Justice Department Launches Antitrust Probe Into Four Auto Makers

[brooklynite]

Source: Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into four auto makers that forged an independent agreement with California on vehicle-emissions standards.

Justice Department lawyers are seeking to determine if Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., BMW AG and Volkswagen AG violated federal competition law by agreeing with each other to follow tailpipe-emissions standards beyond those proposed by the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the situation.


Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-launches-antitrust-probe-into-four-auto-makers-11567778958

[sinkingfeeling]

1. The DOJ has become a farce.

[EarnestPutz]

2. Unbelievable. California doesn't want to loosen emission standards....

.....and four major car companies have "colluded" to make and market cleaner cars in the state, perhaps at slightly higher cost to themselves, and this requires an anti-trust action? Who is the victim here?

[iluvtennis]

7. +++ agree an investigation into goodness for the environment is UNBELIEVABLE.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Collusion for clean air

If you're not conspiring to fix prices or make more money or grab market share, where is the benefit?

Anticompetitive trade practices, perhaps, if other automakers were not offered to join the agreement, but even there other manufacturers would not be harmed economically since they could presumably produce cheaper and more polluting cars.

This is a really F**ked up probe

[bucolic_frolic]

15. This Trump DOJ action is the most bogus BS of the year

If manufacturers got together to develop a new technology, so what? If they wanted to develop plastic wiper blades, or air-jet windshield dryers instead of wipers, they are free to do so! They're not doing anything other than saying they want to have cleaner burning engines. Why should Trump and the DOJ anti-regulate that?

[bucolic_frolic]

16. The Federal Government cannot interfere in a private business and order them to pollute more

Does it make any sense? Manufacturers share technology or combine to develop interchangeable parts all the time. Some parts are used across different brands and models.

This lawsuit is overreach.

[not fooled]

4. This is what you get

when the justice dept is turned into an arm of the red don political apparatus.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. DOA,States Rights Issue.

Worlds fifth largest economy is not going to let a bunch shysters screw them over.

[aggiesal]

8. That's not what this is about ...

The Dolt45 administration has lowered the fuel standards, below California Standards.
California is still going to maintain that the auto industry meet the higher CA standards.

IQ45 Administration didn't like this so they sued CA. to follow the Federal fuel standards.
Now they are going after the car companies that have agreed to maintain the higher
CA standards.

This is one screwed up administration.

[aggiesal]

9. I think I should have asked ...

who are the shysters you are referring to?

[Wellstone ruled]

12. Bill Barr and Company.

Don't think those four Auto Makers are going to sit still for one second. Think of the Billions of dollars it would cost in Engineering to detune their product line as well as overseas sales they would loose as a result.

[aggiesal]

13. Probably not difficult for VW & Audi ...

since they both got caught cheating the CA. fuel standard.

[Brainfodder]

6. How dare those, OH that's good, NM!

Preaching to the choir here whilst others hate the music?

[hot2na]

10. What the hell happened to the so called free market?

Free market worship has always been an article of faith in the Republican/Conservative universe. Of course this is just magical thinking but what Trumps DOJ is basically doing here is acting like a command economy. So called free marketers and libertarians should be crashing the gates.

If this were WV, AL, MI, OK, TX, or any other red state, dos anyone think that Trumps DOJ takes this step.

The hypocrisy is so far off the charts that it just reveals that the Republican/Conservative principles is and was always a total sham.

[rockfordfile]

11. DOJ is corrupt

[Marcuse]

14. Protecting Americans' right to pollute.

?

[bucolic_frolic]

17. End Game: Primacy of Private Property Rights

This is right in Gorsuch's anti-regulatory wheelhouse. This suit is to get a court to rule that the Feds have no business telling a business that it must pollute a certain amount, or that is must not pollute. Once they have that ruling, it goes to appeal, all the way to the Supreme Court. You know where that leads.

THis is TOTALLY about private property rights - let business do what it wants.

Hope we have some good litigators in environmental organizations.We're going to need them. Once everything is private property for business, there is nothing else - no public lands, not even your house is safe.