Economics: Why Does The Biden Administration Hate The Consumers?

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Believe it or not, inflation is read hot but the Biden Administration wants to fight against low prices! Biden protege Lina Khan, who leads the powerful antitrust authority Federal Trade Commission (FTC), wants to reanimate the Robinson-Patman Act from 1936 (twitter  bloomberglaw americanactionforum.). The initiators aimed to prevent big chains to sell cheap in order to protect small and less efficient competitors (wikipedia   hbr.org). The law was seldomly enforced because it hurts consumers, especially those with low income, fuels inflation and punishes efficiency (slowing economic growth).

FTC chair Kahn & board members Bedoya & Slaughter, who control the FTC, dont`t care about consumers, inflation, efficiency & economy growth ( promarket  fee.org). They want to use Robinson-Patman as an additional weapon in their crusade against big corporations ( drivebycuriosity  bloomberg).  

Khan is a radical who became famous when she - still a law student - published a paper where she lamented that Amazon`s prices are too low (!). She claimed that the company is a monopoly or will become one, ignoring history, economics and the existence of Walmart, Target, Ebay, Shopify and the growing number of other online sellers  (yalelawjournal ).

Alvaro Bedoya, the newest member of the FTC board and Khan supporter, wants to punish stores for providing the lowest possible prices to consumers (CarlSzabo ). The commissioner claims that efficiency is unfair because efficient companies hurt inefficient competitors (ftc.gov ).  

Kahn & Co. declare low prices as harmful for competitors, ignoring their advantage for consumers. Enforcing Robinson-Patman would prevent big retailers — such as Amazon, Target, Walmart and other chain retailers - to force their suppliers to sell to them relatively cheap ( americanaction ).  

When I lived in Germany I bought food and many other things at Aldi which offers very cheap products - and millions of other consumers did so. Aldi has low prices because the retailer is very efficient and forces her suppliers to deliver cheap products. Millions of consumers - including myself - benefited from Aldi´s low prices. This way Aldi, Liedl and similar supermarket chains keep a lid on Germany´s food prices. The suppliers of Aldi, Liedl and similar chains adapted to the requirements and became themselves very efficient and cost conscious in order to keep their prices low. 

If the Biden administration would forbid Amazon, Target, Walmart & Co. to purchase for low costs it would force them to hike their prices - which would pour gasoline into inflation and reduce the standard of living for low income groups who depend on discount stores. The change also would reduce the pressure to produce efficiently and with low costs and would so encourage waste and inefficient behavior. Not of concern for Khan & Co. Apparently they want to extend Big Government - what ever it may cost. Consumers be damned!