This is the O.T. Middweek podcast. I'm Michael Lohanger.

As we've discussed on the show many times, most recently with Kory Doctoro in our series

and bleepification, Amazon has been inserting itself into seemingly every facet of our lives.

All while using its status as a monopoly in the market to squash competition, take advantage of its users, and skew prices for everyone.

At the end of our series, Dr. O described how he's placed his hope in Lena Khan, the chair

of the Federal Trade Commission.

In this midweek episode, we're airing a conversation our colleague and host of the New Yorker

radio hour David Remnick had with Lena Khan about her plan to sue Amazon for violating antitrust laws.

Here's David.

You've been involved in investigating, thinking about Amazon and Antitrust for a very long time.

And I wonder if there's a historical analogy for Amazon's position in the market now, whether

it's in the 19th century or the 20th century.

You're absolutely right that there have been moments over the last century

where the United States has similarly confronted monopolies

that have captured control over key distribution channels or

key arteries of commerce.

If you look at the various anti-gress lawsuits that the FTC or the Department of Justice have brought over the last century.

You can think about standard oil, you can think about AT&T.

There are various companies that similarly have established a monopoly position that ultimately the United States determined was unlawful.

And Amazon is now using this monopoly power in ways that hurt both sets of customers, both the consumers

as well as the merchants.

Amazon has steadily been hiking the fees that it charges merchants, that's effectively a 50% Amazon tax.

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