FINALLY: Trump MEETS HIS MATCH in LEGAL update

California's Attorney General possesses independent authority to investigate and potentially block large corporate mergers, such as the proposed Paramount/Warner Bros Discovery deal, even if federal agencies like the DOJ or FTC approve them. This power stems from state antitrust laws and the ability to conduct independent reviews based on impacts on competition, prices, wages, and consumer choice within the state.

We are looking at this merger and whether it violates antitrust law, whether it has whether it's anti-competitive, whether it is going to raise prices and lower wages for workers and reduce competition and uh quality and choice... We have independent authority as a state... if the US DOJ uh approves the merger, we still have an opportunity to block the merger if we wish.

Historically, corporate consolidation generally results in increased prices for consumers, decreased product or service quality, lower wages for workers, and reduced market choice due to diminished competition.

Generally, when you have corporate consolidation, prices go up, quality goes down, uh wages get lower. Um choice is decreased. Uh um and so, you know, there's less competition.

State attorneys general are actively stepping up to enforce antitrust laws and protect consumers, particularly in the absence of perceived robust federal action by agencies like the DOJ and FTC. California, with its large Department of Justice, is positioned to lead these efforts.

In the absence of the federal government doing their role, doing their job, states need to step up and fill that role and fill that gap. California is the largest state department of justice in the nation.

California has filed a state-level antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging a price-fixing scheme. Amazon allegedly demands that vendors selling on its platform either raise prices for the same product on other retail sites to match Amazon's higher price or remove the product from those other platforms entirely, thereby artificially inflating prices and eliminating lower-priced alternatives.

Amazon claims that they have the lowest price on their platform. Uh but what they do is they actually raise prices. Uh when there is a uh a vendor on their platform has uh the same product on a on another platform... they demand that the vendor raise the price on the other platform.

While initially a multi-state and federal effort, the antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation/Ticketmaster is increasingly relying on states to 'carry the load' due to concerns that the federal government may not maintain a strong position for settlement or trial. The case targets Live Nation's alleged monopolistic practices across ticketing, promotion, and venues, which lead to inflated ticket prices.

We believe uh that the the federal government might be um not acting as we hope they would in staying strong and staying firm... it's looking more and more unfortunately like the states are going to have to carry the load, which we can and we will.