… failure to enforce the Robinson-Patman Act – starting with the Reagan Revolution in 1981.
free link:
{{ For decades, our government stopped big retailers from pressuring suppliers for secret deals that were denied to smaller rivals. This was done under a law called the Robinson-Patman Act. It was, at one point, the most frequently enforced antitrust law at the Federal Trade Commission. But starting in the 1980s, as part of a philosophical shift that embraced the idea that unfettered markets can resolve all ills, officials hit the brakes and eventually stopped enforcing the law altogether. }}
When I lived in Houston in the early 1980’s all the big grocers (Safeway, A&P, Albertson’s and Krogers as well as 2 large Texas chains competed in the market and none had more than a 15% market share. Houston was about the cheapest place in the country to buy food, and it showed in the average Texan’s waistline.
intercst