “standing rigidly on your principles” and claiming victory is far easier than discussing the issues and, perhaps, finding out that you might be able to find an acceptable compromise that benefits everyone.
Like I said Mel, “might be”…
We’ve come to far to start over, naked shorting should be illegal and is tantamount to the evil of those who poison the union with no skin in the game. Steve Jobs once stopped and preempted one Gizmodo asshole by asking him what he has done or contributed to this world to be proud of …
I believe in justice and fairness for all. Live and let live.
You may say i’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one.
A little too disingenuous, pretentious and too obvious with the instant 7 – 5 star ratings for a back pages topic Mel…
Sorry King Mel, Mr. Righteous…
what would AAPL stock do if the Holder dept. dropped the suit or lost the appeal? This would be a good measure of the cost of misgovernance. Worse for Apple, what will the “Justice” system throw at them next?
SCAM.
Apple is a corporation. Corporations embody the characteristics of their leaders, and to a certain extent, their customers.
Likewise, courts and politicians embody the ethics of the people.
The irony here is that the results of the very governmental system that Apple is objecting to was bought and paid for by those that campaigned for its installment: Including Apple.
Welcome to the new liberal frontier.
the doj with the blessing of the prez uses the constitution to bludgeon when the tang of flesh appeals to their criminal taste. when otherwise, they use it as a pedestal for a pseudo-virtuous facade. hypocrites.
3 things come to mind.
1. Apple won’t, without question, give NSA and other agencies data access. No red carpet as Google and others have provided NSA.
2. Apple has (legally) circumvented US tax.
3. Apple does not participate to an acceptable level in the Washington DC Lobby heist.
Think different?
Best post on here by far, but #2 is not a legit reason as everyone else does the same thing. It’s all about the security state, and Apple’s unwillingness to defend itself through the same dirty means through which it is attacked. Good post.
Obama is fighting for the top place among the worst presidents of the USA. Benghazi , NSA, Obamacare,
Fast & Furious scandal , etc..
And now its “department of injustice” trying to force a successful company like Apple, through a asinine legal procedure, to bend to his will.
Benghazi=non scandal
Obamacare=working
Fast & Furious scandal=Bush’s doing
NSA=Well, I’m with you there.
“Obamacare=working”
Now that’s funny!
4 million more people have insurance that couldn’t get it before. In what way is it not working?
Benghazi = major scandal (demonstrates unprecedented lack of leadership at all levels of current administrations)
Obamacare = unmitigated disaster (4 Mil. added, up to 22 Mil. will lose their employer healthcare, economy will collapse as all disposable money goes to healthcare insurance premiums and deductible limits)
Fast & Furious = under Obama’s & Holder’s watch (more administration ineptitude)
NSA = more Obama paranoia (spy on my enemies and friends)
Benghazi – unfortunate, but self-incurred, a major non-scandal. Now Bridge-gazi that’s a scandal that doesn’t have to be manufactured.
How many have LOST their medical insurance in the same period of time?
Hint: Way over four million.
Don’t trifle with all sides of the equation … more fun to cheer lead. 😉
Considering how long and hard various people and groups of people have been working to sabotage, undermine, and even kill Obamacare, it is incredible that it is working as well as it is. And the rhetoric issued by certain “news” sites makes it sound worse than it actually is.
Perhaps if Republicans had tried to help craft better health care legislation, then perhaps it would have worked better.
Perhaps if Republicans had not wasted so much time forcing over 40 voting sessions to kill Obamacare, then perhaps it would have worked better.
Perhaps if all of the states had chosen to fully participate and establish their own exchanges to take care of their citizens rather than foisting the responsibility onto the federal government in Red State protest, there would have been fewer issues.
Perhaps if Republicans would admit that having over 40 millions citizens without health care *is* a problem and that the current system is broken, we could work together more effectively to develop a better solution.
The fact that Obamacare is not working as well as it could and should is due, at least in pat, to the fact that the Republicans are working to *make* it fail. They would rather win elections than fulfill their responsibilities to the citizens of this country.
I don’t like either of the major political parties in this country. I vote for the lesser of evils independent of party, gender, ethnicity, LGBT status, etc. I have voted for Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, etc. so it really ticks me off when people mindlessly cleave to the precepts of a particular party like a religion in some type of misguided belief that those principles are the only right and true path.
It does not help when the same president lies repeatedly:
“You can keep your plan”
The plans that were not kept are the ones that failed to spend at least 80% of the premiums taken in on actual health care for the policyholders. That people are upset they weren’t allowed to keep lining the pockets of the health insurance industry speaks more to their stupidity than any Presidential dishonesty.
The other big LIE is your premium will be reduced by around $2,000.
Did Bromwich really average over 60 hours per week during his first two weeks on the “job”? Bromwich obviously wanted to cash in on his appointed position in a hurry.
At $1,100 per hour, you could earn close to $2M in a year. Nice hourly rate…
That’s the asshole to target
Bromwich didn’t bill for 60 personal hours per week.
He was billing for his time at $1,100 per hour.
He was billing for another lawyer’s time (I forget his name) at $1,000 per hour plus a 15% surcharge to help him since Bromwich does not know anti trust law.
He was billing for all his support staff’s time plus a 15% surcharge.
He was billing for all expenses (every piece of paper, every phone call, every paper clip, all travel, hotels, etc.) plus a 15% surcharge.
There’s a LOT more in there than just Bromwich’s direct time.
Still, the bottom line, IMHO, is that Bromwich shouldn’t be there in the first place.
Go back to the huge Microsoft anti trust trial. The court ordered monitors were not implemented until AFTER the appeal process was completed — AND, Microsoft got a say in who was monitoring them. From my experience (limited in anti trust) and from reading about many other cases, waiting to implement forced monitoring almost always happens until after the company loses on appeal. If the company wins on appeal no monitor(s) is ever appointed. The fact that Apple’s lawyers could not use such precedents to get Bromwich out of Apple just proves that they are incompetent.
Say what you want about the judge, or Bromwich, or the DOJ. Apple’s lawyers have screwed up this entire law suit so, so many ways it is truly dumbfounding.
The solution is simple: on apple.com, publish a live feed as to how much Michael Bromwich is earning…hour by hour, dollar by dollar…
hell of an idea!
yeah, with a “dollar meter” running in the corner. Fabulous idea, Fr Ed.
include live video of him while the meter is running, NSA style, for every fucking minute that rat bastard is sucking the tit.
lol, I want that job! follow Bromwich around with a video camera.
“Sorry, Mr. Bromwich, but Apple policy requires all non-employees to be video surveilled while on-campus. Ya’ know, security.”
I’ll ride shotgun.
I’ll wave a handkerchief from the sidelines
I’ll get my mom to make some curtains!
Amazon’s agenda was always to “put everyone out of a job” in the industries they enter, as opposed to Apple, who empowered a lot of appmakers and authors, letting them variably price their wares as they find viable or best performing.
Empirical evidence demonstrates it worked great and served well both bestsellers and lesser popular titles, instead of amazon’s approach whose main purpose was to kill paperback (whose death may mean bankrupcy for publishers dependant on all paper copies to sell instead of remaining unsold).
How about this: Monitor the monitor!
Apple hires a guy to follow Bromwich around with a camera – a “live feed” of everything Bromwich does. I want to see how he can possibly deserve that kind of money. It might also curb some of Bromwich’s aggressive behavior.
THAT is the best suggestion offered today!
It’s our taxes that subsidize the courts and he is working for is and Bromfuckoich OWES us accounting for his every move.
It’s our taxes that subsidize the courts and he is working for us. Bromfuckoich OWES us accounting for his every move.
MONITOR the monitor.
Google Glass …would be poetic justice!
Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
IOW: All this corruption from the DOJ is strong arming ANOTHER protection racket whereby companies have to fork over money to the feds, or they’ll get SCREWED OVER like the DOJ pulled on Apple.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket
#MyStupidGovernment requires a major enema, from the top down.
Funny how Microsoft was obviously guilty of antitrust and got away with only a hand slap to the Wrist while Apple was obviously not guilty of antitrust and nearly gets the gauntlet!