Let's say Bernie wins, which companies are getting broken up?

[Thatonedice1]

This has been something that's been turning in the back of my head for a while now. If Bernie win's one of his biggest talking points has been breaking up big companies that have consolidated a bunch of smaller companies. So which ones are on the chopping block in your opinion? Facebook seems to be everyone's favorite kicking boy. So let's start with them and work our way down. If Facebook is broken up then obviously Whatsapp, instragram, and oculus are all gonna be different companies again. But what other ways can Facebook be broken up? If Libra takes off this year do we break that up from Facebook as well? I think it's interesting to at least discuss the future-landscape with suddenly a lot more companies out there. What do you guys think?

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Kit Kat for sure. He's been meaning to break them up.

 

[Whatislove]

Disney

 

[RastaMentality]

Zuck is so bad at politics that hurting Facebook is probably bipartisan.

 

[Meg Cherry]

The ones Congress allow him to break up.

 

[Fuchs]

Hopefully Disney.

 

[NeoKnight]

Apple. Bring back the iPod as its own company. /jk

Seriously, he won't be able to split ANY company.

 

[Thatonedice1]

The ones Congress allow him to break up.

Click to shrink...

Well yeah I get that but Which ones do you think are likely?

 

[Dennis8K]

Disney, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Facebook, Sony, Nintendo, Taco Bell

 

[Arkanim94]

all of them.

 

[cDNA]

Close to None. The Courts will stop him in the majority of the cases.

 

[HeartlessNobody2134]

I doubt hardly any of them

 

[Deleted member 1086]

I'd like to see him break up the big telecoms like AT&T and Comcast

 

[Deleted member 16657]

He'll start with the drug companies if they don't stop him first.

 

[devilhawk]

It's far more likely that his administration would just prevent further consolidations and acquisitions.

 

[Deleted member 2226]

Close to None. The Courts will stop him in the majority of the cases.

Click to shrink...

This is my thought as well. Any Democratic administration would have much better success preventing further consolidation than actually breaking existing ones up.

 

[Mr.Awesome]

None of them would be the correct answer

 

[absolutbro]

Almost all of these mergers have already gone through the courts. You can try to pass new legislation to counteract the precedent, but good luck applying those retroactively.

Edit: for giant conglomerates like Alphabet, good luck trying to make generic legislation that that isn't easily dismissed at targeting specific groups.

 

[Pandora012]

I'm not sure that's how that works. Him being in office, they may try to do something. But, it's not up to him.

 

[rusty chrome]

Disney

Click to shrink...

Let's hope so.

 

[Orayn]

Every big ISP, God willing.

 

[Sr Kitsune]

None, but hopefully Facebook

 

[Paches]

Maybe 1. Probably zero.

 

[a916]

Isn't Google already split up and held by a holding group named Alphabit?

I don't think he's going to break up anything.

 

[BWoog]

Even Democrats are going to fight him on everything, which sucks, but is an eventuality for sure.

 

[Thatonedice1]

Disney, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Sony, Nintendo, Taco Bell

Click to shrink...

Don't think these are possible cause they aren't American companies.

 

[JesseEwiak]

Zero, after the Justice John Roberts joins with the other conservatives on the Court declaring the Sherman Antitrust Act as unconstitutional.

 

[Dennis8K]

Don't think these are possible cause they aren't American companies.

Click to shrink...

Nothing stops this train!

 

[ned_ballad]

The ones Congress allow him to break up.

Click to shrink...

Essentially none of them

 

[adj_noun]

Goose Egg, Inc.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

None

 

[TheIlliterati]

Presidents promises made: 1 Billion
Kept: close to zero

 

[Stixitnu]

None of them.

 

[Maple]

Ideally companies like Comcast, AT&T, Facebook, etc. Realistically, none. The federal government would have to file a lawsuit against one of the companies claiming they are abusing power and hurting consumers.

When the feds did this against AT&T back in the 70s it took eight fucking years in court until a settlement was reached.

 

[BasilZero]

Seriously, he won't be able to split ANY company.

Click to shrink...

This

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

This can be discussed in the Democratic Primary thread.

Democratic Presidential Primary |February OT| It Can't be Worse than Iowa, Right? (Discussion Guidelines in OP)

Greetings, users and lurkers of Era, to our first official 2020 Democratic Primaries & Caucuses OT! As you may know, the long national nightmare known as the 2020 Democratic Primary is coming to a head next month as ballots are cast in primaries and sweaty partisans take to caucuses to scream at...

www.resetera.com