Have Khan and FTC done anything of note? Not being snide. But big oligopolies remain big. Maybe they stopped them from concentrating capital even more?
I can’t stand Biden for so many different reasons, but one of the few good things he’s done is putting her in to lead the FTC.
A few hits:
- Launching a study on surveillance pricing (corporations are using your data to sell you something at one price, but your neighbor the same product at another price)
- Sued to block the merger of Kroger-Albertsons (which would reduce competition and raise grocery prices)
- Attempted to block the merger of Microsoft with Activision (pretty sure the FTC lawsuit lost, but is under appeal)
- Investigating Microsoft on anti-trust grounds
- Banned non-compete clauses from employee contracts
That last one got fucked up by a right wing judge in Texas, but I want to point out that the FTC issued the non-compete ban based on existing rulemaking authority.
Khan is very aware of anti-trust rules that are on the books, but haven’t been applied in the neoliberal era. She is the first FTC chair in decades to start applying them.
That is why so many billionaires are publicly calling for her to be fired.
Again, I think Biden is awful, but Khan as FTC chair is a very good thing.
If you want to read more about her record, check out The American Prospect. David Dayen is a journalist that writes about monopolies pretty heavily, he is a huge fan of what Khan is doing.
