Billionaire Bezos asks for public $$$

[blutoski]

Thanks in part to this type of tax relief the likes of Amazon have been able to bankrupt many competitors by running at a loss for many years. Often those competitors couldn't afford to run at a loss or borrow the cash needed to compete with a loss making company.

When you look at many of these "disruptors" they managed to disrupt the market in a very old fashioned way, i.e. make huge losses by undercutting and running at a loss.

Similar with Uber &c. There's disruption, but these guys' business model is strictly 19th century:
* "figure out how to pay the workers less" and
* "figure out how to skirt customer protection regulation" and
* "have deep pockets to undercut the competition until they go bankrupt, then jack up prices when you're the new monopoly"

 

[3point14]

For Jeff, having to emply workers is a problem.

If he could cut them out of the process he would.

If he could pay them half, he would.

If he could pay them nothing and get them to do some sort of 'work for welfare' thing where the state paid his employess, he would.

That he occasionally pays someone and shells out 0.001 of his fortune to get some good press is neither here nor there. The man's a ****.