Today, on the anniversary of the creation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1914, the FTC and 17 state attorneys general sued Amazon for using “a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to maintain its monopoly power.” The FTC and the suing states say “Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon.”
Thank you, Joe, and the FTC for a return to sanity in the corporate world. We can all see what Amazon's been doing for years now - stiffing third party sellers, in some cases reproducing their products to undercut them on price and give us crappier products, overcharging, upping the cost of Amazon Prime and then finding excuses not to honor the components of it (i.e. shipping things late), putting their workers in dangerous work situations, paying them crap wages and treating them like slaves, and all the other things that TR and FDR fought so hard against. Go get Bezos! Make him pay for a change!
Glad to hear that someone is trying to contain Amazon. As a primary care doctor it would be my nightmare to find myself working in a retail medical office run by… Amazon?! What kind of country allows such an absurdly sprawling monopoly to invade our grocery stores, music, books, streaming shows, and examining rooms?
As they state on their website:
“Amazon and One Medical have teamed up to make it easier to get exceptional primary care. Most major insurance plans accepted.”
Exceptional primary care has increasingly become an oxymoron as family docs like me are squeezed from all angles, 25% of the healthcare workforce has left, and primary care doctor shortages are projected to be around 20,000 nationally in the next 10 years.
Does Amazon based primary care sound as haunting to you as it does to me?
Well, no matter what happens to Amazon, or the Trump family Ponzi scheme, I’m thinking my Substack medical writing might just save my soul ☺️
Biden has turned out to be a much better president than I envisioned. His stance with the union workers versus the planned visit of TFG with non-union workers (and added fans) at a non-union auto parts manufacturer says it all. Biden’s administration is correctly going after Amazon with monopoly charges; Amazon is doing exactly what other monopolies have done in the past—gradually paying the suppliers (the independent sellers) less while charging the buyers more because they’re the only game in town.
When Mitch McConnell, and the Supreme Court, show that they are sick and tired of the Far Right's shenanigans, this is a good sign that the jig is up. It doesn't mean the wounded bear will stop thrashing and clawing, but it is a sure indication we're getting close.
Thanks for this great substack this evening with everything else that is going on in your life. Congratulations on that! Such a powerful summary of what is going Great in this country---with Biden's powerful leadership and example (wow--walking a picket line and standing with labor---let's sing a few songs....)....with the counterpoint of the Big Losers: the GOP, Kevin Mc, and Trump dragging the country DOWN. Time to get to work on post cards, phone banks, etc.....
Seems a pretty good day in a year of craziness. America may actually end the year with a functional government that proves capable of regulating corporations rather than being run by them.
What most struck me reading today’s LFAA is that the consolidation of industries starting in the 80s mirrored the consolidation of corporations controlling a majority of U.S. media. Specifically, in 1983, that number was 50: in 1987, it was 29; in 1990, 21; in 1992 14; in 1997, 10; in 2000, 6; in 2004, 5. ( Source: Ben H. Bagdikian The New Media Monopoly, 2004) I would be remiss were I not also to note that at 2022 90% of the media was controlled by just 6 corporations: AT&T, CBS, Comcast, Disney, Newscorp, and Viacom.
Plainly stated, two+ decades of media deregulation have enabled a small handful of huge conglomerates to own the majority of films, music, television, radio, books, newspapers, magazines, and important Internet sites. Drawing a parallel to the consolidation of industries, the impact of this consolidation on fairness, accuracy, and diversity in the media poses equally serious risks to a democratic society.
This shutdown, I fear, will be like none other. The rabid Republicans see themselves as revolutionaries hell-bent on dismembering the federal government. They care nothing about the suffering they will unleash. If they manage to hobble the economy, it's a great victory in their demented minds. What better way to hurt Biden's re-election chances.
The cliché "cooler heads will prevail," always bandied about during previous shutdowns, looks to be a fantasy. The small gang about to wreak havoc is a cruel minority exercising power the electorate didn't grant. That it is able to wield so much clout is one of the nation's greatest political failings and runs counter to specific constitutional language.
But here we are — and all in the face of such great progress by the president and other Democrats.
Kevin McCarthy wants to be known as Speaker of the House, period, his constituents and the country be damned. He will undoubtedly go down as the worst Speaker in history. Part of me wants to feel sorry for this poor excuse of a public servant, but most of me wants the country to pull a full Howard Beale and scream from the windows “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”.
September 26, 2023
What a wonderful surprise President Biden has turned out to be, a far better progressive in action than Obama if less rhetorically.
". . . reads better in the original catsup." That's brilliant.
Thank you, Joe, and the FTC for a return to sanity in the corporate world. We can all see what Amazon's been doing for years now - stiffing third party sellers, in some cases reproducing their products to undercut them on price and give us crappier products, overcharging, upping the cost of Amazon Prime and then finding excuses not to honor the components of it (i.e. shipping things late), putting their workers in dangerous work situations, paying them crap wages and treating them like slaves, and all the other things that TR and FDR fought so hard against. Go get Bezos! Make him pay for a change!
Glad to hear that someone is trying to contain Amazon. As a primary care doctor it would be my nightmare to find myself working in a retail medical office run by… Amazon?! What kind of country allows such an absurdly sprawling monopoly to invade our grocery stores, music, books, streaming shows, and examining rooms?
As they state on their website:
“Amazon and One Medical have teamed up to make it easier to get exceptional primary care. Most major insurance plans accepted.”
Exceptional primary care has increasingly become an oxymoron as family docs like me are squeezed from all angles, 25% of the healthcare workforce has left, and primary care doctor shortages are projected to be around 20,000 nationally in the next 10 years.
Does Amazon based primary care sound as haunting to you as it does to me?
Well, no matter what happens to Amazon, or the Trump family Ponzi scheme, I’m thinking my Substack medical writing might just save my soul ☺️
".... they can do this to YOU!” " Yes, if your a criminal, they can and should do this to you. What a twit...
Love the book.
Biden has turned out to be a much better president than I envisioned. His stance with the union workers versus the planned visit of TFG with non-union workers (and added fans) at a non-union auto parts manufacturer says it all. Biden’s administration is correctly going after Amazon with monopoly charges; Amazon is doing exactly what other monopolies have done in the past—gradually paying the suppliers (the independent sellers) less while charging the buyers more because they’re the only game in town.
I always feel like I am an adult in the real world again after reading your columns.
I ordered Democracy Awakening on audible.
When Mitch McConnell, and the Supreme Court, show that they are sick and tired of the Far Right's shenanigans, this is a good sign that the jig is up. It doesn't mean the wounded bear will stop thrashing and clawing, but it is a sure indication we're getting close.
Thanks for this great substack this evening with everything else that is going on in your life. Congratulations on that! Such a powerful summary of what is going Great in this country---with Biden's powerful leadership and example (wow--walking a picket line and standing with labor---let's sing a few songs....)....with the counterpoint of the Big Losers: the GOP, Kevin Mc, and Trump dragging the country DOWN. Time to get to work on post cards, phone banks, etc.....
Seems a pretty good day in a year of craziness. America may actually end the year with a functional government that proves capable of regulating corporations rather than being run by them.
The plot thickens, Trump ill be held accountable and Biden will win going away.
Amazing you could get this out tonight after your wonderful interview with Magna in Boston this evening!
What most struck me reading today’s LFAA is that the consolidation of industries starting in the 80s mirrored the consolidation of corporations controlling a majority of U.S. media. Specifically, in 1983, that number was 50: in 1987, it was 29; in 1990, 21; in 1992 14; in 1997, 10; in 2000, 6; in 2004, 5. ( Source: Ben H. Bagdikian The New Media Monopoly, 2004) I would be remiss were I not also to note that at 2022 90% of the media was controlled by just 6 corporations: AT&T, CBS, Comcast, Disney, Newscorp, and Viacom.
Plainly stated, two+ decades of media deregulation have enabled a small handful of huge conglomerates to own the majority of films, music, television, radio, books, newspapers, magazines, and important Internet sites. Drawing a parallel to the consolidation of industries, the impact of this consolidation on fairness, accuracy, and diversity in the media poses equally serious risks to a democratic society.
This shutdown, I fear, will be like none other. The rabid Republicans see themselves as revolutionaries hell-bent on dismembering the federal government. They care nothing about the suffering they will unleash. If they manage to hobble the economy, it's a great victory in their demented minds. What better way to hurt Biden's re-election chances.
The cliché "cooler heads will prevail," always bandied about during previous shutdowns, looks to be a fantasy. The small gang about to wreak havoc is a cruel minority exercising power the electorate didn't grant. That it is able to wield so much clout is one of the nation's greatest political failings and runs counter to specific constitutional language.
But here we are — and all in the face of such great progress by the president and other Democrats.
President Biden joins auto worker strikers.
A New York justice dissolves The Trump Organization.
McCarthy’s House Raucus Caucus is having a hissy fit that will close down the United States government.
Anti trust suit targets Amazon.
What a marvelous day for the official launching of Heather’s DEMOCRACY AWAKENING Notes on the State of America.
Kevin McCarthy wants to be known as Speaker of the House, period, his constituents and the country be damned. He will undoubtedly go down as the worst Speaker in history. Part of me wants to feel sorry for this poor excuse of a public servant, but most of me wants the country to pull a full Howard Beale and scream from the windows “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”.
If only...