Meet Andrew Ferguson, an Elizabeth Warren sound alike.
Andrew Ferguson on Price Fixing
Ferguson: As we adjust to the new economic order, the FTC will be watching closely to make sure American companies are vigorously competing on prices. These necessary tariffs should not be interpreted as a green light for price fixing or any other unlawful behavior. We will always protect American consumers.
Elizabeth Warren on Price Fixing
Warren: United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, on reports of widespread price gouging in states impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and on the need for a federal price gouging ban to complement state-level efforts.
Accurate Replies to Ferguson
David Badash: “As we adjust to the new economic order” is peak dystopian doublespeak. Tariffs as patriotic sacrifice, competition as control, all wrapped in corporate loyalty language. Nothing says “America First” like authoritarian economics.
Vance Ginn: The invisible hand is always a better determinate of market prices than politicians or bureaucrats. Government failures of tariffs, subsidies, regulatory capture, etc. are always worse than any perceived market failure. Why not end the FTC? Too much govt interference already.
Michael Hussey: Never go full Bernie!
Baxter Bean and SunnyRight: It can’t be long before conservatives are screaming that consumer price increases are the result of greedy CEOs, ratherr than the predictable result of tariff policies.
SunnyRight: Decades of Democrats who shouted that raising your taxes was patriotic, and were crushed over it, must be absolutely ecstatic that MAGA has now embraced the policy
Juha Remes: So, state-mandated price controls? How very Soviet. You do know what the alternative to high prices caused by self-inflicted economic damage is? It’s shortages. Then your shops start looking like this Venezuelan supermarket.
Why Bother Replacing Kahn?
Please consider the October 4, 2024 post FTC chair says agency is taking aim at inflation caused by bad business behavior
As consumers continue to face higher prices for groceries and other goods, the Federal Trade Commission is looking at whether some of those price hikes are driven by profiteering.
The agency is “using all of our tools to make sure that no American is paying more because of illegal business practices, be it at the grocery store, be it at the pump, be it at the pharmacy, on food and groceries in particular,” FTC Chair Lina Khan told reporters Thursday during a visit to Wisconsin.
State price-gouging laws are intended to address momentary surges in the price of goods that take advantage of circumstances such as natural disasters. But the FTC focuses on “a broader set of corporate practices that we think may be unlawfully hiking up prices,” Khan said.
Did You Vote for This?
Amusingly, if you voted for either Trump or Harris, the answer is “Yes”.
My conscience is clear. I wrote in Mish.
Related Posts
April 13, 2025: Tariff Clown Show Continues, Tech Tariffs Back On, Separately
What a revolving door circus Trump’s tariff policy has become.
April 14, 2025: Say goodbye to Cheap Socks and Other Apparel, We Call This Winning
You pay more and get less, but Trump calls it winning.
April 14, 2025: Trump’s Plan to Make Manufacturing Great Again in Pictures
The share of manufacturing employment keeps declining. What role did NAFTA play?
Get out those WIN buttons (Whip Inflation Now). You will need them.
It’s interesting to see that the head of the FTC under Trump has similar views to Elizabeth Warren on price gouging and combating market manipulation, suggesting that regardless of party, protecting consumers and maintaining fair competition remains a top priority.
We’ve had close to ZERO enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and other anti-trust laws for decades, with *both* parties turning a blind eye to enforcement. As a result, close to 60% of all CPI-based inflation has been due to corporations, who have pricing power, raising prices well beyond their increases in costs. How many quarterly earnings calls do we have to check to see the terms “favorable pricing environment” to see that much of our inflation is actually “greed-flation?”
Andrew Ferguson, Elizabeth Warren, and Adam Smith are absolutely right — it’s in the best interests of the economy, and all its participants, to limit the economic and political power of monopolies.
Unfortunately, the number of M&A/takeover candidates which might be thwarted by the FTC will now be bankruptcy cases, due to the current tariff nonsense.
<<limit the economic and political power of monopolies>> Yes, I agree. But they’re not doing anything about it. Usually they impose regulation upon regulation and taxes which makes it impossible for new competitors to enter the market (unless they come from China and are already massive). If their only solution is empty rhetoric and taxes, they’re pretty much a one-trick pony.
Yes the corps are greedy but inflation wouldnt be nearly as much if the Democrats and Republicans had not created trillions of new dollars. You cant expect or tell businesses to keep prices the same when there is a big increase in demand due to everyone getting money printing stimulus. That would be price fixing. If we keep going down that road, we’ll end up like communist countries where producers quit making stuff because the fixed prices are too low to cover their costs.
Chairman Xi proudly boasts his Chinese peasants will eat tree bark before he surrenders on trade. We can discuss at leisure the price of socks while high demand raises the price of tree bark in China. An historic wind storm wiped out Chinese crops and unemployed Chinese peasants cannot purchase imported food.
cue gnashing of teeth.. wringing of hands..
wait for a Trump tweet to consume the news cycle and wipe away these momentary worries.
rinse
repeat
Even in the depths of Republican misadministration, all the talking heads quoted here can do is attack Democrats. Amazing. Anything rather than confront the party who has given us this simultaneously moronic, incompetent, corrupt, and authoritarian disaster of governance. These folks will be rambling on about Bernie Sanders as they’re getting rounded up and sent to camps in central America.
“as they’re getting rounded up and sent to camps in central America.”
Timeframe? Anxiously awaiting…
If you live in Maryland, two weeks ago
(according to the US Supreme Court)
Sooner rather than later, LOL.
Trump seems to be looking for Americans to send there.
Yeppers…we need to restart US exporting
And exporting US criminals seems as good a place as any to start
The party of personal responsibility always blames someone else.
Quelle coincidence!
The party of victimhood and no responsibility also blames someone else. Seems like it is a universal condition.
Well framed. This illustrates a split between the market-centered and populist wings of MAGA. It was mirrored in the beef between Musk and Bannon on tech visas. Trump tries to offer sweeteners to both (tax cuts and deregulation to one, and jobs, lower consumer prices and protectionist promises to the other), but somewhat incoherently. This would be true of any political coalition, but it is still experimental along these axes (and fault lines).
The Divide in the U.S. isn’t between Liberals & Conservatives, or Dems & GOP. It’s between Labor & Capital. Trump & the GOP represent the interests of Capital. The Democrats, OTOH, represent…. Capital. The Musk v Bannon fight within MAGA isn’t really a fight; Bannon has bent the knee, and the majority of MAGA (Labor) will pay dearly.
In the “Democratic” Party, the corrupt DNC party leaders fight Bernie Sanders & their own Progressive base (Labor) with far more intensity & vitriol than they ever fight Republicans.
The greatest fear of Capital is that Labor will realize how badly they’ve been screwed, over decades, and unite.
There are 37 Trillion reasons not to like the establishment.
i’ve challenged my friends for decades to take a blind test to see if they could detect the differences of our 2 parties in power in congress and presidency and courts……..over the last 50 years. it is impossible of course. nobody could. Trump is standard big government NYC democrat.
of course both parties are war mongers. I think that goes without saying. Anyone calling themselves a D or R are basic downright morons. Hat tip HL Mencken
Wrong, Trump is a mentally ill boomer, long past his prime if he ever had one. Where the hell are Republicans on term limits? POTUS is age restricted on youth (35) why not restrict the office on old age, say no one over 65. Time to relax, retire or take up a (fake teaching) position at one of our wonderful universities. Or like me one could play poker and do some woodworking or other hobby or volunteer at a NPO. There’s a whole world of opportunities out here for the senior citizens and former politicians to enjoy. Retire and make room for the next generation.
as i said, no difference. biden and trump both nursing homes for the criminally insane. i concur. i retired about 30 years ago as a young man and have found plenty of great things to do. college classes on subjects i had no clue about. lots of art. restored many old homes for rentals and to live in……….walking and yoga and travelling and think tank freedom fest style conferences and moneyshows……………….we live in the rich world. middle brows can live large if they want. or keep buying junk for ugly mcmansions and hanging out with other idiots…………..democracy works. always has. always will. go read republic of plato. slowly.
Not only are tariffs a green light for US producers to raise price but they reduce competition thereby stifling emphasis on quality and innovation.
I agree, but are we then obligated to accept without impediment products produced by slave labor in a country with little concern for the environment? I’m not stating that to be the case in China. I don’t know. I’ve never been there. But, consider it as a thought experiment – especially in the context of America shutting down coal plants while China opens them.
The point of these quotes was that we should not be “obligated” to buy products mandated by the government.
And I’ve heard a lot of comments lately on this blog on “slave labor”. Did ZH put out some recent literature on this?
But all of us have plenty of options. I buy most of my vegetables from a local organic farmer during the spring-fall growing season because I don’t want to spread my environmental damage elsewhere if I can help it.
And I research the origin from where I buy all my medium- to large-dollar-item purchases so I’m not participating in ‘slave labor’ trade.
But that’s just me
this is a good point, but it’s a progressive one. it’s not what animates MAGA. environmentalists have been railing against the one-use economy.
If you believe that Chinese made products are bad because they use slave laobor and have lax environmental standards, then you are free to not buy Chinese made products. Pretty simple. And simply tariffing the Chinese made products will not stop the slave labor and lax environmental standards. In fact these problems in China may increase, as Chinese producers try to lower their input costs to to make up for the increased export costs due to the tariffs.
All true, but without the advent of WTO / “free trade”, and the huuuge demand for manufactured products from the U.S., China would be forced to offer better pay & working conditions to its workers. They would have to generate more demand *domestically* to keep everyone employed. This is why China is doing its Belt & Roads initiative — to create & grow markets for their manufactured products outside the country, so that they can manage the transition from Labor’s poverty to prosperity better than the U.S. has [since we’ve gone from poverty (1930s) to prosperity (New Deal, up to 1980s), and then back to poverty (since 2001)].
Supposed slavery and disregard for the environment. Do you really want the government to pass judgement on other countries and to punish the citizens who disagree with it?
This is the USA. We should have the freedom to buy products from whoever we want, including Russia, North Korea or anyone and everyone else without being limited or hassled by the police state. Whoever has been “fighting for our freedoms” and “protecting our freedoms” have sure done a lousy job of it and seem to be more interested in protecting the interests of the US police state, Israel, and multinational corporate imperial hegemony.
Yeah, but higher prices = higher GDP, so all good. lol
So “protecting the consumer” is making prices so high no one can afford to buy. Yep makes sense to insane govt fools.
The tariffs *aren’t* intended to bring U.S. manufacturing back. They’re intended to raise Revenue — NOW — so that the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts can be extended.
The nation’s Capitalists still believe that “someone else” (i.e., Working Americans) should bear the bulk of the nation’s tax burden AND pay these tariffs. This is in a nation where well over 50% of U.S. households are living paycheck-to-paycheck, and can’t afford a $400 emergency expense. These working Americans are the “market” that corporations have bled dry since 2020, as if they’re a limitless source of revenue. As we’re finding out now, they’re not.
Extending those tax cuts adds $5.7 Trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.
How’re ya gonna pay for that?
Anybody who lobbies for or gets bailed out with money printing interest rate suppression like a lot of how the big corps, banks, hedge funds, wall street, the military industrial complex, the real estate industry, public unions, isnt a real free market capitalist. That is socialism for cronies.
War by other means — Trump’s tariffs and the empire’s final gambleTrump’s tariff policy represents a desperate bid to preserve US economic, military and geopolitical dominance at any cost — using economic coercion against nearly every country on the planethttps://www.thomasfazi.com/p/war-by-other-means-trumps-tariffs
Trumps idiocy on tariffs represents the economic collapse of the u.s.
Mitsubishi holds imports at U.S. ports in response to tariffs, lowers April incentiveshttps://www.autonews.com/mitsubishi/an-mitsubishi-holds-us-imports-at-ports-0411/
Other way around…you almost had it
A high tariff policy is a tacit admission of weakness.
100% correct. this evil empire is crumbling. has been for decades. fast now.