Break up Amazon before it does any more damage to America

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.

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polkageist's picture

Thanks. I've been feeling comforted by the fact that I am almost 83 and won't have to witness the venality and stupidity of my countrymen much longer. At the same time, I feel terribly powerless and guilty because of my lack of remedy for the evil our "upper class" has institutionalized. Where have our basic moral teachings gone?

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

WaterLily's picture

@polkageist And I'm 48.

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snoopydawg's picture

@WaterLily

Look at how far this country has fallen in less than two decades. It started falling when "mourning in America" came into being, but things excellerated when Cheney became president. Bush the lesser was just his front man for Cheney. The water continues to get hotter and yet here we sit.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

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dfarrah

Wink's picture

upstairs and one downstairs so they're not out of hearing range, so they (him and his wife) don't have to holler. The two Alexis do everything but wipe their ass. But there's soon likely to be an app or attachment for that. Likely will detect polyps too. I just smh when I'm over there.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

snoopydawg's picture

@Wink

willingly put devices in their homes that can spy on them. That time Alexa recorded what people said is well known and still people are buying them. People put tape over their webcams and microphones so they can't be spied on. Why spend money to turn on lights, heat , music and what not when you can do it yourself? "

When Bernie started going after Bezos on Twitter people came to his defense even though Bezos pays absolutely no taxes on his profits. They think that rich people deserve to screw the country by not paying taxes because they are the job creators and other such nonsense. Those rich fucks don't have a problem using the infrastructure that our taxes go to paying. Police? Fire? Highways, etc. I just gobsmacked by people's stupidity.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

WindDancer13's picture

@snoopydawg

In the year 5555 2025
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs got nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

snoopydawg's picture

@WindDancer13

Orwell didn't write a book for the PTB to follow.
Sci-Fi shows that show a dystopian future aren't something to try for.
This song wasn't ....

Good choice of songs.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Wink's picture

@snoopydawg

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Amazon. That's more likely. Antitrust laws aren't used any more these days than a tail on a Doberman Pinscher.

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