In today’s Miami Herald, Competitiveness Coalition Chair Scott Brown and James Madison Institute CEO and President Dr. Robert McClure penned a joint op-ed on the dangers that the misguided American Innovation and Choice Online Act, S.2992, presents to our fragile economy and American competitiveness.
“The proposal would mandate how tech companies feature services on their platform, hurting consumers,” Brown and McClure write. “In addition, it vastly expands the power of the federal government into the private sector and sends the message to our homegrown innovators — including those in the emerging hub of Miami — that American innovation is no longer encouraged.”
The authors note that despite Florida’s standing as a major economic driver, the ongoing inflation crisis has still impacted the state’s residents, and if enacted this legislation could worsen that crisis.
“Its passage threatens the low-cost and free online products and services that they regularly use and enjoy, such as Amazon Prime and Google Docs.”
Launched in April 2022, the Competitiveness Coalition is a first-of-its-kind group educating the public and advocating for policies that put consumers first while fostering innovation and attracting new investment. More on the op-ed can be found below.
Misguided antitrust proposal handcuffs U.S. tech companies and gives China the edge
Miami Herald
Scott Brown and Robert McClure
As inflation persists and costs of groceries and gas rise, many hardworking taxpayers and business owners who already have tightened their budgets, will be making tough financial decisions for the foreseeable future, unfortunately. But while Floridians are tightening their belts, some U.S. senators are pushing ahead with the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a harmful antitrust proposal that would wreak havoc on our fragile economy and hurt American competitiveness.
The proposal would mandate how tech companies feature services on their platform, hurting consumers. In addition, it vastly expands the power of the federal government into the private sector and sends the message to our homegrown innovators — including those in the emerging hub of Miami — that American innovation is no longer encouraged.
While Florida is a major economic driver — exceeding the country in private-sector growth for 12 consecutive months — it is not immune to the inflationary crisis. For example, consumer prices in the Miami area surged 9.6% during the past 12 months ending in April, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, above the national inflation rate of 8.3%/
Despite lawmakers raising concerns about the proposal, and even a grave warning from former President Obama’s economic adviser Larry Summers that such “hipster” antitrust policies would make the economy more inflationary, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is moving ahead.
Unfortunately for families and mom-and-pop establishments in Florida, this misguided proposal couldn’t arrive at a worse time. Its passage threatens the low-cost and free online products and services that they regularly use and enjoy, such as Amazon Prime and Google Docs. In the words of the Wall Street Journal, “The last thing America needs is a new regulatory shock from Congress.”
Making matters worse, at a time of global unrest and the war in the Ukraine, the legislation does nothing to protect America’s cybersecurity or our standing as an economic world leader. National security agencies have not had a chance to weigh in on the proposal, which should trouble military leaders and experts at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base. Each of us — an ambassador to New Zealand in the Trump administration and a CEO with a national voice — has seen firsthand how Communist China is working every day to weaken America’s economic and technological leadership here and abroad.
Read the full op-ed at the Miami Herald’s website here.