Congressional Democrats Promise a ‘Better Deal’ for American Workers

The Democratic Party wants to pick a fight with corporate America to win back Congress. The big ideas in the economic agenda that congressional Democrats unveiled are aimed at reclaiming the party’s populist mantle from President Trump. The party’s proposal to reduce the cost of living was its freshest set of ideas. That part embraces an emerging concern among liberal economists and activists that corporate concentration is damaging the American economy.

Since the early 1980s, the federal government has intervened to prevent mergers only when there was clear evidence that consumers would be harmed, giving consolidation the benefit of the doubt. That has allowed a few giant companies to dominate industries including air travel, cable television and the eyeglasses business. The pace of corporate mergers reached a peak in 2015. The next year, the Obama administration published a report arguing that the economy was suffering from a dearth of competition. Other studies found that consolidation is not only driving up prices but also causing other problems, including reduced investment in innovation. The Democrats proposed changing the merger rules, instructing regulators to presume that consolidation is bad for consumers. They suggested the creation of a federal office, a “consumer competition advocate,” that would report problems to regulators.