In late March, I was disturbed to read a Wall Street Journal piece by Molly Ball and Brody Mullins entitled Biden’s Trustbuster Draws Unlikely Fans: ‘Khanservative’ Republicans, where a variety of right-wing voices discuss their guarded fandom of the antitrust work of Federal Trade Commission Director Lina Khan.
The article took me back to the late 2000s, when a regular refrain on Conservative talk radio was: “What are you conserving?” That’s an important discussion which must again take place, considering the combination of Khan’s seeming religious devotion to antitrust enforcement and the rise of antibusiness sentiment on the Right, under the misleading name of “National Conservatism,” which proves day-after-day to be nothing more than a political Trojan Horse that is bringing the ideas of Left-Wing economic warriors like Khan into what had long been a bastion of Free Enterprise.
It’s the very real concept of Free Enterprise that I want to “Conserve.” After all, what sense does it make to look at someone who provides you a product or a service that you want, need, and generally like…and call him evil for doing so? Moreover, why should we then seek to stop people willing to help us meet our needs from doing just that?
Lina Khan and a growing number of her Right-leaning cohorts don’t share the same view. What began as normal consumer displeasure over how tech companies managed social media networks (certainly a core part of free enterprise) has morphed into a political crusade by some on the Right who are advocating for previously unthinkable ideas, such as breaking up companies. At the same time Khan is waging a multi-front war that is now openly reaching into your pocketbook…or specifically your designer handbag...with a laughable attempt to block a merger between Tapestry, Inc. (known for years as Coach) and Capri Holdings, which was founded by fashion designer Michael Kors.
A college dropout, Kors started his own women’s fashion line. His business later expanded to include men’s clothes and handbags. This is a true success story: someone passionate leveraged a passion into a profitable business that has improved our quality of life. Likewise, Capri’s merger partner Tapestry had similar humble beginnings, starting as a family-owned shoe business in New England before growing into a worldwide enterprise with household names like Coach and Kate Spade.
Kate Spade itself deserves mention because it began as the dream of one woman who developed her love of fashion into a successful brand desired by women all over the world.
The stories of Tapestry, Capri, and Kate Spade repudiate Lina Khan and her KhanServative fanboys by proving that Free Enterprise works. Each of these companies navigated a dynamic marketplace to build success. What’s more, the proposed merger between Tapestry and Capri can do nothing to prevent future Michael Kors and Kate Spades from reshaping the marketplace for accessories in a multitude of ways, including a world where “affordable” handbags are no longer a fashion focus.
In fact, the only thing that can prevent either a repeat or rhyming of this rich business history is for the actions of present and future “Trustbusters” to send a message to investors that their ability to enrich themselves by voluntarily serving others will be arbitrarily constrained by the whims of Washington’s political winds. That will raise prices, limit opportunity, and bring about the parade of horribles that Lina Khan and Khanservatives claim to oppose in their dishonest diatribes against freedom and Free Enterprise.
