Are internet giants monopolizing on our economy? (small business, free market, buy)
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Lots of people know about the hidden underground transportation system being used by Walmart. It was built by aliens, not the illegal kind, but those from outer space.
The best part is, I remember reading case study after case study about Walmart. They were a so called “new form of corporate super entity” that exerted control over its suppliers via reverse auctions. They dictated everything from the ingredients, to the packaging, price, or where it was produced. The argument was made they controlled a huge part of the economy and industries indirectly. “Monopsony”
Walmart pushed something like 8 or 9 of its biggest suppliers into bankruptcy after 1992. General Motors used to have the same joke that the “supplier of the year” was soon to be gone.
Now, here we are just years later and the complaint is retail brick and mortar stores are going down to amazon, Walmart included (although, I don’t think that will happen).
Next up....people need to start realizing there are several levels of power beyond the mega-corporations.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, corporations employ thousands of people to fit under government controlled regulations from marketing, tax, labor laws, safety, legal, financial regulation, and on and on we go. In other words, the corporations are not calling the shots domestically or internationally. In fact, they live in a state of healthy fear and constant risk of slip up.
But hey, from the outside...maybe from outer space or wherever...it probably sounds menacing to say the evil corporations are in control.
CNBC had an article up this morning that Amazon has a hundred million Prime members. If they each pay $100 (and they don't - there are discounts for low income people and other ways to make it less), that's $10 billion in revenue annually just got off Prime memberships.
To answer the OPs question, they probably do monopolize parts of the economy to scale quite well. Most people want stuff for cheap and free, and these big companies offer products at a cheaper price. Unfortunately most people really do not care how big or influential these large conglomerates get
Certainly Amazon is huge and has become very successful. Calling it a monopoly is about as silly as mysticaltyger's conspiracy theories and hidden underground roadways. Amazon currently accounts for about 3% of the country's retail sales.
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