Let Amazon devour Whole Foods

In just 20 years as a publicly traded company, Amazon has become a retailing colossus, decimating traditional brick-and-mortar stores on its way to a market valuation of nearly half a trillion dollars.So since Amazon announced plans this month to buy high-end grocer Whole Foods, consumer groups have lined up against the deal.Their concern is understandable. The $13.7 billion purchase has the feel of something big, something that could mark the beginning of a downward spiral for grocery stores, not unlike what has happened to department stores. But for federal authorities to block the deal would be a huge mistake. To do so would require a novel interpretation of antitrust laws going back to the late 19th century.Whole Foods controls less than 2% of the grocery business, Amazon less than 1%. Those are hardly the types of market shares that should raise regulatory red flags.