With economic
pessimism widespread
and a presidential election looming, the White House is desperate to distance themselves from “Bidenomics.”
After dubbing
it the “word of the day, word of the week, word of the month, [and] word of the year here at the White House” this summer, the president
avoided the term
for more than a month. His allies in Congress are also actively
avoiding the
moniker.
But that doesn’t mean the administration has changed its tune on policymaking. Far from it. Behind the scenes, the hostility from Biden’s political appointees toward the private sector continues unabated and is taking the economy down with it. From energy to tech to cars, virtually no sector has been left untouched by the long arms of misguided regulatory overreach.
Perhaps no greater offender is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its chairwoman, liberal icon Lina Khan. Normally a faceless and anonymous branch of government, the “independent agency,” which has been under sole Democratic rule after the last remaining GOP appointee
resigned in protest
, has launched a number of far-reaching lawsuits and attacks against high-profile companies, from
Amazon
to
Total Wine & More
, and is
now taking aim at sandwich shops
.
Under Chair Khan’s leadership, the commission has come under scrutiny from key congressional committees, who are investigating allegations of
abuse of power
, the
deletion of key documents
, and disregard for the rule of law and
federal ethics standards
.
Rather than reverse course, Khan has doubled down. While defending the agency’s string of court losses at the New York Times DealBook Summit last month, Khan
explained
her antitrust ideology, stating that federal agencies have to ask, “Is it better to get it wrong in the direction of acting, or is it better to get it wrong in the direction of not having acted?”
In describing this “shoot first, aim later” approach, Khan is willing to concede that her actions will inevitably miss the mark. Lost in her vision is any concern for the consumer, whose welfare has been (and should remain) the guiding principle for antitrust enforcement.
But Khan has never been interested in the consumer welfare standard. She subscribes to the heavy-handed European approach and has even dispatched taxpayer-funded
staff overseas
to assist the European Union with the implementation of their Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law aimed at curbing the technology industry.
This overzealous enforcement in the name of antitrust threatens the health of the American economy. Consider the tech sector, which has been the bane of Khan’s existence since
her days in law school
. According to an
analysis
from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, the tech sector has accounted for more than one-third of the United States’s economic output in the last decade. It’s difficult for these companies to focus on their next innovation when they are fending off frivolous investigations and lawsuits from empowered government bodies.
Polls show that voters are paying attention to these attacks on our industries. In my home state of New Hampshire, home to next month’s first-in-the-nation primary,
72
% of voters believe there is already too much regulation of American businesses, according to a survey released by the Competitiveness Coalition, which I chair. A
similar number
oppose federal regulations aimed at breaking up large technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, and Google.
Yes, it’s easy to dismiss Biden as a feeble and weak man when he stumbles down the stairs or loses his train of thought mid-sentence. But make no mistake: his appointees calling the shots are young, ideological, and determined to leave their imprint on society. They are likely to take more drastic measures in the year ahead if Biden’s reelection slips out of reach and their time in government ends.
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Even if the term “Bidenomics” fades from view, its tentacles are inflicting great damage everywhere. If Biden were really interested in improving public perception of the economy for his political standing, he would reverse course on his policy agenda. So far, the signs are not promising on either front.
Scott Brown is chairman of the Competitiveness Coalition and a former United States senator and ambassador.
