A dive into Lina Khan's first meeting as FTC chair this week
Howdy r/Superstonk, Jellyfish here, I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend! I'd like to revisit the media coverage from this press release this week.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/07/ftc-authorizes-investigations-key-enforcement-priorities
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/01/ftc-lina-khan-antitrust-chair-497764 https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/1/22559131/ftc-open-meeting-antitrust-chair-lina-khan-sherman-act-powers https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/01/business/economy-stock-market-news
Let's dive in!
Lina Khan’s first meeting of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday was unusual as it was held in public an icluded public comments for the first time--breaking decades of precadent.
She opened the meeting with a brief statement about the importance of transparency to both inform the public of the agency’s work and create a “robust participatory process” and that the FTC has a mandate to protect “consumers, workers and honest business owners” and “to promote a fair and thriving economy that is representative of all Americans.”
Prior Chairs have defined the FTC’s primary focus as promoting consumer welfare and how businesses' conduct affects the ways people purchase goods and services, often attributed as its influence on price. But Chair Khan seems to be suggesting a new view is needed, which considers fairness and privacy.
After the statement, the Commission pushed through a series of actions on partisan lines: fines for companies that lie about products being "Made in America", greater latitude for launching antitrust probes and lawsuits. And a wider door to writing new regulations.
More Rules are coming:
After Congress passed legislation in 1980 to cut back on the FTC’s rulemaking, the agency adopted procedures that Slaughter said even further curtailed the agency’s ability to propose rules. A proposal adopted Thursday aims to eliminate those “self-imposed” requirements while still allowing “ample transparency and opportunity for public participation,” said Slaughter, the agency's former acting chair.
The Agency has also reformed the threshold for antitrust probes. Before, the agency required its antitrust attorneys to get the full commission's approval (comission is split 3-2 with whatever party has the presidency) to begin investigations. In contrast, attorneys from the agency's consumer branch often have had wider latitude to send out subpoenas and document requests to companies or ask for interviews with business employees, under so-called “omnibus” resolutions.
Now, antitrust lawyers will only need 1 commissioner's approval to subpoena information for certain kinds of investigations, including those that involve repeat offenders, technology companies or digital platforms and pharmaceutical companies or hospitals.
As you can imagine, the other commissioners were less than pleased by all of this.
Christine Wilson, said she supported transparency but added that the new format excluded knowledgeable staff and limited discussion between the commissioners. She also complained that she learned of the change only last week. Ms. Wilson called the meeting “chaos” before voting no on a motion to pass a new “Made in the U.S.A.” rule for labels.
So why the hubabaloo at the meeting?
Posturing of course!
There we have it! Lina Khan is making waves at the FTC, now lets see how that plays out. If she maintains this parisan tone and 'streamlines' the Agency's activities, the FTC could very well wade into these matters before the SEC finishes deleting its browser history. However, turning the 106-year-old agency around has to be a bit like driving an oil tanker in the Suez Canal, and we all know how making turns can go...
Apes buying and hodling to fix these messes
Thanks and I hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend!
