In Washington Friday, President Biden signed a massive executive order that looks to take aim at corporate consolidation and the Big Tech sector.
The order’s intentions, per the Biden administration, are to crack down on anti-competitive practices in Big Tech and a variety of other sectors. Biden called this move a “critical step” towards making the U.S. economy more inclusive.
When discussing the executive order from his White House podium Friday afternoon, Biden stated the order “means if your companies want to win your business they have to go out and they have got to up their game… Better prices and services, better ideas and products. The competition keeps the economy moving and it keeps it growing. A competitive economy must mean that companies do everything they can to compete for workers.”
Is Biden Singing a Different Tune?
One can’t help but see the irony in Biden’s statements on the importance of competitive business practices and pricing, however, when remembering that many of his Democratic colleagues (more than likely himself included) were former President Trumps main opposition when it came to making U.S. drug prices more competitive a few years back. Apparently, competition is only valuable in certain sectors of the economy to the Biden administration…
That being said, of all the executive orders Trump initiated that President Biden revoked during his first month in office, the competitive drug pricing orders remained intact. Despite initial pull back from Democrats causing Trump to go the route of executive order when these issues were initially brought up, it appears Team Biden is singing a different tune on the subject today.
Capitalism or Socialism?
Either way, Friday’s order looks to add to the spirit of competitiveness by spurring competition and improved labor practices across a range of industries including tech, health care, agriculture, transportation and financial services according to the White House.
“Let me be very clear…” Biden stated, ”…Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation. Without healthy competition, big players can change and charge whatever they want and treat you however they want. And for too many Americans that means accepting a bad deal for things you can’t go without. So, we know we’ve got a problem, a major problem. But we also have an incredible opportunity.”
(… Big talk about the importance of Capitalism from a man whose own party continues to move closer to the definition of Socialism every day, but I digress…)
… And speaking of Biden’s Socialist “comrades”, many Democratic representatives in the House continue to celebrate the executive order including Senator Elizabeth Warren who applauded the order and called it a “critical” step to protect working-class Americans and urged Congress to pass legislation codifying the measure into law.
In a recent statement, Warren said, “President Biden’s executive order takes critical steps to protect consumers and workers, strengthen antitrust enforcement and tackle consolidation and anticompetitive practices across sectors. Next, Congress must pass new legislation to strengthen the federal agencies responsible for enforcement and outlaw the anticompetitive practices plaguing our markets today.”
(How ironic that Warren talks of giving more funding to help federal agencies enforce Biden’s executive order all while taking it away from others… I suppose they’ll get the funding for this new enforcement from all the money they’ll save by laying off our countries police force… But I digress yet again!)
The Opposition
In a harsh statement from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, however, officials stated that Biden’s directive “smacks of a ‘government knows best’ approach to managing the economy”, and vowed to “vigorously oppose” many of the regulations set to be implemented by the signing of the executive order.
Learn More Here…
The major announcements coming out of Washington Friday afternoon have yet to scare investors away, however, as markets look to close in the green following a couple days of turbulence.
If you’re interested in hearing the thoughts of a team of market professionals on today’s markets and what we can expect from these most recent announcements in the investment world, we invite you to join the latest Ask the Pros broadcast below as host Celeste Lindman sits down with 3 investment experts to dive into the details of the week and the days to come.
P.S. – Are you interested in getting your feet wet in the markets but are afraid to take a chance on an uncertain investment? If so, we may have just the program for you…