When was the last time antitrust laws were actually used in the US "against" these huge companies?
1890 - Start of conventional anti-trust enforcement
1930 - Ramp up of law's usage (under FDR)
1966 - First dissent against anti-trust (Brown Shoe Co. v. United States)
1974 - First decision against anti-trust (United States v. General Dynamics Corp.)
1982 - United States v. AT&T allows break up of Ma Bell. Weakened enforcement allows re-merger.
1999 - Microsoft successfully fights off anti-trust enforcement prevent company from ever being split.
If you want anti-trust enforcement, do not elect Reagan and his descendants.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law
But usually it’s blocking mergers and acquisitions. Here’s an example: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/books/penguin-random-hous...
Waiting to break up a company for anti-trust is like waiting for your house to completely flood instead of fixing the pipe before it gets to that point.
If the cost of initial operation were prohibited to be eaten by investment money, why the cost of development would not be, by the same logic?
I do think that there are cases of competition stifling through dumping, and that's illegal for a reason. Unfortunately, things are not as clearly delineated as with e.g. burning down your competitor's factory.