Amazon Is Everywhere. Here’s How The U.S. Could Break It Up
Jul 28, 2021
Last month, a bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers introduced a slate of bills aimed at addressing the power of dominant tech firms — namely, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google. Each of these companies has been accused by regulators in the United States and Europe of engaging in anticompetitive practices, and the proposed U.S. legislation could help pave the way for one or more of them to be broken up, among other possible remedies. Of the big four, Amazon has given the clearest picture yet of how its business might change if the proposed bills become law. And the first piece of its empire to go might be its massive third-party marketplace. Read more at CNN Business.
Once again: The problem isn’t Amazon per se. The problem is in allowing it to become this monster. Who allowed it? Federal government allowed it. Now it’s fretting about fixing it now that the tentacles of the tumor are so totally controlling, now that they cannot be removed. No one can imagine harming Amazon or the people that clamored for more and more whether it was legal or ethical or fraught with intended results (put everyone else out of business). And the clarion call for massive action to remove the tumor is still not loud and clear on the part of the small businesses of America, largely because the ownership of said businesses use Amazon extensively, and with each click, we are more dependent on them, our choices reduced to one. We are less independent.
We are not a free country, functioning as a democracy or a republic. We are a plutocratic corporatocracy, in which all decisions are made by businesses that have no interest in any of us except how much they can get out of us. And evidently, this is exactly what Americans want.
We really did let it get away from us.