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As far back as Adam Smith we’ve been aware that the primary danger of capitalism is monopolies. And Standard Oil, the monopoly of the early 1900’s was practically a cartoon villain. And the government fought to break up monopolies…for about 50 years. Then came Ronald Reagan and the religion of deregulation. And monopolies have flourished ever since…
Except in 2021 the credit card senator appointed some fighters to the FTC and they have had some real results. They stopped the merger of Jet Blue and Spirit Airlines which was projected to raise costs at least 20 percent for consumers. They have brought Kroger and Albertsons to court to fight that mega market mega merger.
Lina Khan has brought an aggressiveness long missing from the FTC and has been described as it’s best leader ever. Her approval by the senate was considered a huge victory for Progressives and cheered by Elizabeth Warren. I couldn’t find anything in writing to confirm this but it looks to me like this was part of the deal required for Bernie’s and Warren’s aggressive support after the primary against Trump.
While it is easy to scroll my articles and find much criticism of Biden and mainstream Democrats as we approach the general election I’m going to make an effort to also talk about what the Biden admin has done right and accomplished.
