I still remember the low-grade shock I felt a decade ago when I learned that price discrimination is often perfectly legal in the United States. In law school, my antitrust professor introduced us to the obscure Depression-era Robinson-Patman Antidiscrimination Act by quickly highlighting that this law very much failed to live up to its title. Under the long-standing law, companies can face ruinous penalties for price discrimination only if they’re discriminating against other businesses.

That’s so American.