Tim Wu, Architect of Biden Antitrust Push, To Leave White House (nytimes.com) 20
Tim Wu, a central architect of President Biden's push to clip the wings of the nation's largest companies, is leaving the White House. From a report: Mr. Wu's last day at the National Economic Council will be Wednesday, ending his 22-month tenure as special assistant to the president for competition and tech policy, the White House said. Mr. Wu told The New York Times that he would return to his previous job, as a professor at Columbia Law School. Mr. Wu is one-third of a troika -- along with Lina Khan at the Federal Trade Commission and Jonathan Kanter at the Justice Department -- leading Washington's attempts to more aggressively check corporate giants, including the largest tech companies. He was an author of a July 2021 executive order demanding that federal agencies take steps to increase competition across the economy. Ms. Khan and Mr. Kanter have tried to block corporate consolidation using uncommon arguments in court.
Mr. Wu, 50, said personal reasons were driving his departure. He has been commuting to Washington from New York, he said, requiring him to spend stretches away from his young children. "There's a time where the burden on family is too much," Mr. Wu said. "I've been feeling the balance has shifted." Mr. Wu said he had entered the job believing it to be a "once-in-a-generation chance" to reverse decades of more conservative thinking in antitrust law. The administration has notched some wins on that front -- such as enacting parts of the 2021 executive order, which led to efforts by the government to open up charging networks for electric vehicles and make hearing aids available for purchase over the counter.
Mr. Wu, 50, said personal reasons were driving his departure. He has been commuting to Washington from New York, he said, requiring him to spend stretches away from his young children. "There's a time where the burden on family is too much," Mr. Wu said. "I've been feeling the balance has shifted." Mr. Wu said he had entered the job believing it to be a "once-in-a-generation chance" to reverse decades of more conservative thinking in antitrust law. The administration has notched some wins on that front -- such as enacting parts of the 2021 executive order, which led to efforts by the government to open up charging networks for electric vehicles and make hearing aids available for purchase over the counter.
Leverage points (Score:2)
Asked what to expect from the coming years, Mr. Ramamurti pointed to demands laid out in the 2021 executive order.
“We’ve got all of these different levers that we can pull — personnel, the judiciary, you know, the agencies — and we’re working on all of that,” he said.
Dear Mr. Ramamurti,
There are a few more leverage points [donellameadows.org]. Apart from that, keep up the good work.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
WTF are you even talking about? Have you read any of Tim Wu's legal research and positions before?
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
See reply to other non AC person. Applies double to you.
Re: (Score:3)
Evidence or it didn't happen. The cited article states his main reason is that he's been commuting:
"Mr. Wu, 50, said personal reasons were driving his departure. He has been commuting to Washington from New York, he said, requiring him to spend stretches away from his young children."
Re:Heh... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bullshit, you attacked a person's integrity without any kind of evidence. Now that you're called out for your dishonesty and slander, you go "Hey it's just a joke!"
Get some fucking integrity.
Re:Heh... (Score:5, Interesting)
Bullshit, you attacked a person's integrity without any kind of evidence. Now that you're called out for your dishonesty and slander, you go "Hey it's just a joke!"
Get some fucking integrity.
This.
The first thing any comedian, especially an amateur one learns is that a comedian doesn't decide what's funny. The audience does.
The second thing they learn is how to read a room, I.E. so they can use the jokes that audience finds funny.
If the audience isn't getting your jokes, it's not the audience's fault.
Re: (Score:2)
Tim Wu is a crypto promoter. If there's a story behind "My commute was too long," I'd be looking for SBF connections, not an undermining of the antitrust regs. I think Wu is genuine. I just think he's wrong about crypto, and he may have fallen in with the scum.
Re:Heh... (Score:4, Interesting)
Finally found the citation [slashdot.org] I was looking for. Here's Tim Wu:
In this respect, finance is actually behind: Where we no longer feel we can trust people, we let computer code take over. Bitcoin is part of this trend. It was, after all, a carnival of human errors and misfeasance that inspired the invention of Bitcoin in 2009, namely, the financial crisis. Banks backed by economically powerful nations had been the symbol of financial trustworthiness, the gold standard in the post-gold era. But they revealed themselves as reckless, drunk on other people's money, holding extraordinarily complex assets premised on a web of promises that were often mutually incompatible.
As it turns out, crypto also contains a "carnival of human errors and malfeasance," and I would not be particularly surprised to learn later that the White House found something embarrassing about Wu's holdings or crypto promotion and wanted him to go.
Re: (Score:2)
Quitting to spend more time with ones family, is often used for cases where they weren't outwardly fired.
I know I would be much happier in an academic position, vs working for the president (any president). However there could be factors that no one really wants to talk about, such as difference in opinion with Biden and Wu over some particular issues. Or the Biden Administration wants to change course on how Anti-Trust policies go. As well sadly as companies change political allies and stances, some that
Well.. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Seems like the 'troika' in the White House was ineffective. So they're leaving. He's just the first.
Re: (Score:2)
Wow.
The administration has notched some wins on that front -- such as enacting parts of the 2021 executive order, which led to efforts by the government to open up charging networks for electric vehicles and make hearing aids available for purchase over the counter.
Those are the accomplishments he's boasting about after (essentially) leaving his family for two years? Why couldn't either of these accomplishments have been properly enacted thru legislation passed by the Democrat majority in both the house and senate, as well as a Democrat president? Why were these done as Executive Orders that needed vigorous defenses in court to go into effect, why not as bills brought up, debated, voted on, and signed into law?
Before you try and deflect to Republicans, I remind yo
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You haven't been paying attention. We have this unconstitutional procedure called a filibuster that blocks democracy created by racists for racists and now abused just out of spite. Like the burn pit bill for vets that was blocked purely out of spite and then only from massive public outrage did the cowards who blocked it stand down.
Also, legislation is an intentionally slow process that in modern times is quite dysfunctional and not just the filibuster DoS attack I just referenced. The system is designed
Capitalists are supposed to understand capitalism (Score:2)
The disease is lack of competition. Low competition = low standards and low innovation.
A troika (Score:2)
Mr. Wu is one-third of a troika -- along with Lina Khan at the Federal Trade Commission and Jonathan Kanter at the Justice Department
I choose to believe they meant the first definition.
troika noun
troika
1: a Russian vehicle drawn by three horses abreast
also : a team for such a vehicle
2: a group of three
especially : an administrative or ruling body of three
Not a current priority? (Score:2)
Where is the evidence that innovative startups in US are failing because of bad faith manipulation by market leaders? We have more pressing problems, like market leaders stumbling and laying off people, inflation, energy prices/reliability/environmental footprint, supply chain problems, machinations by China...
Monopolies aren't just bad faith manipulatoin (Score:2)
Google Plus lost to Facebook, not because of bad faith manipulation but because hardly anyone was on it. It's like if a new mobile company could only phone people on its network -- it would have no chance. The government enforces interoperability, and that's what social media needs.