Image Credit: iStock
Politics Junk Fees Consumer protection The Junk Fee Prevention Act Regulation
The latest in the government’s war against the economy: Joe Biden has announced success in eliminating so-called “junk-fees,” an unpopular aspect to many purchases. Celebration, however, is misplaced.
After meeting with business leaders infamous for inflicting these “junk-fees,” such as LiveNation, Airbnb, and Seatgeek, the companies committed to eliminating these “hidden” fees. The Biden administration’s justification for intervening is that these companies sneak in these fees in order to strong arm consumers into paying more than they initially intended. Framed in this way, it is as if the Biden administration were some benevolent arbitrator stepping in and convincing fraudulent, greedy companies to stop robbing the consumer. This is just inaccurate.
The Biden administration has nothing with which to negotiate except the threat of using government force. These companies, out of fear of encroachment, are willing to negotiate. Meetings like this would be ultimately powerless in a free economy; the government would be unable to get the companies at the negotiating table, but, in the modern, interventionist economy, meetings with government officials have the specter of intervention and regulation hanging over them.
The threat is a credible one as well. While the president can sign an executive order and cross his fingers, Congress is actively taking steps against “junk fees.”...
A video of a helicopter on fire and falling to the ground has been shared on social media with claims it shows a US Black Hawk helicopter hit by Iran. But this isn’t true. The clip actually dates b...