Books? Well, first I'm reading Goliath but after a few pages I tend to get so P.Oed that I have to read something else! So I'm also reading Democracy in Chains, Deficit Myth and also keep Picking up to read a few pages of Design Patterns by the Gang of Four to fill out my knowledge base.
Great piece! My favorite catchphrase of yours is "Nature is healing"
As for books, I finished Goliath, and Monopolized on Audiobook last month. My new bedtime lullaby is The Shock Doctrine.
I have been reading Lost Connections, and The Deficit Myth, but physical books takes me a bit longer to get through. See, I have narcolepsy and usually can't read more than about ~5 pages at a time before P.O.
On a related note, I have a personal story with Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Last year, I briefly changed my treatment course to include Gamma-hydroxybuterate (GHB, yes that one) or Xyrem, owned by Jazz Pharmaceuticals. This was a sedative meant to help me get deeper sleep at night and ultimately be less sleepy during the day. Because it was a tightly controlled substance, it was only supplied by one pharmacy in the entire country, in MO that had it shipped to any patient using it.
This was recommended to me by my doctor who was very sweet... but also had Xyrem testimonial posters and brochures plastered around hthe whole office and treatment rooms (if I recall). She'd been recommending it for months before I felt ready to try. When I finally did try, it worked! I was finally feeling awake during the day... but in my case, the side effects were so terrible that I stopped completely after a month.
For a while, I went back to my generic brand of modafinil, a common long-acting stimulant... until right before I left for grad school, another new treatment was FDA approved. This one was called solriamfetol, or Sunosi, ALSO owned by Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Now this one did not come with the same side effects, but it was very expensive at first because the FDA approval was so new, many insurance carriers did not recognize it for Narcolepsy yet. Thankfully, the benevolent overlord, Jazz, gave my doctor a limited number of coupon codes, for without these, that prescription was ~$700/month. Thankfully for me, my new insurance covers most of that now, but that just means Jazz keeps getting to charge what it does.
What I just described is Jazz Pharmaceuticals cornering the Narcolepsy treatment market, and extracting monopoly rents on drugs that already existed. Sunosi is newer (2011) and they license it from someone else and have to pay their own rents in the form of royalties, but GHB has been around for decades. In addition to that, they are turning doctors into pushers (yes, I know, this is not new). And look, I loved my doctor, but despite those feelings of affection, having all of those posters around, certainly made me feel that she was, at least in part, bought and paid for by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, which definitely eroded some trust.
Certainly a lawyer tax seems plausible, but by broadening the scope they could also be broadening the scope of corporations who will seek to challenge this rulings/laws. If Google gets pulled in through advertising liability, certainly they are going to pony up lawyers to challenge. Regardless, it's win-win for Amazon.
The authorities are confused about what Amazon actually is, so they respond by introducing a confusing and potentially harmful legislation? Color me surprised.
There is an easy solution: split Amazon the retailer from Amazon the marketplace and Amazon Web Services the internet speech platform.
I do my best to boycott Amazon, but once you've "bought" a TV series season from them, you're kind of indefinitely connected. (I use it a lot for my work.) I'm willing to pay a dollar or 2 more to purchase the products I need from less unethical companies, but unfortunately, sometimes Amazon's the only one that has them.
I'm currently reading The Small Community by Arthur E. Morgan, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (not entirely unrelated to our current political situation), and 11/22/63 by Stephen King.
Loved 11/22/63 and not even fan of SK’s typical stuff. Also Amazon wants to take over the world. I owned a tiny retail bookstore in the 90’s, aware of Amazon from it’s inception.
I’m reading Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville right now. What he says about the equality of conditions (which includes relative equality in property — colonial America originally was split up among small estates) being one of the things that made the development of democracy possible was particularly striking and fruitful to my thinking (which train of thought led me to finding your work).
Tocqueville also expressed some pretty prescient concerns (as he was wont to do — the man predicted the Cold War) regarding inequality in education and the centralization of capital. These points in Tocqueville lay bare the anti-Americanism of the desire among some neoconservatives/neoliberals to have a “few really rich people employ everyone,” as I have seen it put.
Matt: I'm retired...I'm reading the following books: The Color of Money, Mehrsa Baradaran; Private Equity at Work, Eileen Applebaum; Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Piketty; and Black Reconstruction, DuBois. I recently finished Cornered by Barry Lynn and your book, Goliath. I just ordered David Dayen's book, Monopolized. BTW, I'd like to know if courses on antitrust are available; I'm looking for courses that teach the antitrust analysis of the authors mentioned above.
It takes more work not to use Amazon. I bought mine on my Nook table via Barnes and Noble. Mostly I try to support our local bookstores. I've been following Matt Stoller for several years. I think he used to post at a site named "What's Left."
I'm ok with buying from Amazon, since I also have a kindle, but there are many other things I purchase. Have boycotts ever really been successful, especially with this kind of behemoth? Nice to know it works for you to buy elsewhere. For me, its price point and options are incredible benefits.
We all get what we want most, and I want our local businesses to survive. They pay taxes and help our community provide services for the residents. I also like service, which is way more accessible from local businesses than from behemoths.
Boycotting South Africa helped end apartheid. For me, every little, insignificant act I do that I think is the "the right thing" (obviously others may disagree) helps, even if it's infinitesimal.
I confess to being a "purist" and understand that as such, I'm an outlier. I don't hold others to this standard. It just allows me to live with myself.
Would love to understand how Amazon is able to get away with labor violations. Is this because of using the law to shield themselves, or some other reason?
It takes time to litigate these violations through the system. The penalties for labor violations also tend to be slaps on the wrist, so it's often worth the risk from the employer's point of view (even if they get penalized, the fact that they did do the violation will make other employees far more hesitant to assert their rights in the future).
UK-based big fan of BIG, thanks for writing! Not overly politically or financially-minded, but find it interesting all the same (if not more so by my ignorance). Very grateful for the opportunity to read about the behaviour of titans, as explained independent of the stifling environment I imagine most mainstream political and financial journalists find themselves in.
As for reading, I couldn't resist the temptation to inject some Fantasy into these responses. Currently working my way through Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series, on Memories of Ice.
Thanks for writing about this topic. I live in California and was curious about your take on the proposed legislation. It does indeed seem like a monopolist trying to impose a regulatory/legal burden on potential competitors.
I wonder in these cases of defective merchandise coming from foreign producers - who is the importer? I don't know the law for liability, but I would guess that the domestic importer is perhaps responsible for whether the product meets US safety standards. So who is that in Amazon's case?
For books - I enjoyed 'The People, No' (and all of his work). It would be awesome if you could do an interview with Thomas Frank to discuss, since it covers some of the same history and issues as Goliath. I see that Barry Lynn has a book coming out soon 'Liberty From All Masters' - also about monopoly and political power.
I just recently finished David Graber's 'Bullshit Jobs' and Dani Rodrik's 'The Globalization Paradox'. Both had some interesting points. 'Bullshit Jobs' I appreciated for questioning some underlying assumptions about white-collar work and it's value to society. 'The Globalization Paradox' I thought was good at pointing out how free market ideology conflicts with democracy. I didn't entirely agree with either book, but still thought them worth the read.
For the books: "The People, NO" and Michael Hudson's, "...And forgive them their debts", a great historical account of the Bronze Age handled large scale debt. Is it applicable now? Yup. Hidden history tells a lot.
Books? Well, first I'm reading Goliath but after a few pages I tend to get so P.Oed that I have to read something else! So I'm also reading Democracy in Chains, Deficit Myth and also keep Picking up to read a few pages of Design Patterns by the Gang of Four to fill out my knowledge base.
Design Patterns is great. Look at well each pattern could handle concurrency.
Great piece! My favorite catchphrase of yours is "Nature is healing"
As for books, I finished Goliath, and Monopolized on Audiobook last month. My new bedtime lullaby is The Shock Doctrine.
I have been reading Lost Connections, and The Deficit Myth, but physical books takes me a bit longer to get through. See, I have narcolepsy and usually can't read more than about ~5 pages at a time before P.O.
On a related note, I have a personal story with Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Last year, I briefly changed my treatment course to include Gamma-hydroxybuterate (GHB, yes that one) or Xyrem, owned by Jazz Pharmaceuticals. This was a sedative meant to help me get deeper sleep at night and ultimately be less sleepy during the day. Because it was a tightly controlled substance, it was only supplied by one pharmacy in the entire country, in MO that had it shipped to any patient using it.
This was recommended to me by my doctor who was very sweet... but also had Xyrem testimonial posters and brochures plastered around hthe whole office and treatment rooms (if I recall). She'd been recommending it for months before I felt ready to try. When I finally did try, it worked! I was finally feeling awake during the day... but in my case, the side effects were so terrible that I stopped completely after a month.
For a while, I went back to my generic brand of modafinil, a common long-acting stimulant... until right before I left for grad school, another new treatment was FDA approved. This one was called solriamfetol, or Sunosi, ALSO owned by Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Now this one did not come with the same side effects, but it was very expensive at first because the FDA approval was so new, many insurance carriers did not recognize it for Narcolepsy yet. Thankfully, the benevolent overlord, Jazz, gave my doctor a limited number of coupon codes, for without these, that prescription was ~$700/month. Thankfully for me, my new insurance covers most of that now, but that just means Jazz keeps getting to charge what it does.
What I just described is Jazz Pharmaceuticals cornering the Narcolepsy treatment market, and extracting monopoly rents on drugs that already existed. Sunosi is newer (2011) and they license it from someone else and have to pay their own rents in the form of royalties, but GHB has been around for decades. In addition to that, they are turning doctors into pushers (yes, I know, this is not new). And look, I loved my doctor, but despite those feelings of affection, having all of those posters around, certainly made me feel that she was, at least in part, bought and paid for by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, which definitely eroded some trust.
Certainly a lawyer tax seems plausible, but by broadening the scope they could also be broadening the scope of corporations who will seek to challenge this rulings/laws. If Google gets pulled in through advertising liability, certainly they are going to pony up lawyers to challenge. Regardless, it's win-win for Amazon.
The authorities are confused about what Amazon actually is, so they respond by introducing a confusing and potentially harmful legislation? Color me surprised.
There is an easy solution: split Amazon the retailer from Amazon the marketplace and Amazon Web Services the internet speech platform.
AWS is a service provider, not a speech platform. Other than that, I can't disagree with your proposal.
Well, you can look at AWS as a speech platform (you can use it to publish content). It's a plausible description.
On the other hand, Amazon argued that the marketplace is a speech platform which is absurd.
I do my best to boycott Amazon, but once you've "bought" a TV series season from them, you're kind of indefinitely connected. (I use it a lot for my work.) I'm willing to pay a dollar or 2 more to purchase the products I need from less unethical companies, but unfortunately, sometimes Amazon's the only one that has them.
I'm currently reading The Small Community by Arthur E. Morgan, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (not entirely unrelated to our current political situation), and 11/22/63 by Stephen King.
Loved 11/22/63 and not even fan of SK’s typical stuff. Also Amazon wants to take over the world. I owned a tiny retail bookstore in the 90’s, aware of Amazon from it’s inception.
I hope Amazon didn't run you off, but that you left the biz of your own accord.
I'm having a hard time getting into 11/22, but am sticking with it; hoping the interesting part will start soon.
Surely didn’t help my little biz, but had a good run! Thanks!
Have you tried a downloading program to locally save the purchased TV season?
https://www.techjunkie.com/download-amazon-prime-video-pc-mac/
Nooooo...I didn't know there was such a thing. Thank you!
I haven't tried them. I hope they work!
I’m reading Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville right now. What he says about the equality of conditions (which includes relative equality in property — colonial America originally was split up among small estates) being one of the things that made the development of democracy possible was particularly striking and fruitful to my thinking (which train of thought led me to finding your work).
Tocqueville also expressed some pretty prescient concerns (as he was wont to do — the man predicted the Cold War) regarding inequality in education and the centralization of capital. These points in Tocqueville lay bare the anti-Americanism of the desire among some neoconservatives/neoliberals to have a “few really rich people employ everyone,” as I have seen it put.
Currently working on:
The People, No, Thomas Frank
I Can't Breathe, A Killing on Bay Street, Matt Taibbi
The Emperor, Ryszard Kapuscinksi (second readthrough)
Matt: I'm retired...I'm reading the following books: The Color of Money, Mehrsa Baradaran; Private Equity at Work, Eileen Applebaum; Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Piketty; and Black Reconstruction, DuBois. I recently finished Cornered by Barry Lynn and your book, Goliath. I just ordered David Dayen's book, Monopolized. BTW, I'd like to know if courses on antitrust are available; I'm looking for courses that teach the antitrust analysis of the authors mentioned above.
I boycott Amazon. I'm reading Frank Thomas's "The People, No."
Yeah, except I bought my copy of "The People, No", um... On Amazon.
It takes more work not to use Amazon. I bought mine on my Nook table via Barnes and Noble. Mostly I try to support our local bookstores. I've been following Matt Stoller for several years. I think he used to post at a site named "What's Left."
Yep, me too.
I think it takes a little time to wean oneself from Amazon. I never started using it so it's been easy for me.
I'm a throwback to a slower way of living, which at 80 years old, suits me very well. I walk everywhere, take Amtrak when I take a trip.
We all need to be easy on ourselves and others at this time. I try to set an example and to avoid preaching to others.
I'm ok with buying from Amazon, since I also have a kindle, but there are many other things I purchase. Have boycotts ever really been successful, especially with this kind of behemoth? Nice to know it works for you to buy elsewhere. For me, its price point and options are incredible benefits.
We all get what we want most, and I want our local businesses to survive. They pay taxes and help our community provide services for the residents. I also like service, which is way more accessible from local businesses than from behemoths.
Boycotting South Africa helped end apartheid. For me, every little, insignificant act I do that I think is the "the right thing" (obviously others may disagree) helps, even if it's infinitesimal.
I confess to being a "purist" and understand that as such, I'm an outlier. I don't hold others to this standard. It just allows me to live with myself.
I wouldn't describe your efforts as insignificant in any way. I so appreciate your convictions, and the measures you take. Kudos to you.
You all might like www.bookshop.org. Check it out.
Another must-read on my list...
Would love to understand how Amazon is able to get away with labor violations. Is this because of using the law to shield themselves, or some other reason?
It takes time to litigate these violations through the system. The penalties for labor violations also tend to be slaps on the wrist, so it's often worth the risk from the employer's point of view (even if they get penalized, the fact that they did do the violation will make other employees far more hesitant to assert their rights in the future).
That's insane
UK-based big fan of BIG, thanks for writing! Not overly politically or financially-minded, but find it interesting all the same (if not more so by my ignorance). Very grateful for the opportunity to read about the behaviour of titans, as explained independent of the stifling environment I imagine most mainstream political and financial journalists find themselves in.
As for reading, I couldn't resist the temptation to inject some Fantasy into these responses. Currently working my way through Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series, on Memories of Ice.
Another incredible article, thank you. Even an a non-US based consumer it is impossible to have an eReader and not buy from Amazon.
As a side note, you might be interested in this https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-01/facebook-threatens-to-ban-australians-from-sharing-news-content/12616216?section=business
Interview of Thomas Frank, author of "The People, No" https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/whats-the-matter-with-populism-nothing.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=One%20Great%20Story%20-%20September%201%2C%202020&utm_term=Subscription%20List%20-%20One%20Great%20Story.
I just finished reading "Take Back Our Party - Restoring the Democratic Legacy," by James Quak, https://prospect.org/takebackourparty (available online for free) or hard copy, https://strongarmpress.com/catalog/take-back-our-party/ (support the author, and note I'm avoiding Amazon.)
Thanks for writing about this topic. I live in California and was curious about your take on the proposed legislation. It does indeed seem like a monopolist trying to impose a regulatory/legal burden on potential competitors.
I wonder in these cases of defective merchandise coming from foreign producers - who is the importer? I don't know the law for liability, but I would guess that the domestic importer is perhaps responsible for whether the product meets US safety standards. So who is that in Amazon's case?
For books - I enjoyed 'The People, No' (and all of his work). It would be awesome if you could do an interview with Thomas Frank to discuss, since it covers some of the same history and issues as Goliath. I see that Barry Lynn has a book coming out soon 'Liberty From All Masters' - also about monopoly and political power.
I just recently finished David Graber's 'Bullshit Jobs' and Dani Rodrik's 'The Globalization Paradox'. Both had some interesting points. 'Bullshit Jobs' I appreciated for questioning some underlying assumptions about white-collar work and it's value to society. 'The Globalization Paradox' I thought was good at pointing out how free market ideology conflicts with democracy. I didn't entirely agree with either book, but still thought them worth the read.
I'm kind of in the middle of "Kingdom of Gold" by S. A. Chakraborty. Historical fantastic fiction.
For the books: "The People, NO" and Michael Hudson's, "...And forgive them their debts", a great historical account of the Bronze Age handled large scale debt. Is it applicable now? Yup. Hidden history tells a lot.