The White House plan to stop companies from wasting our time

There’s a fabled version of the free market that says consumers are almost always well-served by companies. If not, the story goes, consumers can just shop somewhere else. This threat — losing customers to competitors — creates an almost magical force pushing companies to act more in the interests of consumers. No need for government involvement. Competition will take care of the job.

The real world, of course, can be more complicated. What if there isn’t vigorous competition in an industry? What if consumers lack critical information before handing a company their business? What if, in some instances, making their customers’ lives a nightmare can actually help companies make a profit? Like, for example, making it unnecessarily difficult to cancel a subscription, get an airline ticket refund, or file an insurance claim.

A new initiative from The Biden-Harris administration aims to stomp out corporate shenanigans that it says “add unnecessary headaches and hassles to people’s days and degrade their quality of life.” They’re calling it the “Time Is Money” initiative, and it’s a suite of executive actions across numerous federal agencies aimed at eradicating time-sucking business practices.

“Companies often deliberately design their business processes to be time-consuming or otherwise burdensome for consumers, in order to deter them from getting a rebate or refund they are due or canceling a subscription or membership they no longer want — all with the goal of maximizing profits,” the White House argues in a press release about this initiative.

So why does the White House want to intervene in the free market in an area as fundamental as how companies treat their customers? And why do they think they can succeed? We were