1. Let's be honest in a world of Enrons and Worldcoms and companies that have huge profit margins, massive income disparages, shady business practices, and have caused full on economic crises.. at least Amazon does something. At least it produces something. At least it's had an effect on the technology world and personal lives. At least there's innovation and drive and passion in there somewhere. At least we've got Kindles out of it. Now I get this is light Whataboutism so I'm not leaning on this too hard but all thing's being equal I'm always supporter of the Lewis Black suggested rule of "If you have a company and you can't describe, in one sentence, what... it... does... then it's illegal."
So it's okay if they screw people over so long as they produce something in the process, got it.
Yeah, that's a bit of hyperbole, but really, that's not really a good justification for being a robber baron. The old southern plantation owners produced a lot of things, cotton, food, etc., but that does not in any way justify or soften slavery or indentured servitude.
2. Bezos, Jobs, Gates, Musk, Zuckerburg and etc... I do wonder since they guys to be public faces of their companies and stay in the news (as in you're not going recognize Greg Penner or Darren Woods if you saw them in the street or know who they are without Googling them) it just makes it easier to... demonize them.
They're the founders/CEOs, they set the tone for how the business will be run, and hold ultimate responsibility for their businesses. Who else should we point to, the assistant vice president of marketing?
And unlike Bezos, Bill Gates at least is spending a real substantial chunk of his net worth on charitable causes, $4.6 billion to the Gates Foundation last year. He's still worth over $80 billion, but that's a fair bit more paid out to charity than Bezos' paltry $107 million. Either one of them is
worth more than most nations.
3. On the same page... there is a little of the distrust of the techie, new money, GenX and onward types in some of this. If Bezos had made his fortune in oil or energy conglomeration and wore a suit and set in a boardroom and wasn't on TV all the time but all the numbers were the same...
Don't know if that is directed at me, but it's utter nonsense, and I did clearly address the fact that Bezos and Amazon are simply one of many who are part of the problem. Tech companies like Amazon and Google are merely the latest in a long line, and have grown up in a time and place where worker protections are currently at their weakest in decades. These companies have managed to take advantage of a favourable political climate to become worse in many ways than their predecessors. Plus, the tech industry in general is one of the largest employers in the US at this time. Not to mention that I am GenX and working in the tech industry, so your accusations sound more than a little disingenuous.
Thanks to the megacorps, and tech megacorps in particular, wages in the US have remained flat or declined compared to inflation, despite the GDP growing considerably faster, and megacorp profits reaching record levels. There is even a labour shortage in some industries and places, but businesses are not increasing salaries to attract new workers. NPR had a story on this recently.
