This week, we speak with Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council under President Joe Biden, about the administration’s plans to challenge anti-competitive forces across the economy.
Deese observes that industry consolidation and market concentration costs the average U.S. family about $5,000 per year. President Joe Biden appointed him as Chairman of the President’s Council on Competitiveness. Biden has blamed decades of lax antitrust enforcement, a build-up of excessive regulations, and increasing industry concentration for the rising costs to families.
That annual $5,000 per family is recaptured by bringing more competition back by focusing on:
– Restoring Net Neutrality
– Eliminating non-compete agreements required by companies for entry and mid-level employees.
– Greater scrutiny on mergers and acquisitions that reduce competition.
– Breaking monoply of Residential Real Estate agents to lower Home Sale commissions (US among most expensive in world);
– Reducing state occupational licensing requirements for non skilled, non-dangerous jobs.
– Allowing states to import prescription drugs from Canada;
– Ending the practice of “Pay to Delay” where pharmaceutical companies pay generic manufacturers to not make cheaper generic version of a name-brand drug;
– Allow Medicare to use its market position to negotiate for lower drug prices;
– Ending exclusive deals with landlord’s that prevent broadband providers from competing in the same building;
– “Right to Repair” Allowing Farmers to repair their own tractors, p[eople to fix their own phones and tablets;
– Allowing hearing aids to be sold without a prescription (over the counter).
A partial transcript of our conversation is available here; the full transcript will be posted here tomorrow.
You can stream and download our full conversation, including the podcast extras on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, Bloomberg, and Acast. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Dr. Charity Dean. Dean was the director of the California Department of Public Health in 2020. She is a lead character in Michael Lewis’ book The Premonition: A Pandemic Story; Lewis called her “one of the people who saw the real danger of the virus before the rest of the country did.” She is co-founder of The Public Health Company.
