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It's been disappointing to see Khan's FTC focus so much on big tech—and frequently fail to make their case—when so many other anti-competitive behavior in other

It's been disappointing to see Khan's FTC focus so much on big tech—and frequently fail to make their case—when so many other anti-competitive behavior in other sectors has gone unchecked. The consolidation of medical firms and hospitals comes to mind. Feels like they are picking their fights based more on ideology than on trying to minimize harms to American consumers from anti-competitive practices.

slowmovintarget 3y ago
Hospital and medical firm consolidation was a predicted (and likely intentional) affect of the ACA. The head of the FTC wouldn't interrupt something seen as desirable by the administration.
- thisgoesnowhere 3y ago
  This seems irrationally conspiratorial. Big tech is ridiculously influential if you equate lobbying money to influence. Amazon, Meta and Alphabet are at the top of the list for lobbying spend https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders
emgeee 3y ago
FWIW Khan originally came to prominence because of her paper on Amazon specifically so it makes sense big tech would be a priority.
monero-xmr 3y ago
It's more about saying they tried to do something (virtue signalling) than actually accomplishing anything. Think about it - would going after a bunch of tiny firms no one ever heard of make any headlines? No. But if the FTC goes after FAANG, even if it loses each one, they can blame the judiciary ("bad people") and signal they are trying to the part of the elite class that cares about this.
JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> they are picking their fights based more on ideology Khan is fighting the best fight she can. The problem is she's woefully inexperienced in so many domains critical to the job. I'm increasingly convinced her hire was a deceitful compromise to placate the base, because she says the right things, as well as corporate interests, because she can't follow through on them. I've seen two big law firms tell companies to pursue risky mergers; while there is a higher chance they'll be challenged, there is a much higher chance those challenges will fail.
deleted 3y ago
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nabla9 3y ago
Perception problem. FTC's big tech battles are the only ones getting publicity. https://www.ftc.gov/industry/health-care https://www.ftc.gov/industry/health-care The US has two anti-trust authorities. FTC and DOJ antitrust division. US vs Google is DOJ case.

slowmovintarget 3y ago

Hospital and medical firm consolidation was a predicted (and likely intentional) affect of the ACA. The head of the FTC wouldn't interrupt something seen as desirable by the administration.

thisgoesnowhere 3y ago
This seems irrationally conspiratorial. Big tech is ridiculously influential if you equate lobbying money to influence. Amazon, Meta and Alphabet are at the top of the list for lobbying spend https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders

emgeee 3y ago

FWIW Khan originally came to prominence because of her paper on Amazon specifically so it makes sense big tech would be a priority.

monero-xmr 3y ago

It's more about saying they tried to do something (virtue signalling) than actually accomplishing anything. Think about it - would going after a bunch of tiny firms no one ever heard of make any headlines? No. But if the FTC goes after FAANG, even if it loses each one, they can blame the judiciary ("bad people") and signal they are trying to the part of the elite class that cares about this.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> they are picking their fights based more on ideology Khan is fighting the best fight she can. The problem is she's woefully inexperienced in so many domains critical to the job. I'm increasingly convinced her hire was a deceitful compromise to placate the base, because she says the right things, as well as corporate interests, because she can't follow through on them. I've seen two big law firms tell companies to pursue risky mergers; while there is a higher chance they'll be challenged, there is a much higher chance those challenges will fail.

deleted 3y ago

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nabla9 3y ago

Perception problem. FTC's big tech battles are the only ones getting publicity. https://www.ftc.gov/industry/health-care https://www.ftc.gov/industry/health-care The US has two anti-trust authorities. FTC and DOJ antitrust division. US vs Google is DOJ case.