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
