ICYMI: Op-Ed From CCIA’s Ed Black On Misguided Calls To Dismantle Tech
Computer & Communications Industry Association President Ed Black noted in an op-ed this morning that calls from politicians and talking heads for breaking up leading tech services are misguided and risk jeopardizing a rare bright spot in the U.S. economy.
Highlights from Ed’s op-ed are below, and you can read the piece in full on Real Clear Markets.
“Competition is alive and well in tech America. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know it listening to cottage industry tech critics that parrot ‘big is bad’ arguments about the impact of large tech companies on new and smaller firms. In reality, the U.S. leads the world in the number of startups valued at more than $1 billion. In 2017, 32 of the 57 ‘unicorn’ startups were American.”
“Second, calling leading tech companies ‘monopolies’ is a misnomer. I’ve worked in antitrust for four decades, and I’ve gone toe-to-toe with corporations who have acted anti-competitively, including AT&T and Microsoft. But typical markers of monopolies indicate today’s tech leaders are not engaging in antitrust-related misdeeds. Where a true monopoly would dictate prices with little incentive to change, consumers today can use a range of low to no cost internet services that benefit from a constant cycle of improvements.”
“Most relevant for the standards of U.S. antitrust policy, consumers and businesses benefit substantially from these services using them to access information or reach customers. Consumers can use many different services at the same time (‘multihoming’), can easily switch or delete platforms, and can find information and connect across the world with friends and family.”
“Additionally, tech companies are continually reinvesting earnings into new and innovative products at impressive rates; by one count, the top five R&D spenders were all tech companies with a total investment of $76 billion. Tech services are an obvious bright spot for the economy that draconian industrial policy that picks winners and losers will only diminish.”