Since day one of his presidency, Joe Biden has worked to increase government control over the economy. The Biden administration’s regulatory onslaught, along with the Democratic Party’s reckless tax-and-spend agenda, has led to high inflation and higher prices.
Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan will soon announce whether or not she will block the Kroger-Albertsons grocery merger. Khan should allow the deal to proceed, which would help ease the burden of “Bidenflation” on families.
Supermarket chain Kroger announced plans to buy competing grocer Albertsons for $24.6 billion in October 2022. The deal could bring more than 2,000 Albertsons locations under the Kroger brand, giving the combined entity over 5,000 stores employing approximately 720,000 people across the country.
Competition in the grocery industry is fierce and would remain so if the Kroger-Albertsons transaction is consummated. The combined companies would hold approximately 12% of the U.S. grocery market, hardly the monopoly the deal’s critics are hyperventilating about. Walmart holds a 25% share of the U.S. grocery market and is the largest food retailer in the country. Companies like Costco, Aldi, Amazon, Target, and other retailers that sell groceries compete vigorously to offer the lowest prices and best service to shoppers.
At the same time, Kroger and Albertsons have publicly committed to keeping all stores, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities open post-merger. Additionally, the companies have pledged to keep all workers employed and honor all existing collecting bargaining agreements. Kroger estimated that the merger would save $1 billion a year in administrative costs, allowing stores to pass along these savings directly to shoppers.
Despite these benefits, a progressive peanut gallery led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) immediately urged the FTC to block the deal before the ink on Kroger’s announcement had even dried. At their direction, Khan has held the Kroger-Albertsons deal in regulatory purgatory since then with no clear timeline for a final decision.
Khan has a demonstrated track record of prolonging merger reviews. The cost of this delay can be the death knell for a company — just look at how Khan colluded with European regulators to kill iRobot.
State-level progressives are following suit. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently launched an antitrust case to block the Kroger-Albertsons merger, claiming that the deal would lead to a grocery store monopoly in Washington. Ferguson fails to mention that Kroger and Albertsons have agreed to divest 400 stores nationwide to assuage antitrust concerns, over 100 of which are based in Washington. If the merger proceeds, the new entity would not even control a majority of grocery stores in the state, let alone maintain a monopoly.
The issue at stake is larger than the Kroger-Albertsons merger. Progressives believe that bureaucrats, not shoppers, should pick economic winners and losers. Democratic politicians and the bureaucrats at their command do not consider whether or not a proposed merger would benefit consumers. The Left only cares about stopping a big company from growing larger.
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Bidenflation has pummeled families. Credit card debt has reached a record $1.13 trillion as people struggle to pay for the bare necessities. Despite Biden’s frantic attempts to blame economic malaise on “corporate greed,” Biden’s reckless tax-and-spend agenda got us into this mess.
If the Kroger-Albertsons merger proceeds, it will lower prices, protect American jobs, and enhance competition in the grocery market. Instead of blocking the deal for ideological reasons, Khan should allow the deal to proceed.
Tom Hebert is director of competition and regulatory policy at Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of the Open Competition Center.
