Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan has announced a new investigation into “Big Grocery” to examine the role “corporate greed” has played in high grocery prices.
Khan’s investigation is an election-year stunt to blame high prices on progressive whipping boys instead of government failure. If Khan were serious about lowering grocery prices, she would greenlight the Kroger-Albertsons merger and abandon plans to revive Robinson-Patman Act enforcement.
Grocery prices roughly tracked inflation from the 1980s to 2020, when they took off like a rocket. While even Khan admits that grocery prices have leveled off this year, they are still up 21% since the start of 2021.
Why the sharp increase? Government lockdowns that eviscerated the very global economic cooperation without which prices are naturally much higher. Robert Bork Jr. said it best: “If…
