3 ms·

Amazon's problem here is that the head of the FTC (Lina Khan) does not like Amazon. See her 2017 Yale Law Journal article about wanting to break them up [0].

by kyrra 4y ago

Amazon's problem here is that the head of the FTC (Lina Khan) does not like Amazon. See her 2017 Yale Law Journal article about wanting to break them up [0]. Many of the bureaucrats that Biden has hired into his administration do not like big business and will do whatever they can to stop them. [0] (PDF) https://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/e.710.Khan.805_zuvfyyeh.pdf https://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/e.710.Khan.805_zuvfyyeh.p...

itslennysfault 4y ago
Good. About time.
LeifCarrotson 4y ago
"Does not like Amazon" or "do not like big business" is an awfully unchariable way to frame it: She believes that "the current framework in antitrust —specifically its pegging competition to 'consumer welfare,' defined as short-term price effects— is unequipped to capture the architecture of market power in the modern economy." The FTC exists "to protect the public from deceptive or unfair business practices and from unfair methods of competition through law enforcement, advocacy, research, and education."[1] When Amazon and other big businesses harm the public through predatory pricing and other anticompetitive business practices, it's the FTC's obvious charter to do whatever they can to stop those businesses, whoever they are and whatever they're doing. [1] https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/mission https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/mission
advisedwang 4y ago
Their personal preferences don't matter that much. Even if these administrators are true believers in what they say and not just following the political winds, they're only going to be appointed if it's politically expedient for someone with that stance to be in that position. So the political determiner is not that Linda Khan doesn't like Amazon, but the politically favourable thing for the Democratic party is to have someone poking big tech * . This makes sense too - it courts people on the economic left who see big tech driving inequality in tech cities, it courts people concerned with privacy, it even courts some folks on the moderate right who see big tech as an enemy because of censorship. * And it is just big tech - you don't see the same rhetoric in other industries at the moment. For example Disney's ownership of Marvel, lucasfilm, Pixar, 20thC Fox, HBO, ABC, ESPN is approaching monopolistic but nobody is proposing blocking new acquisitions let alone breaking it up.

by kyrra 4y ago

itslennysfault 4y ago

Good. About time.

LeifCarrotson 4y ago

"Does not like Amazon" or "do not like big business" is an awfully unchariable way to frame it: She believes that "the current framework in antitrust —specifically its pegging competition to 'consumer welfare,' defined as short-term price effects— is unequipped to capture the architecture of market power in the modern economy." The FTC exists "to protect the public from deceptive or unfair business practices and from unfair methods of competition through law enforcement, advocacy, research, and education."[1] When Amazon and other big businesses harm the public through predatory pricing and other anticompetitive business practices, it's the FTC's obvious charter to do whatever they can to stop those businesses, whoever they are and whatever they're doing. [1] https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/mission https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/mission

advisedwang 4y ago

Their personal preferences don't matter that much. Even if these administrators are true believers in what they say and not just following the political winds, they're only going to be appointed if it's politically expedient for someone with that stance to be in that position. So the political determiner is not that Linda Khan doesn't like Amazon, but the politically favourable thing for the Democratic party is to have someone poking big tech * . This makes sense too - it courts people on the economic left who see big tech driving inequality in tech cities, it courts people concerned with privacy, it even courts some folks on the moderate right who see big tech as an enemy because of censorship. * And it is just big tech - you don't see the same rhetoric in other industries at the moment. For example Disney's ownership of Marvel, lucasfilm, Pixar, 20thC Fox, HBO, ABC, ESPN is approaching monopolistic but nobody is proposing blocking new acquisitions let alone breaking it up.