When Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon would be raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour last week, the reception was rapturous. The Seattle Times called it “the just thing.” “Good for them,” said President Trump’s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow. “I’m in favor of higher wages.” Bloomberg called it proof that “an even higher minimum wage is probably safe for big, productive cities.” Senator Bernie Sanders, a chief Bezos antagonist, called it “enormously important.” “Unequivocally good news,” said The Washington Post.

The latter is owned by Jeff Bezos, an all-too-easily forgotten point these days. Because for all the questions to follow this announcement — Why now? What is Amazon eliminating to pay for this? How much praise does Bezos, recently crowned the World’s Richest Man, deserve while paying, as of 2017, a median Amazon income of $28,446? — we are not asking the real one.

When did we become The United States of Amazon?

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From 2006 to 2016 Amazon’s stock price growth surged by 1,910 percent, destroying Sears, J.C. Penney, Kmart, Best Buy, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Target and Walmart.

Perhaps most importantly: Since the Great Recession, Amazon has paid just $1.4 billion in corporate taxes compared to Walmart’s $64 billion.

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And Amazon has made itself such an indispensable part of the supply chain that it sets the price points of just about everything. If you are someone who makes something or sells something, from books to fire pits to flat- screen TVs, Amazon tells you what the market — its market — will bear. Its limitless supply of cash means it can undercut any other retailer in any space it wants to dominate.

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Meanwhile, Amazon is shedding the need for human workers at a rapid clip. In 2012, the company paid $775 million for robotics firm Kiva Systems and as of June had over 100,000 robots fulfilling online orders. A higher minimum wage for human workers doesn’t make Amazon suddenly moral. It just makes it smart.

https://nypost.com/2018/10/09/break-up-amazon-before-it-does-any-more-da...

Break the damn thing up. Bezos is NOT a hero, he a parasite. Something needs to be done but there’s no one willing to take this supremely important task. There are anti-monopoly laws on the books. Why can’t Amazon be taken to task under these laws?

Guide to Antitrust Laws
Free and open markets are the foundation of a vibrant economy. Aggressive competition among sellers in an open marketplace gives consumers — both individuals and businesses — the benefits of lower prices, higher quality products and services, more choices, and greater innovation. The FTC's competition mission is to enforce the rules of the competitive marketplace — the antitrust laws. These laws promote vigorous competition and protect consumers from anticompetitive mergers and business practices. The FTC's Bureau of Competition, working in tandem with the Bureau of Economics, enforces the antitrust laws for the benefit of consumers.
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws

And we are now the laziest country on Earth. People don’t get off their asses to shop for ANYTHING anymore. They order pre-prepared and portioned meals, slap it in a pan or oven, and think they’re Julia Child. There are voice activated gizmos to shut off/turn on your lights, to vacuum your floors, ...

Routines
Alexa can perform a series of actions with a single command. For example, you could set up a routine for the command, “Alexa, start my day” so that Alexa will respond by telling you the weather forecast for the day, turning on compatible smart lights, and delivering the daily news.

https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=aeg_flp_sh/ref=mh_s9_acss_cg_aegflp_md1_w?n...

Jeff B is into preschools

Jeff Bezos says he will use his riches to open Montessori preschools

https://chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/09/13/jeff-bezos-montessori-preschools/

And space exploration...

Jeff Bezos plans to get millions of people to space — and he's selling $1 billion a year of Amazon stock to do it

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/05/amazon-jeff-bezos-discusses-blue-origin-...

This guy and his corporation are a menace. And apparently millions of our fellow countrymen and women are lazy, selfish, and greedy. As long as THEY have a good paying job why worry about anyone else? As long as you can wake up and have your morning set up, why expend the energy to do it yourself? As long as someone else is willing to peel the potatoes and apportion each serving, why do the grunt work? (I guess some see peeling spuds to be very labor intensive.)

I find that I’m becoming more misanthropic by the day. Between how amazingly STUPID my fellow Americans are (Russia rigged our election) and lazy (can’t muster up the energy to prepare their own meals) and greedy (Bezos, Buffett,Gates) and corrupt (our political parties, government, corporations, Wall Street) i’m not really all that unhappy to be old.