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Spotlight on Amazon
Stop the monopolization of the book and retail industry! ABA is urging Congress and state attorneys general to investigate Amazon’s business model for violations of antitrust laws. Like Standard Oil and A& P in the 20th century, Amazon’s dominance and abusive business tactics have had a negative impact on many retail channels, including America’s book industry and with it, free expression. Its latest proposed purchase of Whole Foods is opening eyes to the damage that monopoly power can do, so strike while the iron is hot! Demand that Amazon be investigated! ABA has created an Antitrust Action Kit that provides you with crucial, state-specific tools to help you in your outreach. Also for ABA members: The New Localism Toolkit.
A selection of readings and resources.
Amazon's Business Practices
As Amazon Preps Chicago Store, Indie Bookstores Push Back (Chicagoist, January 2017)
Amazon and Empty Storefronts: The Fiscal and Land Use Impacts of Online Retail ((Civic Economics, 2016)
Amazon Convenience Could Have Fiscal Consequences (Chicago Tribune, 2016)
Five Things Local Officials Need to Know About Amazon (Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2015)
Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K. (New York Times, 2014)
Amazon Must Be Stopped (The New Republic, 2014)
Behind the Amazon.com Smile (Seattle Times, 2012)
The Amazon Effect (The Nation, 2012)
Amazon Economy: From Warehouse to Powerhouse (Financial Times, 2012)
Why Amazon is Good But Not Great (GreenBiz.com, 2012)
Amazon and Job Creation
To Tout Good Jobs, Visit Main Street, Not Amazon (Jeff Milchen, Bloomberg Businessweek, 2013)
The Truth About Amazon and Job Creation (Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2013)
Amazon and the Book Industry
ABA President Submits Testimony to Senate Antitrust Hearing (Bookselling This Week, March 2016)
As Competition Wanes, Amazon Cuts Back Discounts (New York Times, 2013)
The Antidote to Algorithms: A Real Bookstore (Ann Patchett, Wall Street Journal, 2013)
Amazon Yanks 5,000 titles from Independent Publishers Group, a Chicago Book Distributor (Chicago Tribune, 2012)
Amazon.com Trying to Wring Deep Discounts from Publishers (Seattle Times, 2012)
Publishing’s Ecosystem on the Brink: The Backstory (Authors Guild, 2012)
E-book Suit May Shift Power Back to Amazon (Financial Times, 2012)
Amazon Bullies Independent Publishers (Dennis Johnson, Melville House, 2012)
Hold the Applause for Amazon.com (Jeff Milchen, AlterNet, 2005)
Tax Avoidance and Government Subsidies
States Fight Back Against Amazon.com’s Tax Deals (Seattle Times, updated 2015)
Amazon’s (Not So Secret) War on Taxes (Fortune, 2013, subscription required)
After 20 Years, Congress May Finally Pass Internet Sales Tax. Is it Too Late? (Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2013)
Amazon’s Billion-Dollar Tax Shield (Reuters, 2012)
To Help Main Street, Close the Internet Sales Tax Loophole (Jeff Milchen, Bloomberg Businessweek, 2011)
Amazon as an Employer — Working Conditions
Inside Amazon’s Warehouse (Allentown Morning Call, 2015)
I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave (Mother Jones, 2012)
Jeff Bezos/Amazon and the Washington Post
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to Buy Washington Post (Washington Post, 2013)
How Jeff Bezos Will Change Washington (Joshua Green, Bloomberg Businessweek, 2013)
Bezos and the Washington Post: A Skeptical View (John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 2013)
Jeff Bezos Bought the Washington Post, But So Did Amazon (wired.co.uk, 2013)
What Amazon Lobbies for in D.C. (Ezra Klein, Washington Post, 2013)
Infographics
The Growth of Amazon and the Impact on Communities (ABA, 2016)
Before You Click on Amazon... (Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2015)
Amazon: How a Single Company Gained a Stranglehold over Online Shopping and the Future of Retail” (Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2012)
Ten Charts: Why Wall Street Loves Amazon and Hates Apple (CNN Money, 2013)
Grateful acknowledgements to Stacy Mitchell, senior researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and Jeff Milchen, co-director of the American Independent Business Alliance, in compililng these links. Further information from both organizations on Amazon is available here [http://www.ilsr.org/understanding-amazon-com-reading-list/] and here [http://www.amiba.net/resources/all-about-amazon].
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