When antitrust enforcement isn’t sufficiently aggressive, it hurts the functioning of the free market, former US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said today, and that’s one reason why there is more agreement across ideological lines on that topic than on others.
When antitrust enforcement isn’t sufficiently aggressive, it hurts the functioning of the free market, former US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said today, and that’s one reason why there is more agreement across ideological lines on that topic than on others.Speaking at a conference,* Khan said there is increased recognition that "it is not good to have an economy that is centrally planned” by a few large firms. She declined to comment on praise of her work by conservatives such as Stephen Bannon.
Khan, who chaired the agency during the Biden administration, said unchecked monopoly power impacts people throughout society.
She also said that when enforcers take action, litigation takes too long, which is why it’s important for remedies to be forward-looking, so companies that break the law don’t just pay a small penalty.
Khan criticized President Donald Trump’s firing of Democratic FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter because of policy disagreements. She said the firings were “clearly illegal,” adding they had already hurt the agency because it has paused its lawsuit against several pharmacy benefit managers over insulin pricing. Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, the only two remaining members on the commission, have recused themselves.
Bedoya and Slaughter have filed suit to get their jobs back, contending that the firings are illegal in light of the Supreme Court’s unanimous 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States that presidents can only fire members of independent commissions for cause.
*Little Tech Competition Summit. Y Combinator: Washington, DC. April 2, 2025.
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