Massive massive props to Jon for continuing this after Apple canceled his show for wanting to interview her and do a piece on AI, and I am grateful that Comedy Central allows it
They also canceled the show because he was going to talk about China. Apple (the same company that bases its marketing on customer privacy) can't let their Chinese masters get upset.
The demonization of the government is the biggest grift that the super wealthy have been able to pull over everyday people... Lina Kahn is a glimpse of what a well funded agency can do to protect the people that live in the country, the government is supposed to be an organization of citizens to make the country better for all citizens and those that control majority of the wealth want people to be against their government to prevent everyday people from ever gaining power
Knew a guy who owned a small store in my hometown. When Walmart came into the next town over. I noticed his store had less in it. When I asked him about it. He said that some of his suppliers were forced to make an exclusive deal with Walmart to sell there. They had to sign a contract stating that they would only sell to Walmart. They were able to sell more product that way. But my friend couldn't get products for his store. Within a few months, his store was almost empty. He had no suppliers. Because they were all selling to Walmart. Within 6 months, his store was closed. And Walmart is in the next town over. You have to drive across the bridge and a few miles down the highway. His store was within walking distance from a lot of people
That exact same thing has happened countless times, all over the country. A lot of businesses are forced to sign exclusive deals for Walmart if they want to be carried in those stores. It was Walmart who ended companies like RCA and Phillips, because of those exclusivity deals. They're nasty work. And since a majority of their employees are paid so little that they require public assistance, the American taxpayer helps subsidize every last bit of it.
That's just the beginning. I worked for a vendor whose primary customer was Walmart. Once they had the exclusivity deals in place, they had ultimate power over the vendor. They decided what the company did, what it sold, what prices Walmart would pay, etc. The company became a de facto arm of Walmart in everything but name and they eventually went out of business completely.
@@seanpatrick1243 is it just me, or do many people not take elections seriously at all? I'm so sick of reading comments that are nothing more than trash talk, as if they're discussing a football team. It's not a roast, it's about policy. It's not about personalities, the best one liners, or who you would want to have a beer with, it's about competence in a given position. President is the main aspect, but all the appointees are another not insignificant kettle of fish. FWIW, I like this FTC chair. Seems impressive imo. Hopefully her record matches her rhetoric.
@@shiddykiddy-lp4dz Well, the right kind of Democrat. After all, Clinton and Obama were corporate-friendly and maintained the Reagan-Bork model Khan criticizes in the interview, and Schumer has done everything in his power (which is a lot) to stop new antitrust bills.
I thought he was way too soft on her. The FTC has been allowing corporate consolidation for decades, with some weak argument of “focusing on behaviors.”
@@nav579 Lina Khan is 35 years old and has been FTC chair for 3 years. The idea that Jon should have focused on "decades of corporate consolidation" that didn't occur under her watch, rather than what she is doing, and what "we" can do to help her, does not make any sense to me. You know how we got to this corporate oligarchy? By focusing on how bad and incompetent the "government" is, convincing ourselves that a hands off approach is better (as Lina repeatedly mentioned), then being shocked when things got even worse after the supreme court legalized bribery with Citizen's United. Idk man, just really think it's a dumb critique from you if your bigger picture goal is addressing this issue.
in what world? she’s lost every single antitrust case she’s brought and they’ve been completely incoherent. all that while there are real antitrust issues that are not being scrutinized
Working hard without knowing what the right thing is... I don't know about recently but early on, her stuff was just getting thrown out of court for being politically motivated nonsense.
Doing the right thing? Waste tax payer dollars by attacking simple bigness and not customer harm? Massive losing record. FYI some industries NEED bigness - Google Nvidia to find an example. You want the US to be competitive moving forward, u need bigness
Several times, it looked like Lina wanted to laugh at Jon's jokes or affirm his incisive commentary, but she was able to keep it professional. But I don't blame her one bit for laughing or nodding in affirmation when she did. These are the kinds of quality interviews that we need more of in television. Educational, constructively critical, and even some humor in the right context. A truly human conversation.
This woman's communication skills are amazing. She is always answering the exact question that is asked, no unnecessary rhetoric, transparent vocabulary. Normally I go into these interviews prepared to wade through swamps of verbiage.
Credit to them both. However this interview was carefully rehearsed. I applaud her efforts and the efforts of the commission but most of what she said was rather predictable.
@@JillKnapp her replies sounded rehearsed. They did not sound conversational, they sounded prepared and contrived. Particularly her cadence and the use of certain cliches as "the American people". Phrases like this are not, to me, casual vernacular, rather they are very "safe" and "appealing". Such is language when you write a speech or, prepare taking points.
Stewart's joke, "you don't have to comment on that--just nod," makes me think he's poking fun at the agency requesting to stay 100% on script, or something.
Imagine...this Lady trying to save you from the corporations...and then the people went and vote for Trump, MTG and Boobert. I can not imagine her frustration!
I once worked in the corporate office for an electronics retailer, doing due diligence for regulations stuff. Y'know, CYA. I needed an MSDS (material safety data sheet) for the battery of the iPod, the FCC Declaration of Conformity (a one page document) and the UL Listing report. There are no trade secrets in these documents and I sent a request to my contact with Apple requesting these documents. They declared them confidential documents and would not send them to me. I asked again, stating that we needed to cover our liability too and just wanted to ensure our due diligence was done. Nope, these are confidential documents that they will not send to me. So I went to Apple's website and downloaded the MSDS for the battery in the iPod. Then I emailed them, stating that I got the "confidential" MSDS from their website, and I downloaded the UL Listing from UL's website (although I still needed the report), and would you please send me the one page FCC DoC page? I didn't make any friends and I never got the other two documents we needed for our due diligence, but I was left with the impression that in general the company was a pain with which to work, declaring everything "confidential" regardless of the actual sensitivity. I just imagine what the employee NDA looks like. 🤯🤯
@@jonomacdwith all due respect, you should not have had that much trust for them to begin with 😉 I get what you're saying and not meaning this to insult you, but yeah, big companies almost always bad.
Lina Khan is remarkable. Kudos to Jon Stewart for having her on his show and giving her adequate time to discuss our current situation regarding monopolies in this country. She's also looking at healthcare monopolies. Not just medical devices and big pharma, but healthcare systems (hospitals, etc.) No wonder big business is after her.
What has she done that is remarkable other than spout inaccurate talking points while Jon panders to her? Microsoft lawsuit. Failed. Meta lawsuit. Failed. Amazon lawsuit. Will fail spectacularly after wasting countless tax dollars. And they don’t fail because of evil corporate lawyers jamming up cases. They’re slam dunks because every accusation she brings is debunked by the most basic interpretation of the law
FTC* but yes she’s absolutely incredible. I just learned she was pregnant in 2023 (same time she brought the Amazon lawsuit) and that literally just proves how much of a badass she is.
Jon Stewart is THE best interviewer in American media today. How do we get this man a bigger platform?! The country is in such desperate need of him. Also, I was extremely impressed by Lina Khan!
No, we need to ask, how do we get other journalists to follow Jon's lead. Especially with regards to unregulated AI, the media has dropped the ball. Despite the fact that unregulated AI is a threat to their own industry. I am shocked by the softball pieces they do on tech companies and AI. Now we know why. Much of media is owned by tech companies like Apple or corporations chomping at accessing unregulated AI to reduce labor costs, like Disney. So they don't want journalists reporting anything negative about unregulated AI. The only negative stories they'll allow is potential killer robot stories to distract us. That needs to change, it shows how monopolistic and powerful these corporations are today when they shape the news like this.
10:08 The fact that I didn't know a company isn't allowed to buy its biggest competitors says a lot about our current sociopolitical climate. Props to Jon for letting this interview go as long as it needed. So fascinating and important.
Doesn't stop mergers. Cingular wireless 》AT&T 》 T-Mobile mergers Most predominantly, EA, buying studios and never producing the games that would directly compete with theirs
@@EASY4V1It *should* have stopped many mergers. The problem is not anything to do with the laws on the books per se (though they could be given a spitshine to make them a bit more polished for the 21st century), but the organized effort by corporate lobbyists to defund and defang the FTC for decades. Laws don't matter if you lack either the resources or the will to try to enforce them, or an unbiased judiciary to rule on them. There's a reason the party of bug business makes such a show of saying how government is inept to justify not letting them spend any money on it. They're creating a self-fulfilling proophecy.
It doesn't stop many mergers as others said. The current position is if the company can make a case that merging and consolidating "could" lead to lower prices for of consumers then it's beneficial and goes through. In reality this isn't enforced at all and just in theory for the sake of the merger
"When you concentrate production, that concentrates risk." Wow. Just wow. I never thought I'd hear a government official know that. Thank you! This is why the future needs to be as local and small, and nimble and diverse as possible.
@@kennethmorsee During COVID I worked on an assembly line making ventilators, and often the line was shut down because we were missing a small part from China. . .
Yeah, she’s definitely a jaw-dropper. And that’s before she even flashes her pretty smile. I could’ve listened to this interview go on forever. When Jon asked her “could you stay - forever,” I was thinking, “I know exactly how you feel, Jon.”
We need her in her position and we need others as true compassed as she in many, many other government positions. These are the real gems of democracy and we owe them and her great gratitude.
Well look, I now feel we have an actual ADVOCATE in the administration. Also - thank you so much Jon Stewart for your great questions and allowing actual answers. THIS is a great political conversation.
It just goes to show that the media conglomerates and the donor class that props them up, block her efforts and achievements from the masses. She is entirely for the people and a part of the incredible cohort of government officials who work day in and day out on the behalf of the American populous, and not not the elite shareholder-corporate class. More are out there! 🙏🏾
Have you looked at her record of leadership? She's a disaster. She's lost most of her cases in court. She leads with a purely ideological bend and rarely comes with a well constructed argument. We need an FTC that uses resources effectively to regulate markets, not inhibit them.
I’ve been singing Lina’s praises for the last few months! She’s been doing incredibly important work, arguably more impactful than the majority of other Presidential appointees.
@@jdpro2222 your point. the federal judges some who were appointed by democratic presidents didn’t think she had a strong cases. She lost in the past against Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. And now she wasting more money to go after Amazon again.
Lena Khan is so incredibly sharp. She stay’s on point and never misses a thing, plus she actually wants the questions and has honest and detailed answers.. Very uncommon and very refreshing !
Actually, everything she said, illustrates how she’s part of the problem. She’s not worried about the size of companies, she’s just worried about their behavior. So giant corporate behemoths can eat the economy. As long as their customers are treated well? Really? No concern for externalities? She’s actually describing a fundamental shift in FTC enforcement philosophy that has, on-balance, been terrible for this country over half a century.
As soon as Trump is president, she’s fired. But don’t think she will get the power of her agency being improved under Biden or Harris. The real antagonism is between the capital and the working class and both of your parties are working for the benefit of the former. Yes, that’s marxism and as long as you think that Jeff Bezos has all his money and power because he’s working so hard you’re just doomed.
Yeah, but I have a hard time believing that a lawyer with under 10 years of experience is the best person for a job like this, regardless of how smart and impressive she is.
@@corgeousgeorge She wrote her first paper on the subject at 15. I thought they didn't make them like this anymore. A 10 mn bio: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-J7ZdU-1fF8g.html
Reminds me of the ONE woman, an FDA medical reviewer, who took on big pharm and got Thalidomide off the market and saved thousands of babies', limbs. You go girl!
As a small business seller on Amazon since 2014, I can concur. Amazon's fees and practices are crazy, especially new fees they rolled out recently. Nice to see its actually being mentioned.
What *should* Amazon charge small businesses for the services it provides? Lina Khan says here that "some small businesses have to pay one out of every two dollars to Amazon," without indicating what her agency has evaluated would be a more reasonable price for the value that Amazon provides. While the cited cost may indeed be too much, Khan is not making an argument here at all, and certainly not a quantitative one. I imagine that such arguments are made in the law suit. Rather than relying on us all to just agree that this sounds like too much without any real context, I wish she would have used this platform to make a data-based argument. Absent that, this is (a) not persuasive and (b) a poor job by Stewart asking anything resembling a tough question.
@matthewhunt1674 Usually, when a retailer or platform is greedy, the average rate they take would be about 30%. That's 60 cents per $2 or 30 cents on the dollar. Other platforms can offer 20% or 12%. Average commission for a realtor is about 6%. The point is, sellers should be able to look for a platform with a lower rate without sacrificing their customer base. Amazon is so big that other platforms seem obscure and illegitimate. Amazon has taken advantage of this perception to raise their prices which is not only illegal, it's harmful to their customers who are both the consumers and distributors.
Raising the fees is not even the most egregious part of Amazon business practices. When a small business releases products that are trending, they find an alternative to make themselves, start competing with them, and drive them out of business.
Extremely impressive! The youngest Chair of the FTC! Watch and listened to her on other programs, including New York Summit, Stanford, FedSoc, and right off the bat, one could tell Lina M. Kahn is a force to be reckoned with, a strong leader! Totally understand why CEOs are frightened and well they should be! She's the consumer's hero! I hope she stays strong in her convictions. I don't see her being tainted by power or greed. Also, I see a strong woman that will, in her public career, keep fighting for the people not only as Chair of the FTC, but her sights set a little higher!!! What an extremely dedicated intelligent human being!
This is one of the best and most important interviews in recent history. What is talked about here covers the true economic and sociological battle lines of the coming decades. We need more Lina Khans in the government and more Jon Stewarts in the media.
1000% :) Look, don't shame me! I came here to write something "brilliant" but so many others have already done so, so this is what I've got. Seriously though, we need more young people like Ms. Khan in government. At least her and others at the FTC (can we get a doubling of the staff there, please??) aren't elected, so we are not reliant on an increasingly under-informed electorate to put them in these important positions.
@@PhilipMarcYT Literally every single person has linguistic quirks like that. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they don't. It only means you're more blind to it than other people are.
I am so grateful for this kind of journalism. We deserve public officials who are transparent, but we also deserve media that is willing to give an appropriate platform to these kinds of illuminating discussions. Jon is the best at gently inviting the audience into important conversations about public policy we might otherwise not be inclined to participate in.
Ok but to what end. Yay we are constantly seeing the corruption by the rich. We've been seeing it. Black Rock, Big pharma companies, etc, so... what are the American ppl gonna do about it?? Let me guess... a whole lot of nothing.
She seriously impressed me with her knowledge, eloquence and integrity. Jon impressed me as well for coming up with the brilliant idea of inviting such an intelligent person to a comedy show.
This was clear and concise. Excellent discussion. I think this will help many average Americans understand how important this dept is in maintaining our social stability. Reagan was the beginning of the end of a somewhat functional system and now here we are.
Every time I bring up Reagan and his failed trickle economics plan which let these huge corporations take in such huge profits that they just buy out any competitors I get jumped on by the bootlickers. I blame Reagan for starting it but I blame 99% of politicians in both parties for taking advantage of the situation and having ZERO interest in fixing the problem. That's not even getting into how that same economics plan cut funding to education, infrastructure, social services, and countless other important programs while over funding programs like the military, leo's, and the war on drugs.
@@angelikalindenau943 lol...this was fairly short and done in a 'comedy' format. Better chance that more 'average' people will watch than a 3 hr interview.
She's actually a pretty rare member of the administration that isn't fully tithed to corporations or corporate lobbies. I think they didn't realise how much integrity she has when they appointed her.
This was a fantastic interview. How she handled every question. She's clearly not only knowledgeable but truly believes in her job. Just fantastic interview A to Z.
I absolutely love how Jon is not afraid to call out Apple inc, the company that essentially forced him out of employment. Your soul is fully intact Mr Stewart. Kudos 👏 💐 🥳
I would say the vast majority of government employees are like this since they are appointed/hired to be the professional in their field and not worry about re-election. I'm not trying to downplay Lina's work (I'm a huge fan of hers), but for every MTG, there are 1000 government workers in the background working quietly to keep the ship afloat
This is so necessary. Every time prices at the pump jump overnight, though profits are at record highs and corporations remain stable it is the little guy driving every day who takes the hit. Americans do not have any stability in today’s economy.
3:25 Amazon 50% monopoly tax for small businesses 8:47 tech companies the new oligarchs 16:33 Apple didn't want Khan on Stewart podcast! 17:53 1890 Sherman antitrust law
@@UkeCan1they didn’t cancel it. Jon simply walked away because of their refusal to allow that topic to be discussed. It was also very sudden. Apple thought they could control him and he simply walked away and did it anyway. Kudos to Jon.
Most people working in government agencies are like Lina Khan. It’s the elected officials that are different. Career civil servants tend to be much more well intentioned and competent than politicians
I was a public health nurse during CoViD, charged with investigating outbreaks in corporations and investigation/ensuring they were following public health policies or closing if need be if the company posed a massive health hazard. We were not allowed to investigate deeply (no close contacts, no histories, no lists of known sick people) into Amazon buildings. Expectations all other businesses were expected to give us under penalty of law. We were given a point person who worked for Amazon that we relayed information to, who was given the authority to self-investigate their own policies. Reports to authority agencies when it was blatantly obvious they did not abide by laws went unanswered.
U talking about fulfillment centers; the ones delivering goods to the populace that were under lock down rules? Those were deemed strategically important and likely had different oversight. Just because you didn't keep watch over the company doesn't mean no one did!
@@z5m2 Doesn't mean anyone diddddddd, either. And, I'll bet there weren't. You're soooooooo Naive if you Truuuly don't see that maaaaaajor corruption iszzzz, by far, the more likely answer. I suspect you're either a bot, deployed to confuse, obfuscate, and cover up for big time corruption, or an actual person doing the same.
@@z5m2And what, you accccctually belieeeeeeeve that Amazon had genuine, sincere, honest, objective oversight of **itself**????? Wowwwww, you muuuuuuust be joking.
@Lina Khan I'm allergic to bee stings and I can't afford an epi pen. They're $400-800! They've been around forever and save lives. Please work on this one next.
Oh, and here's another one. ALL the utility companies. My electric company didn't change their rates, but they added a $40 per month delivery charge. I mean talk about a monopoly!
I am not American, but I must say that I love her. Because what you do also affect people outside of the US. 20:25. On the political power to change things. I am a bit afraid what money in politics will do. I hope for politicians who don't sell their soul to the biggest spender. But work for the people.
@@yonatanspira9773You need to qualify Party and Politics with “American”. The rest of the developed world have quite stringent rules re buying-politicians / conflicts of interest / insider-trading… and immediate consequences !
She was one of the most amazing guests I’ve ever seen on the show. It makes me happy knowing people like her exist in the world, and props to John Stewart for leaving behind his Apple show so he could instead have her on The Daily Show. 💯
John is so majestic. He heard Lina have a hick up while the audience laughed, he could tell it was getting off track with the jokes and pulled everyone in in 2 jokes and then jumped right back into the interview like a smooth criminal to return to the main cadance. This man needs to be president.
Thank you Jon Stewart! I have been waiting for at least four years to hear monopolization talked about. As far as I know, no other major news network or entity has talked about how corporations are gouging the American public with monopolization! Please keep investigating these topics that no one else seems to be dealing with!
Yes, if you’d like to hear and learn more about it Robert Reich’s content is absolutely excellent on this and therelated issues. Most significantly his *free* lecture series as professor at Berkeley on wealth and poverty: youtube.com/@RBReich?si=YdxSatRZN5mO90C_
We needed Jon Stewart so badly. I’m so glad to see him back! Comedy Central please do whatever it takes to get him back for another day or two a week!!
George Carlin had so many memorable quotes but I recent tried to watch one of old hbo special and it’s so dark and bitter… this country broke his heart
She is badass! She does her job. We appreciate the situation and the difficult rich people who actually claimed it’s been this way for all these years why enforce the laws now, this way has been for so long we should ignore the laws and keep letting us take advantage of as we have been.
A couple of points here: 1 - Jon Stewart is by far the best and smartest interviewer on television. 2 - Lina Khan is an incredibly smart and straight forward young commission leader, but one thing left out of the equation here is the massive American lobby and corrupt politicians on both sides of the isle working against her and the interest of the American people.
I wonder how many Americans even know about lobbying. They say it's protected under the right to petition the government, but it's basically cronies, bribes, and backroom deals. We need more awareness about lobbiests.
Brilliant and informative interview, thank you. Lina is a real credit to the government, she speaks eloquently, she's clearly very intelligent, she's getting results and she's a total badass.
It is refreshing to see that a government official is finally addressing the fact that ai and tech companies should be following the laws we already have. Too much discussion on ai is focused on ethics and morality when the reality is that laws are all that matter.
"It is refreshing to see that a government official is finally addressing the fact that ai and tech companies should be following the laws we already have". Yep. One problem, though: too little too late to save America. Sad.
I appreciate people like Lina Khan for being a leader of a new school of antitrust law that advocates for a return to a broader concern with private power and its negative effects on market competition, income inequality, consumer rights, unemployment, and wage growth. Far too long, companies like Amazon have gotten away with acting like a monopoly but because everybody’s too busy trying to make money, they’ve gotten away with it. I just hope that under her leadership, the FTC will continue to stop obvious antitrust violations from large corporations.
I related by marriage to someone who works in anti-trust law and there's nothing s/he enjoys more than suing really large companies and banks for violating anti-trust laws. At first I thought s/he was rather nuts, but now I have a whole new appreciation for their niche focus.
100%. She and people like her are our only hope for the future. Without them these geriatric sociopaths will run us all into the ground and it will all be over.
@@ChhesterificationAge absolutely has a LOT to do with it. At 54 you're still quite young too, in comparison to the octogenarian freaks that typically hold power.
Saw her give a talk in a small venue here in SF, and it definitely inspired some semblance of anti trust as a possible career pivot. She's inspiring, and I'll continue to root for her and her team, it's bitter but necessary work!
14:30 I Honestly think that we need so much more people on tv, including govt leaders like Lina Khan, explaining the actual laws we have in place to combat the companies that abuse the law
Jon. Absolutely fantastic show, conversation and informative. Please bring her back every 6 months for updates. Why not bring SEC chairman, EPA administrator, Railroad oversight board head, FDA head, etc. On a rotating monthly basis and ask them to inform us? Also look into who would be let go if Republicans win elections in 2024? What are the appointment terms, conditions, etc.? And can ask these agencies if they work with the European counterparts to go after various industries?
John Stewart is smart but not nearly as smart as a lot of other people and not as smart as a lot of other people who hide it better. John Oliver is arguably smarter and has recruited a lot of smart researchers. Penn and Teller are definitely some of the smartest people on TV but only on TV. And there are so many more, Aston Kuchner, Malim Bialik, Nathalie Portman, Conan O'Brian...
What a refreshingly intelligent and authentic discussion of an important issue. Nice to hear from someone working to help people rather than just for personal profit.
This was such an excellent interview - Lina Kahn, what an intelligent, well-spoken and informative segment. The FTC is in great hands under your leadership. Jon Stewart, we need to hear more like this!
This interview is very well written. The answers are perfectly not directly answering and accidentally putting the FTC into legal problems. But they still give you the feeling like she agrees.
Look at how she failed against microsoft end of last year, she had such a dull case, one of the lawyer was even low key crying during the hearing, she got roasted and FTC funding lowered by a lot.
Absolutely, in this case he studied up on the FTC's failing legal arguments against Microsoft and their turning a blind eye to the price fixing at Sony, and knew he needed to make a lot of vague assertions that Microsoft was guilty of something, anything. Lina Kahn is a twit with a vendetta against Microsoft from long before she got to the FTC but has cost the American taxpayers millions of dollars in her absolutely baseless legal claims against Microsoft and their purchase of ABK.
This was one of the best interviews Jon has done. Please bring her back and ask more questions. She explains everything so clearly and he rebuts when she leaves an opening. I can totally believe Apple blocking this interview. Fantastic interview Jon! More!
Excellent long interview about a serious subject. It so refreshing having Jon Stewart back. She is correct about Amazon being a monopoly. They drove several businesses into non existence like Toys R Us. The list is endless.
