FTC head Lina Khan is fighting for an anti-monopoly America
Charged with enforcing #antitrust law and promoting #consumer#protection, the #FTC is nominally the regulator charged with stopping deals that will harm consumers.
But under successive administrations – Republican and Democratic – some critics charge the FTC stood by as industry after industry consolidated power in the hands of fewer and fewer companies.
All that changed under Joe #Biden, who has consistently attacked the monopolization of US business.
#Lina#Khan is his most high-profile warrior.
She has redefined the battlefield in such a sweeping manner that some argue there is no going back no matter who wins 2024’s election.
But tough talk is just that – talk. Drawing a line under an era of light-touch antitrust enforcement has proven easier said than done.
Last week the FTC sued to block #Kroger’s $24.6bn takeover of rival grocer #Albertsons.
If approved, the agency warned, the U.S.’s largest-ever supermarket merger would raise prices for millions of shoppers.
Kroger and Albertsons would collectively have over 5,000 stores and 700,000 employees across 48 states, according to the FTC, which claimed an executive involved in the deal had conceded it was “basically creating a monopoly”.
