Will Amazon Save Us From A Depression?

Recently, I put out an improved version of my book Ramblings Of A Mad Man: Life As An Anarchist. You can buy a paperback version here for $10 and the Kindle version here for $5 or for free if you Kindle Unlimited.

This got me thinking about Amazon, and more specifically, the role it plays in our life. In 2019, Last Week Tonight did a segment going after Amazon warehouses for various reasons. The year before, Senator Sanders and Rep. Khanna introduced a bill called the BEZOS Act, named after Amazon founder and richest man in America Jeff Bezos, that would highly regulate corporations.

Across the country, various stores have been closing down due to orders from state and city governments. The few stores that are open are typically deserted and without much stock — although reports on how little stock tend to vary.

If the stores don’t open soon, they will be unable to buy new products to make up for the all the food that has passed the sell buy date at this time, meaning some stores that operate on the margins could go out of business. This will also lead to many getting unemployed, and that’s ignoring the people who are already going to lose their jobs because of it being a tough time once many stores are once again allowed to open.

This makes Amazon nothing but good news for these economies. Bezos recently announced that he’s planning on hiring 100,000 during this recession, those jobs starting at $15 an hour, by the way. Bezos has also offered coronavirus help to President Trump.

This does not mean Amazon is going to save the world, mind you. Bezos has also announced he is limiting shipments to only essential items until at least April 5th, and it’s quite possible this might restriction might go on for longer. However, in the case of where we’re currently heading (a situation where it looks like the economy might literally freeze until further notice), this is still a life saver for millions of Americans.

This is one of the many things I find so odd about trust-busters. Tell me, since this crisis has started, have Senator Sanders, Senator Warren, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, or Rep. Khanna said anything about breaking up Amazon like they did only a few years — or in Cortez’s case, a few months ago? Where has Tucker Carlson been on the topic of Amazon expanding its business while local stores close down?

Here is my two prong solution to dealing with the current crisis:

1. Put all anti-trust laws on hold until the crisis is over. Businesses should not have to worry about being broken up by the government because too few people are going to them. This is especially true in the case of Amazon, while no anti-trust law can get them at the moment, the fact that we are just one legislation, one presidency even, from not being able to access basic products during this crisis because so many others are doing the same should scare everyone.
2. End all protectionism. This is why I have been campaigning so hard against Senator Hawley’s legislation to try and keep the United States from getting medicine from China. As of writing this, vaccines for this illness are already being developed in countries such as Israel and China. The average American should not have to worry about paying more for medicine, or even not being able to get it, because of the country it was made in.