Good Riddance, Lina Khan

Reason ^ | November 7, 2024 | Elizabeth Nolan Brown

[Twotone]

No one was sure what a Kamala Harris presidency would mean for Lina Khan, the controversial chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appointed by President Joe Biden. But with Harris, too, on her way out, and Republicans slated to take over the White House, we can probably say goodbye—and good riddance—to Khan's reign.

With Khan heading the agency, the FTC has taken an aggressive stance against mergers and acquisitions, an aggressive stance against big tech companies, and an odd view of the agency's purpose and authority.

"Khan has framed several regulatory issues in the dramatic terms of someone facing an emergency that cannot wait for congressional action," noted Kevin Frazier, an assistant professor at St. Thomas University College of Law, in a recent Reason piece. But "the FTC does not have any emergency powers. Congressional inaction does not increase the FTC's jurisdiction. Judicial opposition does not excuse the FTC's experimentation with novel theories of enforcement. Even economic upheaval doesn't change anything about when and how the FTC may fulfill its finite mandate."

That finite mandate was something Khan and her supporters seemed intent on constantly chipping away at.

Even before being appointed FTC Chair, Khan was one of the leaders of a strange—and often infuriating—school of thought about antitrust law. Known as neo-Brandeisians, new structuralists, or sometimes (by critics) as "hipster antitrust," this school dismissed the idea that antitrust's purpose should be to protect consumer welfare. Instead, neo-Brandeisians were concerned with an abstract promotion of competition—a fixation leading to the conviction that businesses getting too big, successful, or dominant was itself something to be feared and stopped.

Proving actual harm to consumers was out; proving that practices harmed a big business' competitors was the new game. But under these rules, doing anything that successful businesses do—including innovating, bundling products for improved efficiency, and acquiring new products—could be considered part of an antitrust law violation.

As you might imagine, this is a philosophy that could prove bad for not just business but for consumers, too.

It also proved legally dubious. Under Khan's leadership, the FTC has embarked on a series of enforcement fiascos and racked up an impressive roster of losses in court. This has been the silver lining of Khan and her ilk's novel ideas about antitrust law: they're often out of line with modern legal standards for how to interpret antitrust cases and current conceptions about the proper role of the FTC.

But that silver lining may have been short-lived, as Khan and the Biden administration began remaking rules and regulations (like those surrounding mergers and acquisitions) to better accommodate their worldview. So, the sooner Khan and other neo-Brandeisians lose power, the better for free markets and consumer welfare.

Of course, there's no guarantee that Trump's FTC picks will be better. Today's Republican party has actually adopted some of the anti–free market ideas beloved by many Democrats, and almost no one embodies this tendency better than future Vice President J.D. Vance. Vance has even complimented Khan, saying last February that he looks at her "as one of the few people in the Biden administration that I think is doing a pretty good job."

So it's not totally inconceivable that the upcoming Trump/Vance administration could keep Khan around. But doing so would give tacit credit to Biden, and I can't see Trump being OK with that. Nor is it like Trump to pass up an opportunity to install someone he perceives as his own loyalist.

Trump's FTC pick will almost certainly come with his or her own problems, and some of these might even echo Khan's issues. The previous Trump administration was hostile to tech companies, too, albeit not as aggressively apt to use antitrust law against them as the Biden administration has been.

But, for now, let's enjoy what little political comforts we can, and celebrate the fact that Khan—and her brand of expansive antitrust antics—are likely not long for Washington.

[ConservativeMind]

We should not have companies going to China and having the Chinese government own any of them, nor get their patents and such.

[jdt1138]

It would be good to have a thread on the people behind the curtain and where these people will go to bide their time.

Yohannes Abraham, director of day-to-day operations, former staffer on the presidential transition of Joe Biden, former staffer in the Obama White House. Planned presidential transition head for Kamala Harris.
Abraham was born in Virginia to immigrant Ethiopian parents and raised in Springfield, Virginia.

Julie A. Su acting United States Secretary of Labor since 2023
Su was born in Madison, Wisconsin, as a second-generation American. Her mother, unable to afford a ticket on a passenger ship, came to the United States on a cargo ship from China; her father is from Taiwan

[Pres Raygun]

I have my doubts about anyone appointed by Biden, but I think we have far too little competition especially amongst large corporations in major industries and historically have approved mergers that resulted in 2-3 competitors in a single market. I also would like to see the Trump FTC work to break up vertically integrated monopolies like entertainment, media, news and communications conglomerates.

[Twotone]

I agree about large corporations, & think we probably need to break them up. I think it’s her philosophy, & stepping out of the FTC’s lane that’s the issue.

[lepton]

Corporatism has many of the same faults as big government. That said, the FTC has been hunting in this manner well outside the few megacorps.

[ealgeone]

I’ve watched some hearings where Su was on the stand....woman is dumb as rocks.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

That was the goal of Mussolini.

The appearance of private ownership.

But the corporations are actually colluding with the government and carrying out governmental directives.

Don’t like what your company is pushing? Go to another company. But that company is carrying out the same governmental directives.

And this plan of Corporatism goes one step further. It appoints one corporation to lead each of the major industries that comprise modern civilization.

And it gives a monopoly to that corporation in that sector.

When Zero appointed Immelt of GE (which is at the top of several sectors) to be one of his chief advisors, Zero was essentially announcing to all corporation, “I’m adopting Mussolini’s Corporatism, so you’d better get in line if you want to continue to do business.”

[ridesthemiles]

KAHN sure isn’t a Norwegian or Irish name....

[Liz]

Great idea.......a thread on the people behind the curtain and
where these Biden parasites people will go to bide their time.

Yohannes embraces his Ethiopian roots.

Yohannes Abraham, director of Biden day-to-day operations, was on Joe Biden's transition team, former Obama staffer. Transition head for Harris, if she won. Abraham was born in Virginia to immigrant Ethiopian parents and raised in Springfield, Va.

Julie A. Su acting Biden US Secy of Labor since 2023 Su was born in Madison, Wisconsin, as a second-generation American. Her mother came to the US on a cargo ship from China; her father is from Taiwan.

[Uncle Miltie]

WINNING!

[aimhigh]

With Khan heading the agency, the FTC has taken an aggressive stance against mergers and acquisitions,

Pray tell, what has she done to stop Soros from buying up radio stations?

[riverdawg]

“KAHN sure isn’t a Norwegian or Irish name....”

KHAN not KAHN