Open Markets Calls on House Judiciary Committee to Take On Monopoly Power

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Open Markets Institute sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler with recommendations on how to approach the problem of monopoly this Congressional session.

The letter describes the problem of monopoly power facing America today. From candy to coffins, markets, most sectors of the economy have become more concentrated. According to a September 2018 Open Markets survey, 65 percent of American voters believe the government “should do more to break up corporate monopolies.”

Open Markets proposes four basic principles for the Committee: 1) Shine a light on the problem through investigations, 2) Engage in oversight by probing the relationship between concentrated industrial power and political corruption, 3) Educate the American public through high-profile hearings, and 4) Provide Congress-wide advocacy by working with other congressional committees in joint hearings.

Open Markets also provided a set of legislative priorities to the committee noting the importance of overruling conservative judicial precedents that have eroded antitrust law and restoring the judicial rights of workers, small businesses, and consumers. Open Markets encouraged the Chairman to prioritize oversight over the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors, hospital pricing, dominant tech platforms and their impact on the free press and advertising, institutions that are meant to enforce antitrust such as the Federal Trade Commission, the impact of monopoly power on labor, national security and trade, and economic and political inequality.

“Just as our political institutions have been founded on checks and balances to protect the United States from tyranny, we as citizens must ensure corporations face the checks and balances provided through robust and open competition,” Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn said. “Concentrated industry means concentrated power, and that is a threat to our democracy.”

Read the letter in full here: Open Markets Institute Letter to The Honorable Jerrold Nadler, Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary