How Genghis Khan Is Driving Your Grocery Bill Higher

Notes From the Field By James Hickman / Simon Black August 27, 2024

Over eight hundred years ago, in what is now northwestern China, the Uyghur people— long before they were carted off to internment camps by the Communist Party— ruled their own independent kingdom, known as Qocho.

Then, in the year 1209, Genghis Khan sent diplomatic emissaries to Qocho. The message was clear: the Great Khan wanted to avoid a bloody military campaign, and he proposed a peace offering instead.

Genghis Khan’s deal was simple: the Uyghur people would keep their rulers, their infrastructure, their religion, and their customs. Their soldiers would live. Their buildings would not burn. Their women would not be touched. They would even be granted a high degree of autonomy.

And in exchange, they would provide the Mongol Empire with administrative support, as the Uyghurs were famously adept in governance and literacy.

The Uyghur ruler, recognizing the military strength of the Mongols and the benefits of an alliance, voluntarily accepted these terms, avoiding destruction.

Genghis Khan is generally known to history as a butcher and conqueror. But he was also a fairly skilled diplomat; he understood that it was far better to talk and settle matters peacefully than to go to war.

Through peaceful negotiation, lives could be spared, resources conserved, and vital economic assets preserved— not just for his own empire but also for the kingdoms he sought to absorb. This meant more tax revenue for him, and prosperity for everyone.

Fast forward to the present day, and Genghis’s namesake— Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan— has taken the opposite approach. She wants to go to war... which in our modern era means lawsuits. She has no interest in diplomacy, discussion, or compromise; she just wants to sue businesses and take them to court.

Bear in mind, the FTC was created in 1914, back when a handful of huge companies wielded monopolistic control over key industries in America. So the government set up the FTC to protect consumers from being squeezed by these powerful monopolies.

But a century later, Genghis Khan is using the vast powers of her office to wage war on legitimate business... and even capitalism itself.

A few months ago, for example, Genghis decided to ban “non-compete” clauses from employment contracts. This is one of the fundamental principles of capitalism: a voluntary agreement between an employer and employee to protect a company’s investment and intellectual property.

But Genghis Khan wouldn’t hear of it. So she banned non-competes, even though she had absolutely no legal authority to do so. And this is typical of her— she just invents whatever authority she wants.

Another example we talked about a few months ago— Genghis filed a lawsuit against two major grocery store chains (Albertsons and Kroger) to prevent them from merging.

Her claim is that the merger will harm labor unions, though she offers absolutely no reasonable explanation or evidence to support this assertion.

More importantly, her job is to protect CONSUMERS.... not labor unions. But here we have it again: Genghis Khan has once again invented new authority for herself to be the Protector of Unions... even though Congress never tasked her with that mission.

The whole thing is so absurd, in fact, that the FTC has no reason to suspect that the merger of these two grocery store chains will harm anyone at all. If anything, consumers should benefit.

The supermarket industry is extremely competitive, with traditional grocers now having to compete with tech companies, co-ops, farmers' markets, delivery apps, big-box warehouses like Costco, and even Walmart and Amazon.

For Albertsons and Kroger, it’s clear that a merger makes sense; it helps them optimize their cost structure, achieve greater efficiencies, and thus deliver savings in the form of lower prices to consumers.

And lowering prices isn’t some altruistic act by these companies; lower prices will make them more competitive.

But Genghis Khan has no understanding of how capitalism works. In the sentiment of her fellow Marxists, she views capitalism as a zero-sum game, best encapsulated by AOC’s false logic: “No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars.”

This way of thinking is completely false. Sure, 1,000 years ago when the real Genghis Khan was conquering the world, economics was indeed a zero-sum game. Nations got richer by plundering their neighbors, and individuals became wealthier by taking from others.

But that’s not what modern capitalism is about. It’s not a zero-sum game. Capitalism is about making the pie bigger. It’s about value creation. It’s about making everyone better off— workers, customers, investors, even the government that collects tax revenue. Everyone wins.

But FTC Chair Genghis Khan acts like it’s still the year 1209. She doesn’t understand modern economics or the value creation principles of capitalism. So her tendency is to engage in warfare— not with soldiers on the battlefield, but with lawyers in a courtroom. Albertsons and Kroger never had a chance.

For example, the FTC initially howled that the combined Albertsons and Kroger company would have too many locations. OK fine. So the companies promised to sell off a percentage of their stores, and they even found a buyer.

Then the FTC claimed there wouldn’t be enough stores, and competition would suffer.

“Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.” Again, the companies never had a chance. There’s no satisfying Genghis Khan. She doesn’t want to talk. She doesn’t want a solution. She just wants to go to war.

The hearing started yesterday, and both sides showed up to court ready to fight. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the case is quickly dismissed, or that reason prevails in court.

Either way, it’s not a great outcome. If Genghis wins, food prices are likely to rise. But even if she loses, she’ll just find some other business to attack, or some other pillar of capitalism to assault.

In Genghis’s mind, lawfare is always and everywhere the answer. And somehow we are all supposed to become more prosperous because of it.

That’s capitalism in the 21st century, folks: the federal government will sue its way into prosperity.

Unfortunately, Genghis Khan is not isolated in her way of thinking. In fact, one of her biggest cheerleaders is none other than Kamala Harris, who has applauded this lawsuit for taking on “corporate greed.”

This is the sad lie they always use try to explain inflation; rather than acknowledge that their own policies and profligate spending have led to higher prices, they blame greed. And promise to sue their way to lower prices. It’s genius.

And it’s not just Kamala either— Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, Bernie Sanders, and a whole bunch of other very vocal supporters (surprisingly from both parties) are all on board with this idiotic approach.

It represents an obvious risk to prosperity and success. And that is something that should be factored into the long term planning of anyone who wants to build anything of value in America.

To your freedom,  James Hickman  Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC

PS-

This doesn’t mean it’s impossible to build or maintain wealth in America. But in this type of environment, there are certain steps that are necessary to take in order to make sure you can come at the problems these people cause from a position of position of strength.

That’s why we started Schiff Sovereign: Premium, a highly educational, month-by-month guide that is designed to help you navigate the world from a position of strength, both personally and financially.  Click here to learn more.

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