Mergers aren’t the enemy — government power is

Originally published at The Center Square.

The proposed Charter-Cox merger isn't lighting up headlines — and that's exactly why it matters. In a Trump-era regulatory landscape that promises to let markets work, this deal is a quiet test of whether Washington will follow through.

It's not about whether this merger is flawless. It's about whether policymakers will finally stop punishing scale for its own sake and return to enforcing the law, not playing politics.

President Donald Trump's advisers have made the new direction clear. As Gail Slater put it in a recent interview, "If you're violating antitrust laws, we're going to take a hard look. If you're not… we're going to get the hell out of the way." That's the kind of plain talk—and plain policy — we need after four years of overreach under President Biden.

Under the Biden administration, the Federal Trade Commission abandoned the longstanding consumer welfare standard, which had guided antitrust enforcement for decades. That standard asks a simple question: Does a merger harm consumers by raising prices, lowering quality, or stifling innovation? If not, it should be allowed.

But Biden's FTC, led by Lina Khan, traded that economic clarity for an ideological crusade against "big." They filed lawsuits against companies not for hurting consumers, but simply for growing too large. The courts, to their credit, mostly weren't buying it. But the damage to investment and innovation was already done.

That's the environment the Charter-Cox deal is trying to emerge from. And it deserves a fair hearing — not a reflexive regulatory attack.

The companies aren't even direct competitors in most markets. According to their own FCC filing, 97 % of U.S. households would still have access to at least two fixed broadband providers after the merger. And that doesn't count new and expanding options like fixed wireless and satellite broadband, including services from Starlink and others.

This merger isn't about locking consumers into fewer choices—it's about finding efficiencies in an industry where scale matters.

Just look at what Charter is already doing. The company recently expanded gigabit broadband, mobile, TV, and voice services to more than 4,700 homes and businesses in Wexford County, Mich., as part of a growing network investment.

As the nation's top rural internet provider, Charter is now delivering high-speed internet to nearly 2 million new locations nationwide.

It's also worth remembering that many so-called "monopolies" in America aren't the result of market failure — they're created and protected by the government. Local franchise agreements, permitting delays, zoning rules, and licensing laws often serve as barriers to entry, artificially limiting competition. Then the same governments that build those walls point fingers at the companies forced to scale over them. That's not competition. That's regulatory capture.

The Biden administration leaned into that model, using federal power to micromanage market outcomes. The result? Slower growth, weaker productivity, and stalled investment. Real GDP growth under Biden averaged just 1.8 %, far below potential. Meanwhile, investors pulled back, and innovation slowed under the weight of legal uncertainty and politicized enforcement.

President Trump's first term showed a better path. By cutting red tape and lowering tax burdens, his administration helped deliver record income growth. In 2019, real median household income rose $4,400 — the largest annual increase ever recorded. That wasn't magic. It was the natural result of respecting voluntary exchange and allowing capital to flow to its highest use.

That's why this merger matters, even if it's not flashy. It's a chance to show that America is back to doing business again — on merit, not politics. No merger should get a free pass. But no merger should be blocked just because someone in Washington doesn't like big companies.

Antitrust enforcement should be based on clear rules, objective evidence, and actual consumer harm. Nothing more, nothing less.

So let the Charter-Cox merger rise or fall on its facts. But let's stop pretending that every deal is a danger, or that the government knows better than the millions of Americans making choices every day in the marketplace.
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The real threat to competition isn't corporate scale. It's regulatory power. And the sooner we rein it in, the sooner we can get back to what works.