The Biden administration is waging war on America’s leading job creators. Its latest suit against Google may have grabbed headlines this week, but this is just one of many assaults on America’s economy by two government agencies: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In the past eight months, unelected, radical bureaucrats leading these agencies have attempted to block the growth of, or completely break-up, America’s leading businesses. If the Biden administration succeeds in limiting growth or outright shattering them, it will mean even more job losses for Americans.
Layoffs in America’s technology sector have dominated 2023 business news already as stock values of these companies have plummeted. Microsoft is down 26%, Google is down 36% and Meta is down 65% year to date.
META CHIEF WARNS AGAINST GOVERNMENT OVERREACH
And yet, Biden’s DOJ just filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming it is some unstoppable Goliath. The FTC is citing antitrust concerns to block Meta’s acquisition of a virtual reality business and Microsoft’s acquisition of a video game company. Two plus two doesn’t equal five – it’s clear that one of these things is wrong, either the facts or the FTC/DOJ lawsuits.
Digging a little deeper, the math in the antitrust suit against Google doesn’t add up, either. The DOJ argues that Google is a "monopoly" in the advertising space since it doesn’t face competition and is harming consumers. But Google accounts for only 29% of the digital advertising market, and that percentage has been declining for years. The prices for digital ads are also at historic lows while quality has never been higher. This can only happen in a highly competitive market.
Make no mistake: politics and ideology are driving this war on American tech, not consumer protection. Just look at the biography of Lina Khan, who leads the FTC. Khan rocketed to fame via a law school paper complaining about Amazon’s prices being too low. Then, she gave progressive speeches, including one where she lauded a far-left organization that claims "the free market is dead" and calls for universal basic income.
Once installed at the FTC, Khan launched several progressive attacks, including blaming gas stations as the cause of high gas prices and meat producers for expensive hamburgers. She is another example of a Biden administration official who is attacking the private sector despite never having worked in it.
As her zeal for combating low prices shows, Khan shows little care about American consumers and is shamelessly using her powerful position to advance progressive policies. And while she may believe her ideals will help, reality shows they will cost Americans their jobs.
We’ve seen what out-of-touch progressivism looks like – an economy that is failing with runaway inflation. While the elites at the FTC complain about prices being too low, Americans suffer daily from soaring grocery and gas bills. America’s economy and our workers will continue to be harmed by this agenda. If you don’t believe me, just ask a former coal worker in West Virginia and Kentucky.
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This is merely a pattern from lifetime government bureaucrats put in place by President Joe Biden. It is a "by any means necessary" approach to governance that tends to set aside facts, the law and the Constitution in pursuit of political goals.
But make no mistake: Biden’s attack on jobs does not stop with tech. FTC commissioners want to revive rules that would ban bulk discounts on goods. They are actively trying to block Coke and Pepsi from giving bulk discounts on soda, which would cripple the benefits we enjoy at Costco and Sam’s Club while costing those workers jobs.
The FTC wants to make things like deferred compensation packages illegal, resulting in fewer employee benefits. And Biden’s Treasury Department wants to decimate Budweiser and turn all beer into "craft beer," undermining work for the beverage industry.
Again, they’re doing all this — undermining job security, getting upset about low prices — instead of focusing on improving the American economy and decreasing inflation.
The Biden administration is off the rails. These examples from the FTC and DOJ are just a microcosm of the systemic personnel problems in our government. Fortunately, House Republicans seek to hold these agencies to account. They will demand answers and withhold funding from these rogue state actors. Here’s hoping this change happens soon before our economy suffers further.
