> there still is the question of _forcing_ the government
> to make the regulatory changes Jordan discusses. Ordinary
> politicking won't, it seems to me, do the trick.
Doesn't everyone know by now that the current way to Get Things Done in Washington is to hire a lobbying firm?
Ooops, except when it doesn't work out anyway:
<bright-spot>
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/att-withdraws-39-bid-for-t-mobile/
>> AT&T Ends $39 Billion Bid for T-Mobile
>>
>> AT&T on Monday ended its effort to buy T-Mobile USA, acknowledging
>> that it could not overcome stiff opposition by the Obama
>> administration
>> to form the nation's biggest cellphone service provider.
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> For the Obama administration, the collapse of the deal is
>> confirmation
>> that it has reinvigorated antitrust oversight that it said had become
>> weak under its predecessor. The Justice Department took the
>> aggressive
>> step of suing to block the deal in late August, while the Federal
>> Communications Commission had signaled its intent to fight the merger
>> as well.
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> AT&T had prepared for battle with the government, adopting at times
>> an openly hostile stance toward the F.C.C. And few people thought
>> the Justice Department would be able to fend off AT&T, whose
>> Washington lobbying operation is legendary.
</bright-spot>