TOTM Blog Symposium Thursday, Aug. 1: Regulating the Regulators–Guidance for the FTC’s Section 5 Unfair Methods of Competition Authority
Section 5 of the FTC Act permits the agency to take enforcement actions against companies that use “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” or that employ “unfair methods of competition.” The Act doesn’t specify what these terms mean, instead leaving that determination to the FTC itself. In the 1980s, under intense pressure from Congress, the Commission ... TOTM Blog Symposium Thursday, Aug. 1: Regulating the Regulators–Guidance for the FTC’s Section 5 Unfair Methods of Competition Authority
Employers Discover the ACA’s Win-Win Strategy
The Wegman’s grocery store chain has long offered health insurance benefits to part-time employees working at least 20 hours per week. The Affordable Care Act, however, has now driven the company to cut health insurance benefits for part-time workers. Wegman’s management, it seems, has discovered that employees are better off if they can’t get insurance from ... Employers Discover the ACA’s Win-Win Strategy
How the Employer Mandate Delay Thwarts the ACA’s Insurance Exchanges and Ignores the Main Problem With the Act’s Mandate/Subsidy Scheme
Has a piece of legislation ever been subject to as much cynicism-inspiring manipulation as the Affordable Care Act? It was rammed through Congress, on a totally partisan basis, via an unprecedented use of the reconciliation process. Its passage required blatant vote-buying with such unjust goodies as the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase. Its proponents ... How the Employer Mandate Delay Thwarts the ACA’s Insurance Exchanges and Ignores the Main Problem With the Act’s Mandate/Subsidy Scheme
Should There Be a Safe Harbor for Above-Cost Loyalty Discounts? Why I Believe Wright’s Wrong.
It’s not often that I disagree with my friend and co-author, FTC Commissioner Josh Wright, on an antitrust matter. But when it comes to the proper legal treatment of loyalty discounts, the Commish and I just don’t see eye to eye. In a speech this past Monday evening, Commissioner Wright rejected the view that there should ... Should There Be a Safe Harbor for Above-Cost Loyalty Discounts? Why I Believe Wright’s Wrong.
Agent McConnell and My Generation’s “Greatest Mind on Antitrust Law”
If we’ve learned anything from the pending IRS scandal, it’s that bureaucrats matter. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell apparently thinks so. According to a recent National Review article, McConnell, unlike most minority leaders, has put a great deal of effort into recommending highly qualified individuals for spots on the more than 100 bipartisan agencies and commissions in the federal bureaucracy. He views ... Agent McConnell and My Generation’s “Greatest Mind on Antitrust Law”
My Hip Saga and How the Affordable Care Act Squandered Our Best Opportunity to Lower Health Care Costs
After two years of nagging and increasingly worse hip and leg pain, I learned last August (at age forty) that I have a congenital hip deformity and need to have both hips replaced. In planning for this surgery, I’ve witnessed first-hand a problem that is driving American health care costs through the roof and is exacerbated by ... My Hip Saga and How the Affordable Care Act Squandered Our Best Opportunity to Lower Health Care Costs
Zeke Emanuel on the ACA’s Adverse Selection Problem and Solutions to It
Ezekiel Emanuel, Rahm’s brother and former health care adviser to President Obama, acknowledges in today’s Wall Street Journal that adverse selection may prove to be a “bump in the road” in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But never you mind. He’s got solutions. And, as usual, they all come down to messaging. Emanuel describes ... Zeke Emanuel on the ACA’s Adverse Selection Problem and Solutions to It
Behavioral Merger Remedies and the Hippocratic Principle
Last Thursday, the FTC settled a challenge to a company’s acquisitions of two key rivals. The two acquisitions, each of which failed to meet the threshold for required reporting under Hart Scott Rodino, occurred in 2005 and 2008. Because the acquired companies have been fully integrated into the acquirer and all distinct operations have been ... Behavioral Merger Remedies and the Hippocratic Principle
Commissioner Wright’s Speech at the ABA Antitrust Section’s Spring Meeting
Friday I discussed FTC Commissioner (and TOTM alumnus) Josh Wright’s speech at the Spring Meeting of the ABA’s Antitrust Section. Wright’s speech, What’s Your Agenda?, is now available online. As I mentioned, Commissioner Wright emphasized two matters on which he’d like to see FTC action. First, he hopes the Commission will help fulfill the promise of Section 5 of the FTC Act by ... Commissioner Wright’s Speech at the ABA Antitrust Section’s Spring Meeting
Some Thoughts on the Spring Meeting: Bummed About RPM, Happy About the FTC’s Future
I’ve spent the last few days in DC at the ABA Antitrust Section’s Spring Meeting. The Spring Meeting is the extravaganza of the year for antitrust lawyers, bringing together leading antitrust practitioners, enforcers, and academics for in-depth discussions about developments in the law. It’s really a terrific event. I was honored this year to have ... Some Thoughts on the Spring Meeting: Bummed About RPM, Happy About the FTC’s Future
Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Partial De Facto Exclusive Dealing Claims Have Got to Go!
Today, a group of eighteen scholars, of which I am one, filed an amicus brief encouraging the Supreme Court to review a Court of Appeals decision involving loyalty rebates. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently upheld an antitrust judgment based on a defendant’s loyalty rebates even though the rebates resulted in above-cost prices for the defendant’s products ... Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Partial De Facto Exclusive Dealing Claims Have Got to Go!
Meese, Mellor & Rowes on Economic Liberty and the Fourteenth Amendment
“[N]or shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” These words from the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment lurk behind a great many news stories these days. For the next two days, the U.S. Supreme Court will ... Meese, Mellor & Rowes on Economic Liberty and the Fourteenth Amendment
