If at any rate, doubt is still expressed about how much Capitalism [I'm very reluctant in using the term Capitalism cos the Left has turned it into a term of abuse and at best obscures the core of modern Liberal economics of free enterprise] can re-invent itself to be in sync with historical realities, then Judge Jackson's ruling on the Microsoft anti-trust legal tussle should now seal that argument. That the worlds largest company together with the world's richest man can be so humbled by the son of a POSTMAN, Joel Klein, from the poor neighbourhoods of Queens New York, in itself lays asunder the monstrous charge that free enterprise is all about the rich and mighty. From the deconstruction of Rockefeller's Standard Oil to IBM's humbling ironically by Microsoft itself to the break up of AT&T, the charge cut-throat competition in a free market economy would inevitably lead to monolithic monopolies is becoming as bogus as the monstrous charge of the great man himself Karl Heinrich Marx and Marxologists that Capitalism contained seeds of it's own self destruction or Lenin's immortal assertion that Capitalism would hand him the ropes he [Socialists] would eventually hung it with. The Microsoft ruling has quashed that argument forever. Not only in a free market are monolithic monopolies becoming a misnomer, but they are becoming farfetched for anyone industrialists or free marketeer who dreams of market dominance and eventually monopolising a particular market. This is because genuine competition like a honey pot draws more players to it once it is proven beyond reasonable doubt there is something worth to be played for. And the beauty about it is that no player worth it's salt could afford to rest on it's laurels with complacency; for there are countless others out there looking from the outside checking for vulnerabilities that would make them admissible in a particular market as Microsoft is learning much to it's chagrin. If competition as such doesn't work, there are always anti-trust laws which eventually would regulate bullies and those who foul of the competition laws. The Microsoft ruling re-inforces that argument. And at the end of the day, it is consumers who will win overall and enjoy from competition as such. The much anticipated deconstruction of Microsoft will release to other players vital human resources and so called intellectual property that will eventually make the software and PC market more dynamic and multi-faceted than it currently is. On Monday 3rd. April 2000, Judge Jackson's Microsoft ruling was a vindication for Capitalism and Classical Liberal Economists that free enterprise properly constituted and unleashed, doesn't promise a tidy and utopian paternalist outlook but an untidy, flexible, rewarding, more dynamic, enterprising and creative harnessing of individual and social talent and by extension the most effective means of poverty eradication ever envisaged. I believe I can afford the determinism. What a difference a day makes. What a difference Monday 3rd. April 2000 will certainly make in economic history!! On that day Capitalism won!! Hamjatta Kanteh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------