UnHerd with Freddie Sayers Lina Khan: How to break the monopoly machine
Aug 30, 2025
Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission under Biden, dives deep into the antitrust landscape and corporate power dynamics. She discusses how corporations manipulate both woke and anti-woke rhetoric to shield their monopolistic practices. Khan critiques the challenges posed by lobbyist capture and mega-mergers, while questioning whether genuine economic populism can take root within the Democratic Party. The conversation also touches on the implications of non-compete clauses and how institutional investors affect housing markets.
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Antitrust As A Freedom Safeguard
- Antitrust defends freedom by checking concentrated private economic power that can coerce like the state.
- Lina Khan argues economic structure shapes daily freedoms from prices to job mobility.
Restrict Non-Competes To Free Workers
- Ban or limit non-compete clauses to restore labor mobility and raise wages.
- Khan notes non-competes depress wages broadly and trap workers across incomes and sectors.
Chicken Farmers Too Afraid To Speak
- Khan recounts studying chicken farming and seeing farmers too afraid to speak against processors.
- She uses this example to show how market concentration silences speech and enables retaliation.