kostaskarampas: [speakoutforum] ANTITRUST ARMAGEDDON

Monday, April 26, 2010

[speakoutforum] ANTITRUST ARMAGEDDON

Basil Venitis, twitter.com/Venitis, points out Eurokleptocracy, gigaregulation, Antitrust Armageddon, and gigataxation, especially VAT, are the real causes of the European financial meltdown. Democracy in Fourth Reich(EU) has deteriorated to kleptocracy, and Fourthreichians, aka Europeans, are mad as hell. Eurokleptocracy thrives on waste, fraud, abuse,and kickbacks. European Union(EU), aka Fourth Reich, an illegal unvoted confederation, condones the European Commission(EC), aka Eldorado of Corruption, the European Parliament(EP), aka Eldorado of Prostitutes, and Graecokleptocrats, the most corrupt politicians on Earth.

Galileo muttered the phrase Eppur si muove, And yet it moves, after being forced to recant in 1633, before the Inquisition, his belief that the Earth moves around the Sun. Similarly the new inquisition of regulators force executives to admit something they did not do, in order to get smaller penalties. Eppur si muove!

Today, Visa Europe, under severe harassment from the Eldorado of Corruption, has proposed to reduce to 0.20% (of the final price of a product or service) the fee that is collectively determined and charged between banks for each payment by debit card. The fee is integrated in the price banks charge to merchants for processing the transaction and therefore entails a cost that merchants will in turn integrate in the price or products they sell to consumers. The Eldorado of Corruption had informed Visa it viewed the Multilateral Interchange Fee as disproportionate and a potential infringement of antitrust rules (Article 101 of the TFEU) that did not present the necessary benefits to warrant an exemption to the rules.

Venitis asserts that EU antitrust has been transformed into a terrorist religion, which relies on pseudoeconomic theories that bestow a veneer of objectivity and credibility on EU law enforcement practices that actually rely on antivenitism, hunch, whim, and blackmail. On all EU antitrust cases, from mergers to price fixing, arbitrary antitrust laws lead to ill-informed juries and bureaucratic abuse. Those laws also create a perverse incentive for entrepreneurs to hold down sales volume, stop innovation, and avoid improvements in price, quality, and service; otherwise, such entrepreneurs could become the next targets of the antitrust terrorists.

The proposed reduction to 20 basis points is in line with the unilateral undertakings given by MasterCard in April 2009. The reduction reflects the application of the "merchant-indifference methodology", which seeks to establish the MIF at a level at which merchants will be indifferent as to whether or not a payment is made by a Visa Europe debit card or by cash. The amount was calculated by comparing the merchants' costs of accepting payments in cash to those of accepting payments made by a payment card. These calculations are without prejudice to a further calculation should new information regarding the costs of cards vis-à-vis the costs of cash become available. Further data relevant to the costs of different means of payment may become available following completion of the study expected to be launched by the Commission in 2010. Like other stakeholders, Visa Europe would be consulted on the methodology to be applied in the study and its scope.

Venitis claims that European antitrust laws lead to huge corruption, because government officials ask for kickbacks in order to erase the alleged violation. The standard kickback in EU is 10% of the erased penalty! Many Greek officials were caught on tape asking for the corrupt tithe! Many European political parties make up their election expenses from kickbacks on antitrust cases! This is the worst possible blackmail, where tiptop ethical companies are held hostage by European kleptocrats. Eppur si muove!

After the usual internal procedures at the Eldorado of Corruption, Visa Europe's proposal will be market tested, with a view to adopting a decision under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003. Under such a procedure, the commitments would be made legally binding and the Eldorado of Corruption would not pursue the antitrust investigation further as far as MIFs for debit cards transactions are concerned.

Venitis asserts that European antitrust law is wielded most often by favor-seeking businessmen and their kleptocrat allies. Instead of focusing on new and better products, disgruntled rivals try to exploit the law by consorting with kleptocrats. EU officials routinely direct antitrust regulators to bend the rules in pursuit of political ends. In reality, the threat of abusive EC power is far larger than the threat of oligopoly. Eppur si muove!

Basil Venitis claims there is an Antitrust Armageddon in Europe between tiptop companies and the Eldorado of Underworld(EU). Eurokleptocrats are willing to do anything in order to get kickbacks from industry leaders. The European antitrust laws have the unfortunate consequence of harming Europeans by chilling innovation and discouraging competition. Instead of protecting competition, EU laws protect competitors who give kickbacks to kleptocrats! Kickback is the lubricant that allows a European industry to run smoothly! No European machinery can run without lubricant! Eppur si muove!