Minnesota Farmers Union

(September 6, 2009) - If mega-biz is to be believed, the new antitrust chief in the Obama Department of Justice, Christine A. Varney, is really a hurricane whose chief ambition is to demolish the very foundations of modern American business.

If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, Varney's first public comments on antitrust, offered in May 12 speech, was "the Beltway version of a large fish wrapped in newspaper. The message: The Bush era's laissez-faire M&A (merger and acquisition) oversight is over."

And, if you listen to Varney and her assistant, Philip Weiser, maybe neither one of those descriptions-despite the hyperbole-is hyperbole.

Here's Varney, in that May 12 speech: "There is no adequate substitute for a competitive market, particularly during times of economic distress. Vigorous antitrust enforcement must play a significant role in the government's response to economic crises to ensure that markets remain competitive."

How? In an appearance before the annual meeting of the Organization for Competitive Markets Aug. 7 in St. Louis, Varney's deputy, Philip Weiser, pulled out the antitrust elephant gun not seen decades: the Sherman Antitrust Act