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>1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson–Patman_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson–Patman_Act I'm not a lawyer, but a cursory search shows there's a
by gruez 5d ago
>1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson–Patman_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson–Patman_Act
I'm not a lawyer, but a cursory search shows there's a bunch of carveouts. It's not a straightforward ban on all favorable pricing for big players. For instance, if there's an actual cost justification (eg. bigger buyer = more efficient shipping) that's allowed. Same with offering volume discounts that are available to all buyers. That's not to say everything's above board, but it's not as simple as "wow big box stores get better pricing than mom and pop shops, so there must be federal laws being violated".
- runako 5d agoI hesitated before linking that specific statute because I suspected someone would parse it as you have. Not a bad thing, just distracts from the larger point that the US government currently has tools (of which Robinson-Patman is only one) to prevent & reverse the extreme consolidation that harms every American. In the context of this article -- we may not need a new ban specific to preventing private equity from owning medical practices. We could simply enforce existing laws around e.g. market consolidation, consumer harm, etc. Adding a new law to also be ignored seems silly.