Podcast Summary: Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Episode: The FTC's Renewed Fight Against Corporate Power (with Elizabeth Wilkins)
Date: June 11, 2024
Host: Civic Ventures
Guest: Elizabeth Wilkins, Senior Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project, former FTC Chief of Staff

Overview

This episode explores the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) revitalized role in fighting concentrated corporate power and promoting competition, contrasting the regulatory stagnation of the last 40 years with the bold new direction under the Biden administration, Chair Lina Khan, and leaders like Elizabeth Wilkins. Through insightful commentary and Wilkins’ first-hand experience, the conversation unpacks antitrust history, the damage wrought by neoliberal “market efficiency” orthodoxy, and the paradigm shift now underway towards more robust enforcement and corporate accountability.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Importance of Economic Power and Regulation

• Nick Hanauer and Goldie open by critiquing neoliberal ideology for ignoring power dynamics in economics, which led to regulatory agencies shrinking and inequality growing:
  • “An economic theory that doesn’t include power would be like a physics that doesn’t include gravity.” – Nick Hanauer [01:33]
  • Regulation’s purpose is to counteract power imbalances for the public good, from worker rights to pollution controls. [02:14]

2. FTC’s Dual Mission & Marginalization of Antitrust Laws

• Elizabeth Wilkins explains the FTC’s origins and mission:
  • Created in 1914 “to prevent unfair methods of competition and unfair and deceptive acts and practices in the marketplace… to ensure that American consumers and workers and small businesses get a fair shake in the economy.” [05:39]
• The FTC is a “small but mighty agency” with only about 1,400 staff overseeing the entire US economy. [07:33]
• The agency’s effectiveness was diminished in the ‘80s by the “law and economics” movement, which prioritized “efficiency” over fairness and competition, ignoring decades of precedent and Congressional intent. [08:16]

3. Historical Context: From Robust Antitrust to Neoliberal Retreat

• Wilkins: Antitrust laws initially protected “freedom from coercion in the marketplace”—a key value for American liberty, not just consumer prices. [08:16]
• The 1980s marked a reduction of antitrust to consumer price/output metrics, leading to today’s “super concentrated marketplaces” across tech, medicine, and groceries. [10:34]
• The framework of “just make markets more efficient” became dominant, sidelining legal texts and Congressional values. [12:39]

4. Paradigm Shift and Internal Reform at the FTC

• Wilkins discusses her approach: She read laws and Supreme Court cases, not just economic theories, to “get up to speed.”
  • She found it strange and troubling that “people told me, ‘Don’t worry about the law, just read these economic analyses’…theories which don’t actually map into realities.” [13:10]
• The new approach, championed by Lina Khan and team, means reviving the original congressional intent—prioritizing fairness, competition, and worker/consumer rights over efficiency dogma. [14:54-15:43]
• Changing such deeply ingrained mindsets is ongoing: “This is just the beginning, I think.” [16:05]

5. Major Recent FTC Actions: Banning Non-Compete Clauses

• The FTC’s most important current move is the promulgation of a rule banning non-compete clauses in labor contracts—which restrict one-fifth of US workers. [18:17]
  • Wilkins: “These clauses are stifling competition…bad for basically everybody.” [18:17]
  • Estimated impact: Over ten years, the rule could increase worker wages by $400 billion, decrease healthcare spending by up to $150 billion, and boost innovation (patents). [20:09]
• The decision required cultural change within FTC, collaborative internal policymaking, and was validated by overwhelming public support.
  • Memorable Story: “You made me feel proud of my agency again.” – FTC staff after public praise for the anti–non-compete rule [25:00]

6. Looking Forward: Health Care Antitrust and Merger Guidelines

• The FTC and DOJ are focusing on healthcare consolidation, with lawsuits against private equity rollups in specialties like anesthesiology. [26:41]
• New, stronger Merger Guidelines now require companies to provide more information and face stricter analysis, aiming to prevent future concentration.
  • “What we’re going to start seeing is more merger challenges...the gradual change in the legal framework...” [29:20]

7. The Anti-Monopoly Toolkit: Beyond Just Antitrust

• Wilkins (If “benevolent dictator”): Broaden policy away from a single-minded antitrust focus to include regulation, public options, and industry-specific interventions—always guided by values like “liberty and autonomy, some control over your life...free from domination.” [30:01]
  • “Our economic policy should be aimed at...a world in which people have true governance over the meaningful choices in their lives.” [32:12]

8. Personal Motivation

• Wilkins: Cites her upbringing with civil rights–oriented parents and a sense of responsibility to use her luck and skills “to make the world a little bit of a better place.” [32:41]

9. Broader Economic Rationale: Fairness = Prosperity

• Hanauer closes, emphasizing that fairer, more competitive markets don’t just serve justice—they create “more value and more wealth faster.”
  • “When you reduce monopoly power and promote competition, you get higher rates of innovation, broader consumer choice, higher wages for workers, and lower costs for consumers.” – Nick Hanauer [35:17]
• Regulations are inherently “pro-market” because competition is the root of market progress; unchecked, markets concentrate wealth and stifle innovation. [35:53]
• The Biden FTC’s collaborative, respectful approach with career civil servants is contrasted with attempts at autocratic governance. [38:06]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

| Time | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|----------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:33 | Nick Hanauer | “An economic theory that doesn’t include power would be like a physics that doesn’t include gravity.” | | 05:39 | Elizabeth Wilkins | “The FTC...is supposed to ensure that American consumers...and small businesses get a fair shake in the economy.” | | 08:16 | Elizabeth Wilkins | “True freedom meant also freedom from coercion in the marketplace...the antitrust laws came out of...ensuring that kind of fairness.”| | 13:10 | Elizabeth Wilkins | “Read a bunch of economic models that are not true...theories which don’t actually map into realities.” | | 18:17 | Elizabeth Wilkins | “Non-compete clauses...are stifling competition in the labor market...bad for basically everybody.” | | 20:09 | Elizabeth Wilkins | “Over the next 10 years, this rule could increase worker wages by over $400 billion...decrease health care spending by $150 billion.”| | 25:00 | Elizabeth Wilkins | “You made me feel proud of my agency again.” – FTC staff on the non-compete rule | | 35:17 | Nick Hanauer | “When you...promote competition, you get higher rates of innovation, broader consumer choice, higher wages for workers, and lower costs for consumers.”| | 32:12 | Elizabeth Wilkins | “Our economic policy should be aimed at...a world in which people have true governance over the meaningful choices in their lives.” | | 38:06 | Goldie | “Regulation is good for the economy. And that’s something we’ve lost over the past 40 years.” |

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & critique of neoliberalism: 00:50–03:13
• FTC’s mission, size, and history: 05:39–08:16
• Antitrust history & Reaganomics: 08:16–11:17
• Wilkins on learning antitrust law: 11:17–14:54
• Current FTC move: non-compete bans: 18:17–21:07
• Collaborative policymaking at FTC: 21:07–25:00
• Future of antitrust: healthcare, mergers: 26:41–29:20
• Vision for anti-monopoly policy: 30:01–32:12
• Wilkins’ motivation: 32:41–34:22
• Economic case for regulation & markets: 34:44–38:06

Tone & Takeaways

The discussion is frank, historically rich, and energized by a new sense of mission at the FTC. Wilkins brings both legal clarity and personal motivation, while Hanauer and Goldie keep the tone accessible, biting, and policy-driven. The episode advocates a return to regulatory activism as not just legally correct, but essential for prosperity and real freedom in a democratic society.