If authorized by the government, Whirlpool will buy Maytag, …

This bothers the pee-wang outta me. Big Gubmint and Big Bidness have this mutually-parasitic relationship. Big Gubmint creates a byzantine mercantilist regulatory burden to protect Big Bidness from competition and extracts confiscatory taxes in return.

The FTC was created precisely for the purpose of limiting competition to big, politically well-connected corporations; all collectivist-socialist regulatory schemes achieve the exact opposite of their publicly-stated founding goals, which are nothing more than propaganda in order to get the legislation passed.

The entire System is so thoroughly corrupt, self-serving, and well-entrenched that for it to reform itself would be a singular event in 6,000 years of recorded human history. Corrupt and bloated governments never reform themselves; they either collapse under their own weight or they are toppled by one its many enemies. And in its dying stages, corrupt systems become exponentially more corrupt and despotic in a panicked attempt to maintain the status quo. But, as Thomas Jefferson prophesied, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Lonnie White, who retired from Maytag and as a UAW union representative, said managers focused on cutting costs and jobs instead of the quality and dependability traits that were the company’s trademark.

“If they had concentrated on that … we wouldn’t be here today,” White said.

This comment hit the problem right on the head. Ignore all the other whiny reasons for why Maytag could no longer compete. Ask anyone who owns a newer Maytag appliance (includes Jenn-Air)– I think you’ll talk to lots of disappointed people. I know in the repair community, Maytag is viewed as little better than GE, the Great Satan of appliance manufacturers.

As far as Big Bidnesses go, I gotta say I think Whirlpool is about as good as you’re gonna get. They make technical repair information for their appliances easily available to all techs. Now, think about what a brilliant marketing move that is, I’m serious: techs can access all of Whirlpool’s service information easily and for free on the Internet. Techs will know how to fix a puzzling Whirlpool appliance problem. Tech makes enough money to buy groceries for family that day. Tech like Whirlpool. Tech tell other customers to buy Whirlpool ‘cuz tech likem to fixem. Whirlpool sells more appliances, gains market share and makes more money.