No one forced you at gunpoint to use Google today, but you probably have. The trouble is you don't know how evil that tech company with a "gusher of profits" is.
Fortunately for you, Washington Post's Steven Pearlstein does, and he thinks Big Government -- awash in a gusher of tax revenues it collects from you involuntarily -- has just the remedy. More regulation.
Accompanying a cartoon in the print edition depicting Google as a many-tentacled sea monster, Pearlstein devotes four paragraphs to asking "How Much More Should It Be Allowed to Grab?"
Pearlstein started off by noting that "Google is the quintessential business success story" and that its meteoric rise is standing the company in good stead on Wall Street while its chief rival, Yahoo, is faltering.
Basically one company is doing a heck of a lot better in market share, thanks to the decisions of millions of users. But far from celebrating the Internet giant running up the scoreboard and trouncing the competition through wise business modeling and financing, Pearlstein wants the government to blow the whistle and call a technical foul.
"But now, precisely because of its success, it's fair to ask if Google should be barred from furthering its dominance through acquisitions or collaborations," he writes before worrying about the purchases of YouTube and DoubleClick which "in both instances" were bought on auction courtesy of Google's "gusher of profits."
Although he offers no evidence to bolster his assertion, Pearlstein sees government regulation as key to unlocking the potential of the Internet, pointing to the Microsoft antitrust case as the key to opening the golden age of Google.
Pearlstein concludes his April 22 mini-column with the question, "isn't it time to begin restraining Google to increase the odds another Google will come along?"
Isn't it time the Post find business columnists that are cheerleaders of business success within the playing field of a free market, rather than cheerleaders of more regulation?
