Escape Forward: Connecting dots beyond the antitrust island

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁” in the US? What did it mean and has it evaporated?  The “𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁” brand of antitrust populism ("everyday pocket issues for ordinary Americans") was the flag for the new leadership at DOJ and FTC, but has it met reality?  Wall Street, corporate lobbyists, Big Tech affirmation and more.  Antitrust seems wielded as a tool to fight elite culture wars rather than “pocket issues”.  And the courts? With Google Search we had a strong liability finding which smashed against the limits of what an individual judge “feels” he can really do to fix vast monopolies. So is antitrust enforcement against digital monopolies futile? We failed in Europe, but what signal does a weak remedy give to global regulators on that path?𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗨𝗦 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴?A frank conversation with Roger Alford, friend and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the DOJ Antitrust Division, who was fired by DOJ leadership for having dissented with the HP / Juniper a merger settlement, but remains a loyal Republican and supporter of AAG Gail Slater’s agenda.

𝗖𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘄 (the “Renaissance man” author and activist) has a 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 on "𝗘𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻" 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. We discuss the 𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀, but above all: 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲?  Cory traces the collapse of our online experience (from the "good old internet" to the current "enshitternet") to 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 which in turn allowed entrenchment of surveillance models based on wanton exploitation of our data. What forces could restore discipline on tech firms? Cory is a believer in competition and regulation (together with adversarial interoperability and tech worker power). He is still optimistic about antitrust enforcement and regulation surging across the globe, and praises Europe's "muscular" enforcement...I am not there:  in the wake of the "nothing burger" Google Search remedies in the US, of the FTC's loss of the Meta case, in the week where US trade officials fly to Brussels to put the dilemma starkly: "𝗗𝗠𝗔 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝘀?" "𝗗𝗠𝗔 𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗹?",  antitrust and regulation are not the name of the game at this point.  Cory remains optimistic - I think it's build or bust. Always super fun with him!

Europe is in the throws of an accelerating, urgent mobilisation around “digital sovereignty” – which does not mean protectionism and does not mean autarky: instead, an industrial project - led by industry – to strengthen our assets and capabilities, reduce dependencies and improve resilience. Not “just” for security, but for productivity and growth. A scintillating conversation on “Europe’s Quest for Digital Emancipation » (where are the choke points ? how did we get here ? how do we make it real ?) with two of the most influential »cage rattlers «  around, fully intent on awakening European tech : Rafael Laguna and Dietmar Harhoff 

In this NEW PODCAST Cristina Caffarra practices escaping forward from (just) antitrust, because everything connects. This episode brings together an American Conservative view of Europe and what “America First” means behind the current tariff war (Oren Cass) and a European diagnosis of the problem and what we should do (Sander Tordoir).  Brutal and clear. We are not just fighting a trade war.

Antitrust has thrived in the shadows for decades as a technocracy, a church with its own rituals, a lobbyfest pretending to be science. But it is an economic policy tool working alongside others. After a lifetime as antitrust expert economist & one of the original proponents of the “more economic approach” in Europe, Cristina Caffarra discusses with friends in policy and academe why we need to escape the myth competition will deliver “a level playing field, consumer choice and innovation” & move forward to connecting the dots with everything else that matters to growth & prosperity.

Over just a few months, the Trump Administration has unleashed an unexpected array of tools to redress the perceived “burden” carried by the US for security and overvaluation of the dollar, wake up the rest of the world (especially Europe) to the need to “burden share” and push back on China’s march to economic hyperpower. From tariffs, to control of the Federal Reserve, to support for crypto, to the return of national champions, to taming the traditional media, to dangling a sword of Damocles on Big Tech, and dealmaking on a vast scale – there is a thread connecting all this as America is asserting power at home and abroad. Europe needs to connect the dots, rewriting the rulebook entirely for a hard power world. Rohit Chopra, former Director of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and FTC Commissioner, joins Cristina Caffarra to discuss how finance, industrial policy and global power are being redefined and what that means for Europe.