Bigotry in a weak Prince, or in any Prince, is always one of his worst and most dangerous weaknesses, generally ruinous to his People, often to himself; as it subjects him to the blind controul of narrow-spirited and designing Guides (for all Bigots must have Directors and Masters) who in manageing his conscience seldom forget their own interest, and to that interest often sacrifice the Public and all things. — Thomas Gordon (1737)
The Biden administration is taking its orders from George Soros, aiming at the destruction of Amazon, claiming that the online retail behemoth is a monopoly and is thus harming the average consumer. The problem with this narrative: It’s not true. But promoting false propaganda is a habit of both the White House and George Soros.
Here’s a little background, as published by the Washington Examiner:
Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan last month unleashed her assault, along with 17 states, suing Amazon and alleging monopolistic practices. But Khan wouldn’t make things more competitive. Instead, she would unravel decades of case law establishing the “consumer welfare standard” that has guided the agency through the tremendous innovation and development of tech companies such as Amazon that offer goods and services at low prices and at lightning speed.
Consider just how “monopolistic” Amazon is. Amazon offers millions of products, and it delivers them with dizzying speed and accuracy. It does this in partnership with a vast network of two million small businesses, many of which are family-run enterprises without the advanced technology and logistics capabilities needed to connect with a wide-reaching consumer base. If Amazon were a monopoly, prices would soar, as always happens when a single dominant player sets the rules and the prices. However, Amazon operates under a different corporate credo: It’s committed to fierce competition, which ultimately drives prices down, benefiting consumers across the board. This is hardly the hamfisted price fixing and consumer crushing behavior that Bezos’ business could be.
The obvious callused anti-consumer is Joe Biden, and his anti-free market attitude and policies are well-known to everyone trying to pay rent or fill a gas tank. But how is the uber-socialist billionaire George Soros involved in this campaign to kill Amazon Prime and related services? Again, here’s a bit of backstory from the Washington Examiner article:
Khan has prepared the ground with the help of a wave of publicity financed by some of the deepest pockets in liberal politics. Dan Fisher from Legal Newsline gives more background: “The Tech Transparency Project, funded by billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, praises Khan and accuses Amazon and Google of trying to ‘weaken the hand of Biden’s regulators and prevent bipartisan action on tech in Congress.’”
In other words, Soros is doing to Amazon and to American consumers and Amazon-associated small business owners who benefit from the company’s creative slate of services what he has done in so many other spheres of American life: He’s funding the forces that are set out to destroy the free market and self-government. He is the deep pockets into which despots can thrust their hands and grab enough cash to create false narratives, backed by Soros-owned or funded media outlets.
As for Lina Khan, she is a brilliant star in the progressive universe. She’s known for pushing a panoply of policies that less-progressive observers believe are harmful to consumers. She’s not alone in this endeavor, as she’s part of a broader team under the Biden administration that is pursuing a similar approach across various regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.
Rather than persisting with an economic agenda that critics argue has had a negative impact on the middle class, the Biden administration should concentrate on measures to simplify and lower the cost of daily life. This could involve tapping into our domestic energy resources, reducing the bureaucratic hurdles that burden small businesses, and reining in federal regulators who are seen as overstepping their boundaries. Critics argue that figures like Khan are promoting costly and radical ideas for the private sector, often perceived as disregarding established legal frameworks.
And why would Biden, Khan, Soros, and the thousands of nameless bureaucrats take a tack that leads directly to deficits, inflation, and, finally, to a collapse of the economy here and abroad? Because they have stood as witnesses for decades of the lethargy and distraction of the public. When pressed into tight economic straits, the average consumer seeks escape through technology, and they channel their rage into virtual battlefields and they ease their discomfort by doomscrolling and social-media masquerading.
As it stands, there are friends of the free-market who find themselves reluctantly riding to the defense of Jeff Bezos, a man who hasn’t exactly endeared himself to mainstream Americans. Bezos bought The Washington Post, and he uses that bullhorn to put proponents of America-first policies on blast, magnifying the smallest blemish into some great and indelible stain.
In this case, though, conservatives and free-market advocates have to accept that the enemy of their enemy is their friend, especially when that friend is being targeted by the tyrants for his efforts to extend valuable products and services to average Americans.
As so many other aspects of American life, it’s not just the purportedly elected politicians who are enervating our economic strength, it is the unchecked, unchallengeable acts of thousands of unelected bureaucrats who are using their presidential proxy to put Americans into a position of having to comply or face economic obliteration. And Lina Khan is ambitious and knows that she has access to Soros and the White House, and with an arsenal like that, even a corporate giant such as Amazon is vulnerable.
