GE's supporters argue that the bureaucrats in Brussels placed too much weight on the interests of competitors, rather than those of consumers.
In Europe, where the interests of competitors play more of a role in antitrust cases, regulators have taken a more critical view.
"If the Olympics are supposed to be the pinnacle event, then why aren't the pinnacle events leading up to it going to be recognised as the qualifying events?" laments Chas Guldemond, a professional rider widely thought to have a shot at Olympic gold and the co-founder of We Are Snowboarding, a group lobbying to align the interests of competitors and event organisers.
In fact, what many supporters of an antitrust investigation of Google do is to intentionally conflate the interests of consumers with the interests of competitors of Google.
Running the BBC – which because it is publicly financed through a licence fee is subject to more or less continual political comment and scrutiny, and because it is the biggest player in UK broadcasting by some distance of continual interest to competitors – is one of the toughest and most demanding jobs in British public life.
They would reveal whether money was made in countries unpopular with some voters and facts of interest to competitors, who might discover that the company's profits had sagged in, say, Britain during a certain year while soaring in Japan.
They said the generic advertisements promoted the interests of their competitors, the large hog feedlots and their corporate owners, and offered no benefits to them.
For example, other banks could see the value of their own JGB holdings, which are also substantial, fall.In the longer term, one of the challenges for the privatisation of Japan Post Bank (as also for that of the insurance company) will be balancing the need to generate an adequate return from its sale with that of protecting the interests of smaller competitors.
In his closing arguments in the China trade debate, Speaker Hastert asked the House to weigh the significance of the Chinese market, noting the intense interest of our global competitors.
He said potential public funding for the Circuit of Wales "should be treated on its own merits", adding: "What wouldn't be fair would be if assistance for the Circuit of Wales were stymied by the self-interest of a competitor such as Silverstone".
