For millions of people trying to stretch a paycheck, warehouse stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club are lifelines. Families rely on bulk discounts to keep grocery bills manageable and household costs under control.
With many progressive Democrats willing to accept as much, one lingering case from the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission threatens the very pricing model that makes those savings possible.
Among the many disastrous legacies of the Biden administration — millions of illegal immigrants pouring in through his open southern border, billions in taxpayer giveaways to “alternative” energy schemes, rising crime rates — one of the biggest catastrophes was the appointment of Lina Khan as chairwoman of the FTC.
FTC CLEARS $5 BILLION NVIDIA-INTEL DEAL DESPITE ANTITRUST CONCERNS
Khan brought a catastrophic mix of inexperience and enthusiastic progressive socialist-style radicalism to the job of overseeing the agency charged with protecting consumers and enforcing antitrust regulations. The blame is not entirely hers. After all, she was just four years out of college when former President Joe Biden shocked everyone by naming her to the job. The president was (plenty) old enough to know better.
As detailed by one profile, “Khan rose to prominence following the publication of a note she authored in the Yale Law Journal criticizing antitrust enforcement as being unequipped to address market power in the digital economy and calling for a new framework.”
And what did she envision as key to a new framework? What was the philosophy that apparently aroused Sleepy Joe from his slumber long enough to hand her the keys to the FTC?
Khan advocated “protecting labor interests” by aggressively using antitrust laws to block mergers.
Protecting Big Labor was a theme running throughout the Biden presidency. The end result of the Biden-Big Labor love affair was runaway inflation, regulatory expansion, and skyrocketing interest rates.
As business writer Liz Hoffman put it, Khan at the FTC “dusted off laws, some dating from the early 20th century, and sued companies under novel theories of harm.” As one would expect, Khan’s tenure as FTC chairwoman exhibited the classic hallmarks of someone experiencing on-the-job training.
For instance, on her watch, the FTC briefly tried banning most noncompete agreements until a federal court said, “Huh? No way.”
But Khan’s most troubling crusade targeted business practices that actually lower prices for consumers.
After Biden’s loss to President Donald Trump in 2024, Khan was soon out of a job. But not quite soon enough. She stuck around long enough to file a last-minute action against Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, alleging that the company’s practice of offering larger discounts to big-box stores such as Costco than to smaller competitors was price discrimination.
Trump FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has had choice words for this Biden-era case, and for good reason. In my 50 years of working at King Construction, nearly every cost quoted to us and every unit price we quote to our customers reflects volume discounts. One simply cannot manufacture and sell one widget for the same unit price as 1,000 widgets. That does not make any economic sense, and the FTC effectively forcing businesses to do so would force an untold number of U.S. companies out of business.
Fortunately, a brand-new discovery process in the courts may expose Khan’s fishing expedition for what it was, a farce, and close the books on this case for good.
Khan has moved on from the FTC and into the orbit of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, for whom she served as transition team leader and adviser. So, let’s allow the FTC to move on from her, too. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to spend tens of millions of dollars litigating a theory that threatens to make everyday goods more expensive.
The Trump administration has already begun dismantling many of the regulatory excesses of the Biden years. Ending this misguided lawsuit should be next on the list.
Because when the government attacks the very pricing models that make goods affordable, it isn’t protecting consumers. It’s punishing them.
Steve King is a former member of Congress who served on the House Judiciary Committee.