GOP MUST THINK IN A NEW (Old) WAY ABOUT ANTI-TRUST: Mike Davis, chief of the upstart Internet Accountability Project (IAP) is now on Substack and offers a bracing analysis of why Republicans need to wake up to reality about Big Tech and monopoly:

“The path forward for Republicans is to think about Big Tech and antitrust in the same way we increasingly think about China: our old operating modes with respect to both were driven by economic theories that did not pan out. In the early 1990s, we were reliably informed by neoliberal economists, including the Chicago School, that if China were allowed to engage in free trade and join multilateral organizations that the country would gradually democratize and embrace America as the world’s only superpower.

“We know now that this theory missed the mark by a wide margin. Instead of democratizing, China became a surveillance state (thanks in large part to the U.S. internet). Contrary to the Chicago School theory, China never engaged in free or fair trade. Three million jobs shipped from the U.S. to China over the past twenty years — and our children get defective toys and contaminated baby formula.

“It took President Trump to wake us from our China slumber before it was too late. Similarly, the Chicago School economic theory applied in Big Tech markets has suffered a similar fate.

“We were told by the Chicago School [‘modern anti-trust] experts that market power in these markets would be fleeting because entry barriers were low and someone would eventually build a better mousetrap. We were also informed by these experts that Big Tech markets—in which many services are provided for free—defied application of the consumer-welfare standard.

“Therefore, there could be no ‘harm,’ as narrowly defined by the Chicago School, to consumers in Big Tech markets. We got that one wrong too, making it time to move on.”

Definitely a Must-Read.