STEPHEN MOORE: Don't let the FTC tarnish Trump's golden age of capitalism
We are living in the golden age of American capitalism.
The S&P 500 just closed at a record high. GDP is projected to grow 2.5% this year. Corporate earnings are strong, AI investment is booming, and the private sector is firing on all cylinders. None of this happened by accident. President Trump and Vice President Vance came into office with a clear mandate: restore confidence in the American economy, unleash the private sector, and get government out of the way — and the results speak for themselves.
That stands in sharp contrast to what came before. Under the Biden administration, prices for everyday Americans reached levels not seen in a generation — and rather than focus on the real drivers of inflation, Lina Khan's FTC was busy blocking deals that would have created jobs and lowered costs. The mismatched priorities were staggering. While American families struggled with rising egg prices, soaring drug costs, and inflation that hit every corner of their lives, Khan's FTC was on a search-and-destroy mission for private sector activity. She boasted that 43 mergers were abandoned on her watch and counted every killed deal as a "victory." When asked whether companies abandoning deals under government pressure was a win, Khan said simply: "That's right."
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Fortunately, the Federal Trade Commission under Chairman Andrew Ferguson has proven to embody a very different spirit. He pledged to "stop Lina Khan's war on mergers" and restore "certainty and clarity" to the review process. That means reviewing mergers on the merits, not on ideology. It means recognizing that as industries evolve, companies must do the same — often through consolidation — or risk being left behind. A company that can't adapt serves no one: not its employees, not its customers, and not the American economy.
The FTC is currently reviewing several mergers that could add to the luster of our golden age and help families where it matters most.
As just one example, the proposed merger of Covetrus and MWI Animal Health is a clear opportunity for Chairman Ferguson to lower prices for consumers. Americans love their pets, and this deal promises to be good for competition, good for veterinarians, and good for pet parents.
The combination of Covetrus and MWI would create an integrated animal health company with the scale to invest more and ultimately deliver lower prices to the veterinary practices your neighborhood vet depends on. That means better, more affordable care for the pets Americans love. It is exactly the kind of pro-competitive, efficiency-creating deal the FTC should welcome.
Because right now, distributors like Covetrus and MWI are being squeezed from every direction. The big drug companies, who set the price of every product distributors sell, increasingly sell directly to veterinarians, by passing the distributors that built this supply chain. Massive retailers — Amazon, CVS, Chewy — are rushing in. Together, Covetrus and MWI can push back. This is not two dominant firms merging to raise prices. It is two companies evolving and innovating in a rapidly changing market, combining forces to compete against far larger players. The result: better service and pricing for veterinarians, more affordable care for pet parents, and a stronger, more innovative distribution partner for the animal health ecosystem.
The FTC should see this merger for what it is: a pro-competitive response to real market pressures, not a political trophy. Chairman Ferguson has the chance to show that the FTC is no longer in the business of blocking mergers for sport — but in the business of letting American companies do what they have always done best.
Build. Compete. Win.