Biden Signs Order To Promote More Competition, Perk Up U.S. Economy

President Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order on Friday to promote more competition in the US economy, urging agencies to crack down on anti-competitive practices in sectors from agriculture to drugs and labor, Nandita Bose, Jarrett Renshaw and Diane Bartz reported for Reuters.

If fully implemented, the effort will help lower Americans' internet costs, allow for airline baggage fee refunds for delayed luggage, among other steps. The order instructs antitrust agencies to focus on labor, healthcare, technology and agriculture as they address a laundry list of issues that have irritated consumers, and in the case of drug prices, has bankrupted some.

"No more tolerance of abusive actions by monopolies. No more bad mergers that lead to massive layoffs, higher prices, and fewer options for workers and consumers alike," Biden said at a White House signing ceremony.

The president noted areas where advocates feel that prices are too high, wages are tamped down or new businesses are excluded from competition. "Let me be very clear, capitalism without competition isn't capitalism, it's exploitation," he said.

The White House says the rate of new business formation has fallen by almost 50% since the 1970s as large businesses make it harder for Americans with good ideas to break into markets.

Biden's action goes after corporate monopolies across a broad swath of industries and includes 72 initiatives he wants more than a dozen federal agencies to act on.

Lower wages caused by lack of competition are estimated to cost the median American household $5,000 per year, according to a White House fact sheet that cites research from the American Economic Liberties Project - an influential Washington-based anti-monopoly group.

The initiatives will no doubt kick off a series of fights with the affected industries. The powerful US Chamber of Commerce issued a statement saying the move "smacks of a 'government knows best' approach to managing the economy" and pledged to "vigorously oppose calls for government-set prices, onerous and legally questionable rulemakings, efforts to treat innovative industries as public utilities, and the politicization of antitrust enforcement."

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