Subject:
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Re: Murderer Reno's real crime...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sat, 6 May 2000 03:06:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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150 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> "When the Justice
> Department destroys $200 billion in wealth..."
You're saying (quoting actually, but I'll assume you agree) that the wealth was
actually destroyed? That is, that the world as a whole contains less wealth
now than it did before?
> "With its Microsoft decision, the Justice Department looted the
Looted means stole, right? So did they steal or destroy the wealth?
> savings and retirement funds of 80 million Americans who directly own
> Microsoft stock or invest in one of the 2,000 mutual funds that include
> Microsoft stock -- proving that the Justice Department is more costly
> than any criminal gang," said Dasbach. "After all, it takes crooks a
> whole year to steal $28 million from banks, but it took the government
> only one lawsuit to steal $200 billion from Americans."
Oh good, there's the word steal, so we can assume that you agree to the
statement above. If the government stole it, then they now have that money.
Hopefully they'll pay down the national debt with it.
OK, those were mostly smart alec comments. But, I have two real points.
First, would you recommend that investors know the risks of their investments
prior to making such investments to whatever degree is possible? I hope (and
expect) that your answer is a 'yes.' Do you think that middle-aged blue collar
workers should invest their entire retirement fund in West African economies.
probably not. The US government stepping in and screwing things up is a
knowable risk. MS has been courting an antitrust action for years. Those poor
investors that you're so worried about should have predicted this. If they
were unable to do so, then perhaps they should invest in a less volatile
market.
Second, in the context of the US legal system (which I agree is largely broken)
the money made by the owners of Microsoft is not in any way deserved if it was
obtained through illegal practices. I'm not intimately familiar with the
government's claims about MS, but I doubt that I have much of a problem with
anything they did anyway. But that doesn't mean that I think the laws should
be ignored. They should be changed.
You gotta know that when you tease the dog, you're gunna get bit.
Now, I would have all the respect in the world if Gates and MS told the
government to shove it and it turned out that they pushed this kind of
confrontation to prove that they had enough money to ignore the federal
government. But I suspect that they don't have anywhere near enough and it
would take some serious planning (like backdoor system crashes and HD erases
triggered by an internet-distributed virus) to be ready to work toward
something like that.
Chris
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Murderer Reno's real crime...
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| may be killing the goose that laid the golden egg. "When bank robbers steal your money, at least they have the honesty to admit they're just thieves," "When the Justice Department destroys $200 billion in wealth, it has the gall to claim that it is (...) (25 years ago, 4-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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