In a recent column for RealClearMarkets, Charles Sauer, President of The Market Institute, argues that while Lina Khan may be gone from the Federal Trade Commission, the politicization of antitrust enforcement remains very much alive. For years, free-market advocates criticized former FTC Chair Lina Khan for using antitrust and consumer Read more…
Independent federal agencies were a hallmark of the Progressive Era, designed to operate at arm’s length from elected officials. Over time, however, many of these agencies have accumulated powers that raise serious constitutional concerns—writing rules, enforcing them, and adjudicating disputes internally. In a recent RealClearMarkets piece, Charles Sauer argues that Read more…
In a recent RealClearMarkets article, Charles Sauer uses a football analogy to capture what’s at stake in today’s antitrust debates. Football works because the rules are known in advance and applied consistently. When referees invent new rules mid-game, the integrity of competition collapses. Markets operate the same way. Sauer argues Read more…
As Charles Sauer explains in a recent column for RealClearMarkets, the backlash against Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. reflects today’s reflexive antitrust panic—not the realities of competition in the entertainment marketplace. Critics on both the left and right have rushed to portray the deal as a threat to consumers, Read more…
As the FTC develops its Strategic Plan for 2026–2030, the agency has a rare chance to reset after years of mission drift. But as Norm Singleton writes in RealClearMarkets, the draft plan released in October misses the mark—ignoring statutory requirements and failing to address the central problem: the continued influence Read more…
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew Ferguson may not always align perfectly with free-market principles, but his recent defense of American businesses and consumers against the European Union’s regulatory overreach deserves praise. As Norm Singleton writes in RealClearMarkets, Ferguson’s actions mark a welcome shift from his predecessor Lina Khan—who “assisted Read more…
In a recent RealClearMarkets column, Market Institute Senior Fellow Norm Singleton draws a sharp historical parallel between the government’s decades-long antitrust crusade against IBM and today’s efforts to “break up” Google. In 1969, the U.S. government sued International Business Machines (IBM), then the world’s largest corporation, for antitrust violations. The Read more…
One of the reasons Amazon remains the world’s leading online retailer is its Amazon Prime service. Created in 2005, Prime began by offering free two-day shipping. Today, it has approximately 240 million members worldwide—180 million of them in the U.S.—who enjoy free one- or same-day delivery, access to streaming music Read more…
One of the Progressive Era’s so-called innovations was the creation of “independent federal agencies.” As Market Institute Senior Fellow Norm Singleton explains in a recent piece for RealClearMarkets, these agencies have the power to write regulations, enforce them, and then adjudicate alleged violations in administrative courts — combining legislative, executive, Read more…
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) recently called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether the Biden Administration’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention worked with anti-Second Amendment groups to pressure the FTC into cracking down on firearm advertising. As Market Institute President Charles Sauer explains in RealClearMarkets, the Read more…