Anchorage lawmakers ask FTC to block Kroger-Albertsons merger

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Two Democratic Alaska lawmakers are urging the Federal Trade Commission to block a proposed merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons.

Reps. Ivy Spohnholz and Zack Fields co-chair the Alaska House Committee on Labor & Commerce, and on Oct. 31 they sent aIn Anchorage, the two primary grocery chains are Carrs and Fred Meyer, which are owned by Albertsons and Kroger, respectively.“And these stores are today, the major competitors in Kenai, , in Wasilla , in Fairbanks, in Juneau, and in Anchorage. So in the five largest population centers in the state,” Fields said.

But Fields does not buy that argument. Alaskans already pay some of the highest grocery prices in the country and Fields worries the merger would send prices significantly higher. He says mergers like these generally result in price spikes. “That would be the first time in human history that reduced competition has lowered prices,” Fields said. “I don’t think this company is going to suspend the laws of economics and common sense. To the contrary, they would be closing stores, reducing consumer choice, and of course, because there’s no longer meaningful competition, raising prices.”

Carrs and Fred Meyer are two of Alaska’s leading employers, and Fields says a merger would also hurt their thousands of workers in the state by taking away bargaining power, leading to lower wages and benefits. He hasn’t yet heard back from the FTC, but Fields says he has confidence in chair Lina Khan, who has been skeptical of corporate consolidation and its impacts on consumers.

 

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Those two Democrats know very little about business those two companies joining together would streamline their logistics and it would vastly improve the supply and demand and reduce the cost of service

Carrs has raised its prices 1 to 2 dollars per item you want them to be a monopoly?

FTC won't listen. Just look at GCI buying the CBS affiliate while owning the NBC affiliate.

thank you!

Good!

Good!

At $3.00 for canned corn we are doomed

Corporate monopolies are a major driver of inflation.

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