It’s a bad sign for a market when certain players’ profits are growing unconstrained. It suggests something is very wrong with a market. I believe the government’s role is at a minimum to correct for market failures and inefficiencies.

Intuitively, a healthy market should prevent this kind of price gouging because there’s a strong incentive for new players to undercut incumbents. I can’t charge too much for gas because the station across the street will undercut me. If prices are growing that isn’t necessarily a bad sign. But we have seen several areas, like rent prices, eggs, meat, and oil, where profits grew unconstrained. And that’s a strong indicator that something is wrong.

Lena Khan is very sharp and seems to be cracking down on this kind of thing. I just hope she is able to continue.