Monopolies and Debt Ceiling: Economic Debates Heat Up In Congress

(RepublicanDaily.org) – Congress is holding hearings on monopolies, the approaching inflation, and downturn implications of the U.S. debt ceiling crisis as economic debates heat up.

Republicans claim that Democrats are approaching the debt ceiling crisis in “apocalypse mode” Fox News reported.

The decision to hold antitrust hearings follows a massive ticket sales mishandling scandal in November 2022. The popular ticket sales vendor, Ticketmaster, managed a sale of performance tickets for Taylor Swift concerts, surrounding the release of the singer’s Midnights album.

The influx of fans’ ticket purchases caused a system crash, and forced fans to wait “nightmarishly long,” for their tickets, Vox reported.

The sales blunder sparked outrage among fans and led to a debate on Capitol Hill. Monopoly law led debates and civil protests emerging from the sales debacle. Congress heard arguments about the sale debacle on January 24.

Democrats claimed that the Ticketmaster mishandling of Taylor Swift’s performance concert ticket sales was due to Ticketmaster’s being “a monopoly.” Ticketmaster claims that a cyberattack disrupted the sales of Taylor Swift concert tickets, Politico reported.

Democratic Senator Amy Kobluchar has been critical of Ticketmaster and its potential trust practices for years, the Rolling Stone reported. Congressional review of the recent sale debacle, called Swiftgate by mainstream outlets, may increase monopoly “break up calls,” Kobluchar told the Rolling Stone.

As Congress heard arguments, the Justice Department will investigate Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation entertainment, for abusive economic practices, The New York Times reported.

Monopoly law debates were among a series of economic policy review arguments. On January 19, the Treasury Department announced that the United States had reached its debt ceiling, the legal limit on government borrowing. As a debt ceiling crisis approaches, Congress is locked in a hot political battle.

Democrats motion to remove the U.S. debt ceiling entirely, while Republicans want to promote greater spending controls.

As a result of the looming debt ceiling crisis, economists and political commentators expect higher rates of inflation. Impending debt crisis concerns could “derail” the U.S. economy, The Hill reported.

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