Dynamic Conversation Touching on the FTC & Why “Size Matters” is the Wrong Approach To Antitrust Enforcement

WASHINGTON – In the third installment of “Diner Table Economics,” North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum stopped at the iconic Airport Diner for a wide-ranging chat with NH Journal’s Michael Graham. The interview was taped days before Burgum suspended his presidential campaign.

In each interview, Graham sits down with a presidential candidate at a diner to discuss the pressing economic issues facing Granite Staters, ranging from inflation, to energy, to regulatory overreach. 

When asked about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its Chair, Lina Khan’s, approach to antitrust enforcement, Burgum drew on his experience in the tech industry while highlighting the massive changes the market has undergone on its own in the past 25 years: 

“The whole point around Microsoft was that it was too big in 1998. Guess what? Apple was dead as a company at that point in time. Now, it’s one of the largest market-cap companies in the world. Do you know who else wasn’t there in 1998? Google wasn’t there. eBay wasn’t there. Yahoo wasn’t there. I mean, all these dominant companies appeared in literally the next five years.”

“We have benefited because of open market competition in technology. If your product is not better, faster, and cheaper tomorrow, you’re not going to be in business. And these things that people view as monopoly positions? In 1998, they were worried that Microsoft had a monopoly position in the browser. But Google came in, and—bang!—80 percent market share overnight. It didn’t take a government regulation to do that. Sometimes competition is good.”

You can watch the full 30-minute interview here.

NH Journal’s article recapping event can be found here.

The Competitiveness Coalition is a sponsor of Diner Table Economics. 

For over a year, the Competitiveness Coalition has been sounding the alarm on the FTC’s egregious overreach and concerning actions. For more information on the Coalition’s work on this front, please visit competitivenesscoalition.com. Members of the press can contact the coalition at press@competitivenesscoalition.com.

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