Time To Tell Socialist European Union: “Hands Off Private Enterprise!”

By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives July 23, 2018

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If you believe that European Union’s ambitious Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is hitting Alphabet (Google) with a $5-billion fine to protect European consumers, you’re buying straight into the EU’s political drive that seeks to replace Free Market Capitalism with Socialism and maybe should send for one of her knitted elephants. By hitting Google the biggest fine in its history, the EU has opened the door to socialist takeover of free enterprise. Related: Google Detractors Want to Hand Internet Over to European Union Control

No one is saying where a bureaucracy composed of unelected members gets the right to confiscate 5 percent of Google’s average daily worldwide revenue

“The European Union hit Google with a record antitrust fine for abusing the dominance of its Android mobile operating system.” (CNBC, July 18, 2018)

"It ordered Google to put an end to “ILLEGAL” conduct within 90 days, or else face additional charges of up to 5 percent of Alphabet's average daily worldwide revenue."

It wasn’t any court of law that found Google guilty of illegal activity but up-and-coming EU star Margrethe Vestager with less than 4 years in office.

"The $5-billion pay-dirt ruling comes little over a year after the EU fined the company $2.7 billion for favoring its shopping service over competitors." (CNBC)

No one is saying where a bureaucracy composed of unelected members gets the right to confiscate 5 percent of Google’s average daily worldwide revenue, or how this could be called 21st Century Highway Robbery by an organization which lives by Socialist rule. An international upstart who sees everything her way, Vestager doesn’t see Google as an American company but as a private company in whose riches the EU can share. While the Alphabet-owned Google isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it is after all, private enterprise developing its own products.

Fine and tax private companies right out of business

Worldwide Warning: If Vestager is successful in charging fines of up to 5 percent of Google’s average daily worldwide revenue, then the EU can do the same to any other company and anybody could be next. In short, If the anti-Brexit, greedy and overbearing EU has its way, it will be able to fine and tax private companies right out of business, something no bureaucracy should ever be allowed to get away with. Was it just for good measure, that the visibly ambitious Vestager publicly accused Google of using its dominance as a search engine to “artificially” skew results that favor its own shopping service, to the detriment of rivals? “Dominant companies have a responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position by restricting competition either in the market where they are dominant or in neighboring markets.” (NY Times, April 15, 2015)

“She also announced that investigations would continue in other areas, including accusations that Google improperly uses its rivals’ content and locks out advertising competition with exclusivity deals. And she opened a formal investigation related to the company’s Android operating system for cellphones.”

Margrethe Vestager oversees some 800 employees, yet seems to want to leave the impression that she bakes cinnamon rolls for her team. The real one is that she’s unbridled ambition on steroids.

“She once said that the “amount of data controlled by Google gives rise to a series of societal challenges.” But she also uses Google like just about everyone else. “My kids or myself never consider for a minute that this is a U.S. company or a European company; the reason why we use it is that Google has very good products,” she said in a news conference on Wednesday. (NY Times) “Ms. Vestager, 47, began her career as a civil servant, and has also served as a member of the Danish Parliament and in a number of government posts, including education minister, economy minister and deputy prime minister. She is known for a no-nonsense demeanor and has taken some tough stances, which included supporting cost cuts that trimmed early retirement and other benefits for Danes.

Along with Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Vestager is one of the two most prominent Danish politicians on the world stage at the moment. Ms. Thorning-Schmidt is the prime minister and leads the Social Democratic Party. Ms. Vestager, who previously served as Ms. Thorning-Schmidt’s deputy prime minister, leads the Social Liberal Party. The two center-left parties are partners in Denmark’s coalition government. (NY Times) “Vestager laughs at suggestions of her "ruthless streak," according to The Financial Times. "I don't know but it comes with being a Danish politician," she told reporters Richard Milne and Alex Barker. "We have always had minority governments and you need to have a very strong willingness to listen to other people and also a willingness to get things done otherwise nothing ever gets done.” (UKBusinessInsider, April 20, 2015) Problem is this former political leader of Denmark’s Liberal Party is not only laughing at capitalism but getting away with it in her job as EU’s ruthless Competition Commissioner. Here’s hoping that a successful Google lawsuit will put a damper on the EU seizing the profits of other private companies. Otherwise, the rest of us will be sitting around hand-knitting decorative toy elephants.