Not to sound like a vinyl platter sporting multiple scratches across its groovy surface, Blawgletter continues to wonder why the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice still hasn’t brought a major new price-fixing case this year — and only one in more than a year.  We reported on the phenomenon last month

What has happened since?  The Division charged a Canadian with conspiring to defraud purchasers of window blind slats.  The conspiracy involved efforts to raise slat prices by eight percent during a four-month period in 2002.  But, for reasons Blawgletter cannot decipher, the Division chose wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud rather than price-fixing with which to prosecute the price fixer.

Don’t get Blawgletter wrong.  We prefer some prosecution of price fixers — even unsuccessful small-time ones from Canada — to none at all.  But come on, guys; you really can do better.

Barry Barnett

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