Warren Wants To Use Antitrust Law To Break Up Grocery Giants

Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren advocated breaking up major grocery retailers with antitrust laws. Sen. Warren (Democrat) tweeted a video clip from her appearance on MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Reports a couple of days earlier, reported Reason.com.

“What happens when only a handful of giant grocery store chains like @Krogerdominate an industry? They can force high food prices onto Americans while raking in record profits. We need to strengthen our antitrust laws to break up giant corporations and lower prices. 

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 7, 2022

“What happens,” the caption asked, “when only a handful of giant grocery store chains like Kroger dominate an industry? They can force high food prices onto Americans while raking in record profits.” Warren claimed that “a handful of giant chains” had replaced the wide selection of smaller stores that used to dot the American landscape, and she called for the use of the government’s antitrust power to “break up these giant corporations.”

In December, she sent a letter to Kroger, Albertsons, and Publix, excoriating the grocery giants for “passing costs on to consumers to preserve your pandemic gains” and “taking advantage of inflation to add greater burdens.”

“Your company, and the other major grocers who reaped the benefits of a turbulent 2020, appear to be passing costs on to consumers to preserve your pandemic gains, and even taking advantage of inflation to add greater burdens,” Warren wrote.

In 2020, supermarkets saw sales increase by 11% over the prior year, an average of US$63 billion a month, according to the Census Bureau’s monthly Retail Trade report. It’s a trend that has continued into 2021.

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.