WASHINGTON AP – From busting up John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust in 1911 to going after Microsoft’s use of its Windows monopoly, antitrust policy has been an important element of the U.S. regulatory landscape.

Now, in tough recession times, the Obama administration is swinging back the pendulum, maintaining that lax enforcement over the past decade has worsened economic woes and hurt consumers by failing to protect business competition.