Left-wing
Democrats
are on a mission to expand government control over the economy. Instead of a vibrant free market buzzing with innovation and entrepreneurship, leftists want to put every company in a “Mother-May-I” relationship with faceless Washington bureaucrats.
Take Sen.
Elizabeth Warren
(D-MA), for example. She has been widely mocked for calling on the weaponized Federal Trade Commission to investigate a monopoly on sandwich production. While Warrenâs lonely war on “Big Sandwich” is laughable, it is illustrative of the Leftâs broader plan to increase government control over the economy. “We donât need another private equity deal that could lead to higher food prices for consumers,” Warren
posted
on X. “The FTC is right to investigate whether the purchase of Subway by the same firm that owns Jimmy Johns and McAlisterâs Deli creates a sandwich shop monopoly.”
At the risk of wasting ink debunking the plainly obvious, Roark Capitalâs pending purchase of the Subway brand would not create a sandwich shop monopoly. Anyone can make a sandwich by putting ingredients between two slices of bread. Roark Capital’s purchase of Subway would not obliterate the mom and pop delicatessens, cafes, and restaurants that populate every town in America. Grocery stores will still sell sandwich ingredients. The sky will not fall.
This is not the first time Warren has called for the Biden administration to dismantle imaginary monopolies. In January 2022, Warren falsely claimed that Kroger was one of a handful of chains “dominating” the grocery industry and nefariously price gouging shoppers. Warren
conveniently ignored
the fact that more than 60 supermarket chains operate in her home state of Massachusetts, and over 70 supermarket chains operate in Ohio, where Kroger is headquartered.
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Progressive attacks on the private sector, like Warrenâs sandwich screeds, have escalated as Democrats desperately try to run and hide from Bidenomics. In a nutshell, Bidenomics pushes people to buy things they do not want (like subsidized electric vehicles) while making the things they do want unaffordable. Instead of correctly attributing inflation to Bidenâs reckless tax-and-spend agenda, Democrats blame “corporate greed” and rail against a perceived lack of competition in the economy.
The Democratic Partyâs animating principle comes from Rahm Emanuel, who famously advised his bosses to never let a serious crisis go to waste. Democrats manufactured an economic crisis by paying people not to work and spending trillions of dollars of borrowed money in the name of COVID relief. By blaming the private sector for rising prices, leftists can then argue that more government intervention in the economy is necessary to right the ship.
The FTC has led the Biden administrationâs mission to put government drones in control of the economy. Chairwoman Lina Khan has waged war on companies that she dislikes, filing frivolous antitrust lawsuits that typically implode in court in spectacular fashion. Khan has ripped up long-standing merger guidelines and sent threatening letters to companies looking to buy another business. Khan has also
colluded
with foreign regulators to attack American companies, sending staffers to the European Union on taxpayer dollars for unclear purposes.
Khan has been open about her plan all along, publicly grumbling that the government
does not do enough
to shape “economic outcomes.” Khan has done enough damage to the economy in her short tenure with the powers already at her disposal. Imagine what Khan would do if Warren granted her even more power by expanding the FTC through legislation.
Given the Biden administrationâs full-court press for more power over the economy, Warrenâs war on “Big Sandwich” is no nothingburger.
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Tom Hebert is the Director of Competition and Regulatory Policy at Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of the Open Competition Center.
