McGovern talks price gouging, consumer protection with former federal trade commissioner

GREENFIELD — Former Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra joined U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern for a roughly 90-minute discussion on price gouging, consumer protection and the impacts of corporate deregulation at Greenfield Community College Monday evening.

Chopra served as a federal trade commissioner from 2018 until 2021, when he became the third director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. President Donald Trump fired him less than two weeks after his inauguration.

“I’m getting bothered about just going to the grocery store or going shopping online, because it just feels like things that used to be reasonable are no longer reasonable,” Chopra told those gathered at GCC. “Every time I hear about innovation and all these advances, for some reason, it just always seems to end up that it’s more expensive for everybody, but then a few people get super rich over it.”

Chopra discussed a variety of practices — some of which have been illegal until very recently — used by companies to exploit consumers. He noted that data tracking and marketing practices are being used to target customers based on their personal information and advertise personalized prices for products.

“When you’re shopping online and you’re sitting next to someone and they’re pulling up the same webpage as you, but you’re seeing a different price than they are, it’s because more and more personal information is being collected about us, informing all sorts of parts of our lives,” he said. “It’s not just changing the ads we see. It also now knows if we’re feeling depressed, if we’re feeling excited, do you have to buy a bouquet for a funeral or Mother’s Day gift? It’s changing the price based on who we are, and this, to me, is on the road to personalized price gouging.”

Chopra went on to assert that under the current federal administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has gone “into a coma,” offering little to no protection for those who are being charged fees for no reason and who are paying money they do not owe.

When McGovern asked Chopra how international tariffs have affected price gouging practices during the Trump administration, he responded that while it’s true some companies were forced to raise prices as the result of tariffs, other corporations have used the tariffs as an excuse to raise prices and increase their profit margins. He advised that members of the crowd “follow the money” to see which public companies are reporting increased earnings while raising prices.

“What I’m seeing now, there are tariffs being put on all sorts of goods, but also they’re writing in all sorts of exemptions for the companies and the products they like. Yet those companies are raising prices and saying that it’s due to the tariffs,” Chopra said. “The amount of consolidation in this country has allowed these companies to use these events as an excuse to jack up prices, and you see it in their profit margins. We keep letting them get bigger and bigger.”

As prices for basic necessities, such as housing, electricity and health care, have risen dramatically over the last few years, McGovern and Chopra discussed how these increases are primarily being driven by large trusts or investment companies buying out lots of property, nonprofit health care facilities or data farming sites.

Addressing the crowd, McGovern noted that although consumers might have a tendency to be overwhelmed by the various ways in which they are being “screwed over,” it is important for them to talk about and advocate for fair business practices. Chopra added that if consumers are being charged a fee or bill that does not seem reasonable or owed, they should report it to the state Attorney General’s Office. Locally, the Consumer Protection Unit at the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office works in cooperation with the Massachusetts AG’s office to support consumers.

“This moment in our history is the moment that we need to be most concerned about the future of our democracy,” McGovern said. “Life is complicated as little things go on in your lives, but then you come out here and try to gain some knowledge about things that we might be able to do to fight back and to be aware of some of the injustices that continue to exist. … We’re not going to sit back and just do nothing while others try to trample over all the things that we value.”