As of late, the popularity of big business across the country has taken a nosedive. Bipartisan efforts to regulate and break up monopolies and industry giants have been gradually treading along in Congress, though Republicans and Democrats have very different end goals in mind. Regardless, millions of Americans remain increasingly skeptical and outright angry at Big Tech and the country’s largest corporations for practically getting away with theft from the American middle class. Public outrage has reached a boiling point that these corporations can no longer shy away from as they have in the past.
Reports from sources inside the White House suggest that President Biden may issue an executive order cracking down on big business as early as this week. Specifics of the order involve requesting federal regulators in the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to review and modify their current oversight practices across a broad range of industrial sectors. Sources also indicate that most of the emphasis in the potential order appears to be placed on increased analysis and review of large corporate mergers and acquisitions. Mergers between CVS Pharmacy and Aetna, Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable, and Amazon’s acquisition of MGM Studios represent just a few examples of the type of deals the Biden administration may wish to crack down on in the future.
Pundits have already jumped at the news, loading heaps of praise for the Biden administration’s apparent foray into uncharted territory. Should Biden follow through with the reports, comparisons to former trust-busting President Theodore Roosevelt will likely be made by his usual media allies. Progressives have long called for increased regulation of corporations but almost uniformly believe that Big Tech should further censor conservative voices that they deem dangerous to public wellbeing and their ideology. Even conservatives who justifiably fear increased involvement from the federal government in the private sector might find relief in the idea of some woke industry giants being taken down a notch. With combined support from all these groups, the president has a wide-ranging mandate to address the grievances of millions of Americans. On the other hand, any directives from the president may provide additional cover for the Biden administration to take even more aggressive action against the oil and gas sector.
President Biden’s recent appointment of Professor Lina Khan as chair of the Federal Trade Commission has already sparked fear at Amazon, and the corporation requested that the fierce critic recuse herself from any investigations into the company’s alleged monopolistic practices. Khan has been described as a primary leader in the antitrust movement by the media and is assuredly poised to crack down on Big Tech should the Biden administration expand the FTC’s regulatory powers. Her appointment lends credit to ongoing reports about the current administration’s desire to weaken big business and win public support.
Congress has already begun deliberating on six different bills addressing the grievances many Americans have against Big Tech. Of course, none of the proposed bills even mention the censuring of conservative voices on platforms like YouTube and Facebook. With Congress already beginning to work on reining in these purported monopolies and corporate giants, the authenticity of a potential executive order from President Biden may prove to be unnecessary at best – and a nefarious power-grab at worst.
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Read more from Jose Backer.
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