STEVE FORBES: The left’s latest bad idea would punish bargain hunters Efforts by the far-left to revive the Robinson-Patman Act, a Depression-era law restricting wholesalers from offering volume discounts, are seen as a threat to free market principles and consumer savings. Critics argue that this law, which mistakes efficiency for exploitation, would punish innovation and competition. Instead of protecting competitors, policymakers should focus on consumer welfare, as evidenced by the success of large retailers passing savings onto customers.

• The far-left is attempting to revive the 1930s Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), which restricted volume discounts offered by wholesalers.
• The RPA is seen as a misbegotten relic of the Great Depression that mistakes efficiency for exploitation and punishes competition.
• Reviving the RPA would lead to higher prices for consumers and would not necessarily help small businesses.
• Modern economies rely on dynamic pricing and customization, making the RPA an outdated and economically absurd concept.
• The push to resurrect the RPA is part of a broader ideological campaign from the left to use antitrust law as a social-engineering tool.
• Antitrust law should focus on consumer welfare, meaning lower prices and higher output, rather than shielding competitors.
• Bureaucratic discretion in deeming pricing differences ‘reasonable’ would chill investment and innovation.
• Free market advocates argue that competition, not regulation, drives efficiency and choice, and that the RPA should remain in the past.