The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that politicians worldwide claim Big Tech is too dominant -- and that requires regulatory crackdowns. Guest columnist Ken Fisher says Canadian regulators tout international tech taxes, and they are not alone. European politicians yapped endlessly about "fixes" during the run-up to recent European Union elections. America's looming November vote fans similar break-up-the-biggies talk. Fine them! Tax them! Break them up! Washington's lawsuit alleges Apple's smart phone is a "monopoly." That is just one example. Canada's years-long antitrust probe into Google's on-line advertising practices is another. It is all dangerously wrong nonsense. Whatever you think of Big Tech, political fixes are not the answer. Capitalism's secret lifeblood is creative destruction -- the non-stop churn of start-ups out-thinking, outflanking and replacing slowly aging giants -- solves the dilemma naturally. It is Adam Smith's legendary "invisible hand" of 1776, which guides open markets. Dominance is not permanence, ever. Consider the largest 20 global companies by market capitalization in 1970. Just four from 1970's list made the cut in 2010; today there are none. What happened? Innovation.
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