Ends, Means, and Antitrust
&gt; The United States and European Union have, at least since the Reagan Administration, differed on this point: the U.S. is primarily concerned with consumer welfare [...] The European Commission, on the other hand, is explicitly focused on competition<p>What is missing here is that the US has diverged from a previously common interpretation. Between roughly 1890 (Sherman Act) and 1982 (Reagan administration antitrust guidelines) the US authorities were mainly concerned with competition too (breakup of Standard Oil: 1911; breakup of Bell System: 1984). As late as 2001 Microsoft had a serious brush with antitrust law for anticompetitive practices [1]. There&#x27;s a case to be made that the US is currently just going through a lapse in enforcement.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor...</a>.