Two billionaire Harris donors hope she will fire FTC Chair Lina Khan

girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to News@lemmy.world – 270 points –
reuters.com

Billionaire Democratic donors Barry Diller and Reid Hoffman said in interviews this week they hope Kamala Harris will replace Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan if she becomes U.S. president, openly rejecting a pillar of President Joe Biden's antitrust policy.

Khan has been at the forefront of the Biden administration's push to use U.S. antitrust law to boost competition and address high prices and low wages. Khan, who oversaw the FTC's ban on noncompete agreements, has drawn the ire of corporate groups, but won fans including Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, for her skepticism towards big business.

Now, big money Democratic donors this week publicly said Khan should not be part of a potential Harris administration. Diller, chairman of travel site Expedia, said in a recent Bloomberg interview that he would donate the maximum allowed to Harris' campaign. He said in an interview on CNBC on Friday that he would lobby Harris to replace Khan, saying Khan was against "almost anything" business wants to do to grow efficiently.

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Khan, who oversaw the FTC's ban on noncompete agreements, has drawn the ire of corporate groups ... saying Khan was against "almost anything" business wants to do to grow efficiently.

Riiiight. "Business growing efficiently" sounds like a really bad meme, with NDA and layoff texts covering the whole panel and Trump screaming "YOU'RE FIRED!!"

Big business can fuck right off.

If big business liked her she wouldn’t be doing her job. I saw her on Jon Stewart and she’s smart AF! I kinda gotta low key thing for her now. Should I tell my SO?

Yes. Tell your SO. It’s a celebrity crush. Many people in relationships have them. Maybe you two can even role play and get spicy. Good luck!

Oh, baby! I'm almost there. Say it again. Say, "too big to fail is too big to exist," again!

Not quite what I was thinking, but if that works for you, who am I to judge? 🤓

Amazing that we don't consider shit like this to be bribery.

Maybe the citizens should unite...

To demand that the government finance the political campaigns of the candidates and that there be no more lobbying?

Research "citizens united". It's one of the biggest rulings that ever helped totally fuck the country up.

Yeah. For sure. Us citizens had enormous power together, but they don't exercise it. (I was also referencing "citizens united" ruling, that made bribery legal)

Idk anything about her but FTC has been actually doing work lately....

Like.. fuck that. But again IDK who this woman is.

She's freaking amazing, she's like half the reason I was voting for Joe Biden.

When asked for comment on the ramifications of operating business efficiently upon an already struggling working class, who are finding it increasingly difficult to secure housing and adequate nutrition for themselves and their children, Diller's lips formed a smile twice as broad as his face, eyes glossing over as he stared dreamily into the distance with eyes twinkling like the night sky.

The above quote may or may not actually appear in the linked article.

Diller, chairman of travel site Expedia, said in a recent Bloomberg interview that he would donate the maximum allowed to Harris' campaign.

That's only like $3,300, right? What kind of influence does he expect with that?

There's maximum campaign donation?

For an individual person, yes. The loophole that the rich and wealthy use is to donate any monetary value above that 3k, to a PAC or super PAC.

I hear this word a lot, It's like a lobby?

A PAC is a political action committee. You can only donate $3300 to a politician but if you donate 33 million to a PAC that pac can advertise, organise and campaign on the politicians behalf. Effectively sidestepping political donation laws.

This would be a great way for Harris to fully bidenize any enthusiasm the general public has for her candidacy.

Personally I'm saving empty glass bottles for no particular reason, I hope there continues to be no reason in the future

Don’t forget to stock up on your oily rags. Never know when those will come in handy.

But do not store them all together, as oily rags in sufficient heat, less than you think, can spontaneously combust.

And it starts. The thing we were all worried about.

I'm hoping that by saying this publicly means they're being rebuffed privately and are trying to put pressure on her.

Man, do we need a Rosevelt at the seat right now.

Best I can do is a reject Kennedy with brain worms.

How can a Roosevelt be useful to us in this contemporary era? I ask out of curiosity.

Roosevelt threated to put bankers in stocks. For causing the depression. We need a president that threatens personal consequences to the ultrarich for their egregious actions.

And like, personal. Not just numbers that go down kinda maybe except not in the Caymans.

Talk quietly. Big stick bashing billionaires.

He was famous for busting the biggest trusts the world has ever seen. Standard oil, U.S. Steel and I forgot the name of the railway.

but won fans including Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, for her skepticism towards big business.

Huh? The GOP appointments on the board were all about supporting non-competes saying it helps business and all that garbage.

Lots of Republicans don't like Amazon. Khan became famous as an academic by publishing articles saying how Amazon needed to be reined in, that existing antitrust law wouldn't do it, and that such-and-such changes should be made. She got brought into the FTC basically because of that.

I'll start donating the maximum I can afford if she tells him to fuck off publicly! Or, just tell the douch she'll do it, then call him the day she confirms the pick is the same, and thank him for the donations. Fuck these ghouls.

I'm not exactly a fan of Harris. But her inability to keep staffers, means she had no problem just accepting Biden's entire campaign team. And I actually do hope the same for most of his agency appointments. Lina Khan most especially.