Amid 17% inflation, Biden attacks Amazon for being too convenient
Tiana Lowe Doescher
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Since President Joe Biden began his presidency, overall prices are up 17%, including a 20% increase in food prices, a 63% increase in gas prices, and a 26% increase in car repair prices. Naturally, the president has his eye on the prize and is laser-focused on targeting the real villain: Amazon.
Biden’s Federal Trade Commission, 16 Democratic state attorneys general, and one RINO from Oklahoma have sued Amazon, inconceivably claiming that the e-commerce company uses monopoly power to charge higher prices than its competitors.
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“The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them,” FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan said.
To be clear, amid the worst inflation crisis in 40 years, the Biden administration is attacking perhaps the current crown jewel of capitalism, a service that helped some 230 million Americans survive the government lockdowns by delivering cheap products quickly to their doorsteps and continues to help us find the best prices amid a market of broken price signaling. But beyond the ruinous political optics of Khan’s blockheaded battle, it simply doesn’t pass the legal muster of an actual, serious attempt at trust-busting.
Let us take a look at the actual statistics of Amazon’s market power. Amazon Web Services comprise a third of the cloud computing infrastructure services market, a plurality, but far from the majority market share required to constitute monopoly power under the Sherman Antitrust Act. Amazon also accounts for a little more than a third of all e-commerce sales, but Walmart’s e-commerce operations are closing the gap. Whereas the former’s sales grew by less than 5% last year, the latter’s sales grew by nearly three times that. With a 7% share of the online advertising market, Amazon still trails well behind Meta and Google.
Even if Khan doesn’t know these simple statistics, the actual brains at the FTC do, hence their laughable argument that Amazon is a price gouger rather than the preeminent seller of the most competitive prices in the market. It’s slactivism under the guise of antitrust, but backed by a president keen on draining the entire purchasing power of our paychecks, the FTC’s lawsuit is no less dangerous than it is imbecilic.