Brandon Allen
June 12, 2026 · Newsletter
Restoring Competition, Restoring Opportunity
When Americans talk about the economy, they often focus on prices. The cost of groceries. Housing. Prescription medications. Utilities. Those concerns are real, and they affect families every day.
Behind many of those rising costs is a larger issue that receives far less attention: the growing concentration of economic power in the hands of fewer and fewer corporations.
Across the country, Americans have watched industries consolidate at a rapid pace. Large corporations have acquired competitors, investment firms have expanded their influence, and entire sectors of the economy have become dominated by a handful of powerful players. For consumers, that often means fewer choices. For workers, it can mean fewer employment options and reduced bargaining power. For entrepreneurs and small businesses, it can mean competing against companies with enormous financial advantages and market influence.
For communities like those throughout Indiana, it can mean local economies becoming increasingly dependent on decisions made in distant corporate boardrooms. This is one of the reasons Kelly Thompson has made competition and market accountability a legislative priority.
The issue extends far beyond Wall Street. When competition disappears, innovation often slows. Companies face less pressure to improve products, lower costs or provide better customer service. New businesses struggle to enter the marketplace. Consumers find themselves with fewer alternatives.
Consider what has happened in sectors ranging from telecommunications to agriculture to health care. Consolidation has reshaped entire industries, often leaving consumers and local communities with less influence over decisions that affect their daily lives.
Indiana knows these challenges well. Farmers have watched agricultural markets become increasingly concentrated. Rural communities have seen local businesses struggle against larger competitors. Families have experienced rising health care costs while hospital systems continue to consolidate.
Many Hoosiers feel as though they are competing in an economy where the rules increasingly favor those who already possess significant resources and influence. That perception is not simply frustration. It reflects a broader national concern about whether the American economy remains competitive enough to create opportunities for future generations.
This conversation is not about punishing successful companies. Success should be rewarded. Innovation should be encouraged. Entrepreneurship should be celebrated. Success and competition are not opposing ideas. In fact, healthy competition is what drives success in the first place.
America’s economic strength has always come from its ability to allow new ideas, new businesses and new innovators to challenge established players. That dynamism helped build the world’s largest economy. Protecting that system requires vigilance.
It requires recognizing when market power becomes so concentrated that competition begins to disappear. It requires ensuring that consumers have choices, workers have opportunities and small businesses have a fair chance to succeed.
Most importantly, it requires elected leaders who are willing to address these challenges before they become even more entrenched.
For Kelly Thompson, this issue is not simply economics. It is about preserving opportunity. It is about ensuring that Hoosiers can compete fairly, that consumers can make meaningful choices and that the American economy continues to work for everyone—not just those at the very top.
In Part II, we’ll examine the specific reforms Kelly Thompson is proposing and how modernizing securities regulation can help restore competition, increase transparency and strengthen economic opportunity for future generations.
Paid For and Authorized by Kelly Thompson For Congress