Orrin Hatch: “I rise today to speak on a policy matter that has been generating substantial attention recently, and that is modern…”

“I rise today to speak on a policy matter that has been generating substantial attention recently, and that is modern antitrust law. This issue is critical. In the perennial debate over the proper role of government in economic affairs, it will grow all the more critical in the years to come. New technologies, creating markets not even imaginable only a decade ago, are spurring fundamental shifts in the economic landscape. In the national news, mergers between corporate giants or new fines imposed by foreign regulators are becoming an acceptable thing almost every day. In the Senate, we increasingly see antitrust law dragged into larger economic arguments that are heavier in inflammatory rhetoric than in careful deliberation. Allow me, then, to offer a few thoughts on the matter, and to directly address the rising controversy. America has always been--and, I haven't a doubt, will remain--the economic and technological marvel of the world. Cradled in the best traditions of the West and animated by a culture equal parts industrious, creative, and restless, our system has produced the most prosperous people in human history. It has shown its shortcomings, to be sure. But on the whole, the American economy is unrivaled by any other. Indeed, at times its blessings are so bountiful, its provisions for the creation of wealth so effective, that we tend to take it for granted in this country. We tend, at times, to forget what got us here.…”