Major Japanese utilities face record amount of antitrust fines

Japan's trade watchdog is likely to impose a record amount of fines on several major utilities after finding they formed a cartel and obstructed the liberalization of the country's electricity market, sources close to the matter have said.

Don't worry! PM Kishida announced in his effort to "protect the livelihoods of the Japanese people" he is fighting inflation in utility costs by directly subsidizing the utility companies!

The amount passed on as savings to be decided by the utility execs, the amount of savings for a particular household may differ.

Or may not even be apparent at all.

It is probable these taxpayer funded subsidies will go in part to pay for the fines for the anti-monopolization laws.

That is the problem with corporate welfare ; the amount that will trickle down to benefit the public has a way of getting diverted to the priorities and pockets of the execs and shareholders only.

Exactly, dagon. And, in truth, the fines are probably paltry shared between three companies. But the Fair Trade commission can proudly show its face and justify itself for one more year. Our choices as consumers and citizens seem to be either to watch the corporate takeover of government, as it mostly is in Japan, or go libertarian and have no protection at all against corporate greed and exploitation.

And where will these fines go ?

Take the following -

"finding they formed a cartel and obstructed the liberalization of ..."

And prefix with any organization in the country.

Fine strategic National Energy companies in favor of foreign companies, good, good.

Indeed, Prime Minister Kishida will have a gift to take back to Davos.

Japan is rife with this type of conniving.

From communications to transport to food and a myriad of others.

Most people never know.

However as an obvious example, anyone who has lived abroad with an amazing food choice should look in their local supermarket at the minuscule paltry choice on offer-this is just scratching the surface!

shangai eletric power is All Smilles

As long as it's cheaper to pay the fine..

A rare case of the government doing something pro-competition. If only this were top of the iceberg. Such collusion seems rife in Japan.

That is the problem with corporate welfare ; the amount that will trickle down to benefit the public has a way of getting diverted to the priorities and pockets of the execs and shareholders only.

That’s a great criticism of big government subsidy trickle down.

Indeed if the goal were to see that the public got benefits, you’d just give the public the “benefits” by cutting such spending and taxes, and eliminating all the middlemen. But this is not the way of big government central planners who believe that government owns, and people ought be grateful when kindly “given” some more of the money that they earned themselves in the first place.