The Full Belmonte, 9/14/2023
Searchers race to recover bodies in Libya as death toll from flooding hits 5,100
“Search teams combed streets, wrecked buildings and even the sea Wednesday to look for bodies in a coastal Libyan city where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed at least 5,100 people.” Read More at AP News
Washington's $500 billion room
Elon Musk arrives for a closed-door meeting on AI on Capitol Hill today. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP
“A rare constellation of tech luminaries — think Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates — was summoned to Capitol Hill today for a closed-door Senate summit on AI.
The room's net worth, according to Forbes: more than $500 billion.
Why it matters: Musk told reporters the meeting "could go down in history as important to the future of civilization."
He also called for a federal department of AI, CNBC reports.
Photo: Leah Millis/Reuters
Zoom in: The summit was designed to put tech leaders and lawmakers together to lay the groundwork for AI regulation, Axios' Maria Curi and Ashley Gold write.
More than 60 senators showed up to the morning session, organized by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The intrigue: Zuckerberg and Musk — rivals who have discussed fighting each other — were seated on opposite sides of the room.” [Axios]
How they got him: Escaped murderer arrested after 2-week pursuit in Pennsylvania
“Thermal imaging equipment in the air, experienced search teams working through a stormy night, a search dog and the element of surprise all played critical roles in the capture of escaped murderer Danelo Souza Cavalcante on Wednesday morning after a 14-day manhunt across southeastern Pennsylvania’s rolling farmlands and forests.” Read More at AP News
Mitt RomneyKent Nishimura for The New York Times
“Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, 76, won’t seek re-election. He suggested that Biden and Donald Trump should also make way for ‘a new generation of leaders.’” [New York Times]
“The husband of Representative Mary Peltola, an Alaska Democrat, died in a plane crash.” [New York Times]
“Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican presidential candidate, said he would fire most federal workers and shut several agencies.” [New York Times]
“Pentagon officials said that Senator Tommy Tuberville’s blockade on military confirmation votes over abortion policy was undermining national security.” [New York Times]
“Newly disclosed evidence from a federal corruption trial in Chicago revealed a conflict of interest for Anita Dunn, a top Biden adviser. In 2018, her public relations firm SKDK partnered with anti-harassment charity Time's Up Legal Defense Fund and supported Alaina Hampton, who sued then-Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan for retaliating against her when she reported harassment. At the same time, her firm was also providing ‘crisis communications’ for Madigan.” [NPR]
Auto strike
146,000 U.S. autoworkers could walk off the job.
“Production at several auto plants may come to a halt late today if thousands of unionized workers agree to strike and walk out at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. Details of the plan, including which plants will be struck, will not be announced until just before the 11:59 p.m. ET contract expiration tonight. If no deal is reached, a strike could begin early Friday. There has never been a simultaneous strike against all three major US automakers, which today make nearly half of all domestically assembled cars. Slowing or stopping the production of a few engine or transmission plants at each company could be as effective at stopping operations as a full strike at all plants, industry experts say.” [CNN]
Hurricane Lee
“Hurricane Lee in the Atlantic is creeping toward New England, where hurricane and tropical storm watches have been issued for much of the area’s coastal residents. Forecasts show the storm could possibly make an impact on portions of New England as early as Friday. The storm's center is expected to pass close to the region's southeast before barreling near or over Maine and Atlantic Canada over the weekend as a ‘large and dangerous cyclone,’ according to the National Hurricane Center. Though the storm — now a Category 2 hurricane — is expected to weaken as it approaches, it will still have a massive radius of damaging winds that will be significantly felt in New England and Canada's Atlantic provinces.” [CNN]
Immigration
“A federal judge on Wednesday again declared the Obama-era DACA program unlawful, sparking swift condemnation from immigrant advocates and the White House. ‘We are committed to protecting all the Dreamers who have throughout their lives enriched our communities and our country,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said after the ruling. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, was created in 2012 to provide a temporary reprieve for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children — a group often described as "Dreamers" — and allow them to live and work in the US. An existing rule is currently blocking the government from approving new applications for the program. However, the Department of Homeland Security will continue to process renewals for current DACA recipients.” [CNN]
Hunting the Capitol rioters still at large
The FBI is still searching for more than 300 suspects. Credit: FBI
“More than 1,100 people have been charged so far in relation to the US Capitol riot that took place on 6 January 2021, with a series of ringleaders jailed in recent weeks. But the authorities’ work is far from over, with hundreds more suspects identified. Mike Wendling looks at some of those on the FBI’s most-wanted list.”
Read more at BBC
© The Associated Press / Jose Luis Magana | House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) at the Capitol in June.
Picking sides on impeachment
“Two days after Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) conference expressed mixed reactions to an impeachment inquiry into President Biden in three House committees, the decision has won over even the most reluctant Republicans. The Speaker opened and closed a private meeting Wednesday of House Republicans justifying his reasoning for the inquiry sought by former President Trump.
Some GOP lawmakers want swift action while others expect the proceedings to drag into the next year(The Associated Press and The New York Times).
‘There’s a lot of accusations out there you just want the answers to,’ McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol Wednesday.
TWO OF THE CHAIRMEN LEADING THE PROBE, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), on Wednesday highlighted dozens of suspicious activity reports filed by multiple banks in connection to companies that funneled millions of dollars to Hunter Biden and said they would seek bank records to delve more deeply into the Biden family’s businesses.
But their audience — Senate Republicans — may not be easy to convince. Some have privately dismissed the inquiry as ‘a waste of time’ and publicly questioned whether there is enough evidence to pursue one at all (The Hill and NBC News).
‘There’s enough smoke there that I think, you know, there are legitimate questions that they need to get answers to which they probably aren’t going to get because they can’t,’ Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the GOP whip, said after the briefing. ‘They get stonewalled on a lot of the information they need.’
CNN: Fact-checking McCarthy’s claims while launching the Biden impeachment inquiry.
The Washington Post analysis: Seven skeptical Republicans to watch on impeaching Biden.
THE WHITE HOUSE MOBILIZED to fight what it called the ‘unprecedented, unfounded claims’ against the president regarding his son and family finances, sending a letter to top U.S. news executives on Wednesday that urged them to intensify their scrutiny of the proceedings (CNN). Top Democrats, meanwhile, are coalescing around a strategy to oppose the GOP’s inquiry: separating Hunter Biden’s conduct from his father. As Politico reports, they think they have the facts to back it up, since the GOP probe has yet to find any evidence directly linking the younger Biden to any wrongful conduct by the president.
President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden arrive at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., June 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
WHAT REMAINS UNCLEAR is how McCarthy’s decision will impact his future and grip on the gavel. The Speaker is already working with an ultra-thin majority in a chamber where his own party’s conference is fractious — and right-wing GOP members have threatened to call votes to vacate him from his post (The Hill).
In addition to the intraparty difficulties, McCarthy is staring down a Sept. 30 government funding deadline and a potential shutdown, which is looking likelier by the minute as the House and Senate appropriations processes hit snags along the way. House Republicans already forced McCarthy to pump the brakes on the chamber’s annual $826 billion defense funding bill Wednesday, with no guarantee party leaders will find the votes to advance it (The Hill and Politico).
The Hill: Senate’s initial batch of funding bills overcomes first procedural hurdle.
A HIGH-RANKING FBI OFFICIAL involved in the Hunter Biden investigation on Wednesday refuted key testimony from an IRS whistleblower who claimed the top prosecutor on the case was stymied by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in bringing charges outside Delaware.
Politico: The IRS whistleblower at the heart of the Hunter Biden probe took notes. Here they are.
The Associated Press: The White House’s strategy for the impeachment inquiry: Dismiss. Compartmentalize. Scold. Fundraise.” [The Hill]
DeSantis took undisclosed private flights and lodging through wealthy donors
“The trips came during the period between DeSantis’s election and inauguration as governor and included a private flight to the prestigious home of the Masters tournament, with an overnight stay and a round of golf, according to flight manifests, tracking data and other documents obtained by The Washington Post.”
Read the story at Washington Post
Virginia candidate who livestreamed sex videos draws support from women, Democratic leader
“A Democratic Virginia legislative candidate whose race was rattled by the revelation that she and her husband livestreamed themselves having sex moved forward with her campaign Tuesday and drew some early support in the high-stakes contest.” Read More at AP News
“The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was placed on lockdown after reports of an armed and dangerous person, less than three weeks after a deadly shooting on campus.” [NBC News]
“The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case ruled that Trump and his lawyers may only review classified evidence in a secure location, after they pushed to view evidence at Mar-a-Lago.” [NBC News]
Rocket Men
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, Russia, on Sept. 13.Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touted his best friend status with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday during a rare overseas visit. The two heads of state toured rocket launch pads at Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport in Amur oblast before holding one-on-one talks that lasted hours. ‘We will always stand with Russia,’ Kim said.
Holding meetings at the most important launch site on Russian soil suggests the two leaders may be discussing satellite technology and arms deals. In recent months, Pyongyang has tried and failed to launch a military spy satellite into orbit. Talks with Putin suggest that the Kremlin may agree to help North Korea advance its military reconnaissance technology in exchange for new weapons to renew Moscow’s rapidly depleting arsenal in its war against Ukraine.
‘From North Korea’s point of view, this gets them back into really significant contact with Russia for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union,’ said former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton. A growing alliance between the two autocracies could manifest in stronger efforts to combat Western dominance on the world stage.
Already, that is evident via new missile tests. Mere hours before Kim first met with Putin, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles. Each missile traveled roughly 400 miles before landing outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone. This was Pyongyang’s first missile test with Kim outside of the country, demonstrating the country’s increasingly assertive military posture. North Korea has launched more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022—in direct defiance of U.N. sanctions. Last week, North Korea unveiled its first tactical nuclear attack submarine, named Hero Kim Kun Ok, and in late August, Pyongyang simulated a tactical nuclear missile strike against South Korea.” [Foreign Policy]
“Attack on Sevastopol. Ukraine attacked Russian naval targets and port infrastructure in Russian-occupied Sevastopol on Wednesday, marking the biggest strike on Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet since the war began. Among the vessels hit were a large landing ship and a submarine, both of which were undergoing repairs, according to Kyiv military intelligence. Ukrainian Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk suggested that Storm Shadow cruise missiles supplied by the United Kingdom and France were used in the assault.
Since Moscow left the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, it has used its Black Sea Fleet to impose a blockade on grain shipments coming in and out of Ukraine, ‘thereby strangling its agricultural industry and exerting yet another pressure point on Kyiv outside of the battlefield,’ wrote FP’s Christina Lu and Amy Mackinnon.” [Foreign Policy]
Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia hints at grim battlefield math for Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Сosmodrome in Russia on Wednesday. (Vladimir Smirnov/Sputnik/Reuters)
“For all the nefarious glamour of Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia — bulletproof trains, a meeting at a remote spaceport, dinner of duck salad and crab dumplings — many experts believe the visit shows the reality of grim battlefield math: The Russian army is burning through artillery shells in Ukraine at a rate it can’t sustain. Whether Vladimir Putin can find a solution to this calculation or not is crucial for the next stage of the war in Ukraine.
After the failure of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the Kremlin’s chief aim for the near future is to hold onto the land it did manage to capture, digging into well-fortified positions in a bid to grind down Ukraine’s counteroffensive. While much is made of the impact of drones and electronic jamming equipment, just as important if not more has been the use of technology that is, often literally, from the Soviet-era: Mines and artillery.
In Ukraine’s heavily contested south, ‘it’s a gunfight … heavily dependent on artillery,’ White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Wednesday, suggesting that the supply of artillery ammunition was likely key to Kim’s visit to Russia.
Analysts have described Russian artillery units in particular as surprisingly skilled, a counterbalance to some of the more chaotic areas of Moscow’s army. A recent analysis by Britain’s Royal United Services Institute found that artillery units were particularly adept at the trial-and-error task of homing in on targets, sometimes able to accurately hit their mark within three minutes — ‘essentially the limit of what is physically possible,’ given the time it takes to fire.
But this heavy use of artillery comes at a cost. Recent Western estimates suggest that Russia fired 11 million rounds in Ukraine last year. Jack Watling, senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, told my colleagues that there were estimates that it would fire 7 million more this year. At that rate of expenditure, production alone can hardly keep up.
Accounts from Western officials suggest that while Russia has impressively boosted its military production, its capacity for artillery production is not higher than 2 million a year. From within the Russian military, there have been numerous angry accounts of shortages: The late Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin had complained of ‘shell hunger’ on the front near the eastern city of Bakhmut, with his troops receiving only 800 of the 80,000 shells it needed per day, by his account.
With a shortfall in domestic production, Russia may turn to imports. Western allies of Ukraine have tried to up the production of 155mm caliber artillery rounds to keep Kyiv’s guns firing, with mixed success. But there are only a limited number of sources Moscow can turn to. Russia largely uses the 152mm caliber rounds that it developed during the Soviet era, but few of its former partners in Europe will sell their stockpiles to it now.
The Soviet Union once provided weapons to countries around the world that it sought to influence, creating client states that would be reliant on it for weaponry. In many ways now, the situation is reversed, with Moscow forced to ask the weaker countries it once supplied for help.
North Korea, which bought licenses for Soviet weaponry in the 1960s, quickly began producing weapons at a huge scale not only for its considerable domestic demand following the Korean War armistice but also for international trade. This trade continued after the fall of the Soviet Union, going underground in the face of harsh U.N. sanctions designed to block it.
Given the proximity of the South Korean capital Seoul, North Korea also focused on artillery production for its own military. A 2020 report by U.S. think tank RAND estimated there were nearly 6,000 artillery systems within range of major South Korean population centers. Joseph Dempsey, research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, recently told the Associated Press that North Korea ‘may represent the single biggest source of compatible legacy artillery ammunition outside of Russia.’
Exactly how much North Korea could supply in any theoretical deal is unknown. Kirby said last year that Russia was likely hoping to receive ‘literally millions of rounds, rockets and artillery shells from North Korea,’ though no firm details of any proposed deal have emerged.
Whatever quantity it provides, it may fall short in quality. North Korea, isolated and placed under sanctions, has largely focused on developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs over recent years, leaving its Soviet-era artillery ammunition to gather dust. Analysis of a 2010 barrage of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island by the North Korea-watching website 38 North found that half of the shells crashed into the ocean, failing to reach their target; a further quarter that did then didn’t detonate.
Putin has only hinted at the trade so far. After he met with Kim at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region, the Russian president suggested that Russia could work with North Korea, despite the sanctions put in place by numerous resolutions from the U.N. Security Council. ‘There are certain restrictions, and Russia abides by them. But there are things we can talk about,’ Putin told reporters.
The very first U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea, imposed in 2006, prohibits the export of North Korean ‘large-caliber artillery systems’ as well as ‘any related material.’ Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, backed that resolution; Putin himself was president at the time.
Russia may have already crossed the line. The United States said last year that Russia had already taken some deliveries of artillery ammunition from North Korea, though in that case Pyongyang was accused of sending only ‘thousands’ of shells in what would be a comparatively small trade. Russia has also taken deliveries of Iranian-produced drones, which Western powers say violates an arms embargo placed on that country.
It is not clear what North Korea would get in exchange for any arms deal with Russia, though there is speculation that Pyongyang could seek more modern weapons technology from Moscow or more economic cooperation, such as an agreement that Russia can host more North Korean workers who can send hard currency back to their cash-strapped home government.
Whatever it is, for Putin it may be worth it. Having failed to quickly take Ukraine last year, Russia appears to be settling for a drawn-out conflict in the hope that Kyiv and its partners tire first. Western officials have been surprised at the lengths that Russia has already gone to evade sanctions to keep building weapons. Any artillery deal with North Korea would fit into the same pattern. Perhaps it is desperation. It may also be seen as determination.” [Washington Post]
“Brasília’s insurrection fate. Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court kicked off historic trials on Wednesday against nearly 1,400 alleged participants of the attempted Jan. 8 insurrection in support of former President Jair Bolsonaro. First on the docket are the cases of three men who were arrested by police during the storming of the capital. They are charged with seeking to abolish democratic rule, criminal association, and violence against state property. If found guilty, they could face up to 30 years in prison.
Despite efforts to rein in anti-democratic forces through legal means, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s greatest challenge remains not the average far-right supporter but rather Brazil’s military. ‘Decades after the end of Brazil’s military dictatorship, civilians still do not fully control the country’s security establishment,’ argued political scientist Oliver Stuenkel in Foreign Policy. ‘This is the biggest weakness Brazil’s democracy faces today.’” [Foreign Policy]
“Civilian deaths in Darfur. Tragedy befell Darfur, Sudan, on Wednesday when at least 40 civilians were killed in a Sudanese military airstrike on two markets and numerous local neighborhoods. The air raid follows the deaths of at least 17 people in Omdurman on Tuesday, caused by shelling from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). And it comes after more than 50 people were killed in airstrikes on southern Khartoum over the weekend.
Since fighting between the RSF and Sudanese army erupted in April, nearly 7,500 people have been killed and more than 1 million others forced to flee. On Wednesday, U.N. envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes stepped down from his post after Sudanese officials declared him persona non grata in June, making him unable to enter the country.” [Foreign Policy]
“The streets ran red in Levira, Portugal, on Sunday. But don’t worry—it wasn’t as bloody as it sounds. Two tanks containing nearly 600,000 gallons of red wine collapsed at a distillery, flooding the small town’s streets. Luckily, no one was injured. The delicious but costly incident highlights a bigger problem: Europe’s wine surplus crisis. With too much supply and not enough thirsty customers, producers are stuck having to store excess wine in tanks like the ones that spilled in Levira. At FP, we’d be happy to take some of it off their hands—though they can keep the street wine for themselves.” [Foreign Policy]
Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record.
“What’s happening? This year’s fires have tripled the record highfor carbon emissions in a wildfire season and burned the largest land area observed in the country, researchers said.
Why? Human-caused climate change is making larger fires more likely in more places.
The outcome: Tens of thousands of people evacuated, dangerous air quality in Canada and the U.S., and smoke plumes that reached Europe.”
Read this story at Washington Post
A man presented what he said were alien corpses to Mexico’s congress.
“Who? Mexican journalist and self-proclaimed UFO expert Jaime Maussan. He said the figures were 1,000-year-old ‘nonhuman’ corpses, speaking under oath Tuesday.
Were they aliens? The two scrawny, cartoonlike bodies were found underground in Peru in 2017. Maussan’s previous ‘nonhuman’ discoveries were shown to be mummified humans.”
Read this story at Washington Post
“Two natural disasters that killed at least 9,000 people days apart in North Africa have foreign powers racing to offer aid. Whether it arrives depends largely on politics.
As Morocco makes last-ditch rescue efforts after its most powerful earthquake in a century and eastern Libya counts the dead from flooding that destroyed entire neighborhoods, their decisions on what assistance to accept is being shaped by domestic affairs and international diplomacy.
Morocco, which is fiercely protective of its image as a regional bastion of stability, is mostly trying to manage the quake search itself. Despite fielding aid offers from over a dozen countries, including former colonial ruler France, long-time foe Algeria and recent friend Israel — it has only accepted a handful, notably from the UK, Spain and United Arab Emirates.
That’s left Emmanuel Macron fuming. In a video, an agitated French president evoked ‘controversies that shouldn’t exist.’ Even before the disaster, relations were rocky. Morocco was unhappy about Macron’s efforts to pursue a closer relationship with energy-rich Algeria and refusal to recognize its plans for the disputed Western Sahara.
In Libya, the effects of a civil conflict that raged for much of the past decade have been an obstacle. Rival governments in the east and west mean the OPEC nation, despite its oil wealth, has invested little in infrastructure, with disastrous consequences.
In a sign of some convergence, both administrations pledged financial assistance. Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said the tragedy was an opportunity to unite the country. About 12 nations are providing assistance. They include Egypt and Turkey, which supported rival sides in Libya’s war.
Whether help will be accepted from the US, which backed the 2011 revolt that ousted dictator Moammar Qaddafi and plunged Libya into chaos, remains to be seen.” — Michael Gunn [Bloomberg]
The aftermath of floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on Monday. Source: AFP/Getty Images
“China hit back at the European Union’s investigation into its electric-vehicle subsidies and chided foreign automakers for failing to keep up with technological innovations. China’s top auto industry body and a leading Communist Party newspaper joined the criticism, signaling a new front may be set to open in the global trade wars. While Chinese EV manufacturers’ European sales pale in comparison to market leaders like Volkswagen, Tesla and Stellantis, they are growing quickly.” [Bloomberg]
“A US-Iran prisoner exchange could happen as soon as next week under an agreement that’s seen as a first step toward fresh talks on Tehran’s nuclear program. The deal, which also saw the US allow Iran to access $6 billion in frozen funds, has opened President Joe Biden up to criticism that he’s encouraging more hostage taking.” [Bloomberg]
“Under pressure from Putin to repatriate their wealth and squeezed by international sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine, Russian billionaires have pulled assets worth $50 billion from Europe. The shift breaks with a decades-old practice in which the rich take advantage of investor-friendly legal systems and the chance to earn dividends in foreign currencies.” [Bloomberg]
“The US and Bahrain upgraded their defense relationship with a new pact that could become a model for Washington’s commitments to other Middle East allies. The agreement comes as the Biden administration works with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on a deal that would see Saudi Arabia recognize Israel in exchange for firm US security pledges.” [Bloomberg]
“As Turkey and the EU engage in a new effort to revive stalled talks over the country’s membership of the bloc, Ankara criticized the European Parliament’s insistence on cooperation in enforcing sanctions against Russia.” [Bloomberg]
“Egypt is considering holding presidential elections before the end of the year, sources say, an earlier-than-expected date as it grapples with its worst economic crisis in years.” [Bloomberg]
“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to open a Hindu temple where a centuries-old mosque once stood, achieving a pledge made by his nationalist party in 1990 that may help further energize his base ahead of elections next year.” [Bloomberg]
'“Deeply insensitive': Australian tycoon Tim Gurner, one of the country’s richest men, sparked a global backlash for arguing a hike in the jobless rate would remind workers of their place and reduce ‘arrogance in the employment market.’ He says he ‘deeply’ regrets the comments.” [BBC]
•Royal wedding: Norway’s Princess Martha Louise and her fiancé, self-styled shaman Durek Verrett, have set a date for their nuptials. The American guru is expected to move to Norway and join the royal family, but without holding a title.
Judge Robert Bork during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1987.Jose R. Lopez/The New York Times
The Bork factor
“Americans have long been skeptical of big business. Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman all tried to constrain the power of large companies. Their efforts were part of a national culture that long emphasized individual freedom.
In the 1960s, however, a group of conservative scholars began arguing that large corporations had been unfairly maligned. These scholars — led by Robert Bork, then an obscure law professor — made the case that big business was often efficient and innovative. And if a large company did try to take advantage of consumers, these scholars said, a competitor could swoop in and lure away those consumers.
For years, Bork and his allies failed to persuade Washington to embrace their views. But after the U.S. economy struggled during the 1970s, policymakers became worried that antitrust laws were keeping American companies from competing with Japanese and European rivals. Slowly, the Bork view won converts, among both Republicans and Democrats. Since the 1980s, that view has dominated, allowing corporations to grow much larger.
I wanted to tell you this history today because it’s a crucial backdrop to the Google antitrust trial that began this week. That trial is the most significant attempt in decades to undo the Bork consensus.
Entwined in our lives
Google’s Mountain View campus.Jim Wilson/The New York Times
“Google certainly looks like a monopoly by many measures. More than 90 percent of web searches worldwide are done on Google.
This level of dominance can create problems for anybody who isn’t a Google executive or shareholder. The company is so profitable that it can shape government policies through lobbying and donations. Google can potentially hold down wages for anybody who wants to work in internet search: Where else is that person going to go? Google can also essentially force consumers to turn over their personal data to the company; to exist in today’s economy, you need to interact with Google’s various services, like search, Gmail, Google Cloud and YouTube.
‘For the past decade, Google and other tech giants have become incredibly powerful and entwined in just about every aspect of our lives,’ Cecilia Kang, one of the Times reporters covering the Google trial, told me.
The Justice Department’s case against the company (and a related lawsuit brought by 38 states and territories) argues that Google has unfairly maintained its dominance by paying other companies billions of dollars a year. Payments to Apple, for example, are the reason that Google is the default search engine on iPhones. As a result, the Justice Department says, competitors to Google cannot establish themselves.
Google responds that its success is simply a reflection of the quality of its products. ‘People don’t use Google because they have to,’ Kent Walker, Google’s top lawyer, has written. ‘They use it because they want to.’
The government’s biggest challenge in winning this case is closely connected to Bork’s framework for antitrust policy. He argued that the most rigorous standard for judging potential monopolies was consumer prices. Only when economic analysis proved that a company was so powerful that it could raise consumer prices should regulators step in, Bork and his allies said. Otherwise, the government was just guessing about when a company was so big as to be problematic.
Who benefits?
A protester dressed as Mr. Monopoly.Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Google, of course, charges consumers nothing for its main products. The company makes money in other ways, such as advertisements. The same dynamic exists elsewhere in the technology industry. Facebook does not charge consumers for an account, either. Amazon does charge for products on its site, but often not any more than other retailers.
In recent years, a rising generation of legal scholars has tried to overturn the Bork consensus by arguing that large companies can still do damage even without increasing prices. They can hold down wages, warp government policy, trample on privacy or spread misinformation.
(One member of this rising generation is Lina Khan, whom President Biden named to run the Federal Trade Commission.)
As part of their argument, these critics of big business — the intellectual heirs to Theodore Roosevelt — can point to macroeconomic data. In the four decades since Bork’s view triumphed, wages for most Americans have grown more slowly than either corporate profits or the incomes of the wealthy. Corporate consolidation seems to have been better for a small slice of privileged people, including Google executives, than for most Americans.
In the long term, these critics hope to change the legal standard for evaluating large companies, much as Bork and other scholars slowly did in the late 20th century. Doing so will probably require new laws as well as different attitudes among regulators and judges. Such a project might take decades, if it ever succeeds.
In the meantime, the Justice Department’s lawyers hope to persuade Amit Mehta, the federal judge hearing the case, that Google has violated even the lenient antitrust laws of today.” [New York Times]
Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change
Internal documents reveal Exxon Mobil had a strategy to downplay climate change—and continued to use it years after publicly acknowledging the risks.
READ MORE at Wall Street Journal
The Perelman Performing Arts CenterGeorge Etheredge for The New York Times
“Manhattan’s new jewel: The Perelman Performing Arts Center, a marble cube nestled near One World Trade Center, is ‘the most glamorous civic building to land in New York in years,’ the Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman writes. It houses three theaters that can be rearranged in 60 ways, and its translucent exterior glows amber in the evening, as chandeliers cast the silhouettes of theatergoers onto its surface.” [New York Times]
More on culture
“Representative Lauren Boebert was ejected from the audience of the musical ‘Beetlejuice’ in Denver for being loud and recording the show.” [New York Times]
“New York investigators have seized three artworks they said were stolen from a Jewish art collector and cabaret artist killed during the Holocaust.” [New York Times]
“Gannett, America’s largest newspaper chain, is hiring full-time reporters to cover Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.” [New York Times]
315-mile journey
Photo: Seth Wenig/AP
“Lewis Pugh — a 53-year-old British athlete — finished his 315-mile journey to swim the length of New York's Hudson River this morning, AP reports.
The monthlong swim ended after he reached Battery Park in Lower Manhattan.” [Axios]
”Lives Lived: Len Chandler was an early fixture of the Greenwich Village folk music revival. He sang alongside Bob Dylan and at the March on Washington. Chandler died at 88.” [New York Times]