Opinion

STEVE FORBES: The left’s latest bad idea would punish bargain hunters

1930s-era Robinson-Patman Act restricted wholesalers from offering lower prices for high-volume buyers

By Steve Forbes Fox News

Published May 8, 2026 10:00am EDT

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Some bad ideas refuse to stay buried, no matter how often the facts prove them wrong. The efforts of the far-left in trying to revive the 1930s‑era Robinson‑Patman Act (RPA), and its companion antitrust theories, is one of them. 

This misbegotten relic of the Great Depression placed restrictions on wholesalers from charging lower prices for retailers who bought in large volumes. Big chain stores like the now-defunct A&P were accused of undercutting mom-and-pop grocers by demanding lower wholesale prices. Populist politicians painted these chains as monopolists squeezing out the little guy. The inconvenient fact that these savings were passed on to consumers at lower retail prices was ignored.

Congress back then mistook efficiency for exploitation, treating competition as something sinister rather than a win for the consumer. Prices rose, consumers lost, and small stores didn’t miraculously return to profitability. Courts and federal agencies eventually narrowed the law’s reach, allowing market efficiency to prevail once again.

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