Amazon.com: The Mighty Paper Tiger!
Amazon.com: The Mighty Paper Tiger!
By Mark Oglesby an Amazon.com Warehouse Worker, Union Organizer, Worker’s Rights and Safety Advocate (Amazon login: moglesby).
In an article by Reuters concerning comments made by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, an overall statement was declared, out of pure ignorance I maintain, that the online giant Amazon.com Inc had “destroyed the retail industry across the United States.”
Mnuchin went on to speculate: “If you look at Amazon, although they’re certain benefits to it, they’ve destroyed the retail industry across the United States,” Mnuchin told CNBC. “I don’t have an opinion other than I think it’s absolutely right the attorney general is looking into these issues and I look forward to listening to his recommendations to the president.”
In their own defense, the Amazon PR Amdroids (APRA) stated that 90% of all sales occur in brick-and-mortar stores. “Today, independent sellers make up more than 58% of physical gross merchandise sales on Amazon, and their sales have grown twice as fast as our own, totaling $160 billion in 2018,” an Amazonian Ambot (AA) alleged.
Now as much as I hate to agree with whatever spews forth from the Amazonian Propaganda Machine (APM), I am forced to acknowledge that the once again Amazon PR Amdroids (APRA) were spot on the mark. Speaking of which, the subject of this opinion piece or general thesis concerning Amazon.com remains this: Amazon.com: The Mighty Paper Tiger!
First question then: What actually does it mean to be a Paper Tiger? From WikipediA: “Paper tiger” is a literal English translation of the Chinese phrase “zhilaohu” (纸老虎／紙老虎). The term refers to something or someone that claims or appears to be powerful and/or threatening but is actually ineffectual and unable to withstand challenge.
Now this being the case concerning Amazon.com; the issue refuses to go away: How can anyone in their right mind consider Amazon.com to be a global powerhouse? A legitimate question which I will now answer!
What does Amazon.com actually own? That is, what assesses do they possess? Not much beyond their inflated stock price I’m afraid! Basically speaking, the company leases practically everything in their “mighty” industrial arsenal. And all of these leases are now (since December of 2018) considered debts which must exist on their accounting books as outstanding balances which have no value since someone else actually owns them. Think of being a renter who has no equity in the house, condo or apartment in which you dwell but have to list the above stated house, condo or apartment as debt against your income-to-debt ratio while once again having no viable asset to counter-balance the negative division of what does not belongs to you; that which belongs to someone else.
And speaking of debt, Amazon.com’s leveraged up to its preverbal eyeballs wherein free cash flow is practically speaking: non-existent! As an example, looking back to all those leases; Investopedia has this to say: A leveraged lease is a lease agreement that is financed through the lessor, usually with help from a third-party financial institution. In a leveraged lease, an asset is rented with borrowed funds. The online retail giant’s drowning in debt! The ship’s falling into the sunset! The Canadian Government Marine Agency here at 4.15 P. M. received a wireless dispatch that the Titanic is sinking.
Now all things being equal and everything considered concerning Mnuchin’s statement of destroyed the retail industry across the United States, the fact of the matter remains (and this’ something the government and corporate business leadership not to mention the US Chamber of Commerce will not speak about): The American working population has no disposable income to spend! That as productivity continues to rise, wages have flat-lined or moved up only slightly! Debt ridden workers have been maxed out as only living expenses can be considered when it comes to everyday shopping!
And consider this! Stop and ask a store owner in the local shopping mall what his or her rent is and how much it has continually grown over the years? As a matter of fact, it’s enormous as store after store closes due to the high cost of rent! Amazon’s fault? Hardly! Plus, drive from city to city anywhere in the United States of America and count the number of malls in existence here in the land of consumer capitalism: We’re awash in our consumer culture; drowning in debt while chasing the American dream!
To conclude! I am no friend of Amazon.com as I fight their brutality toward their employees with passion and determination: I will never give up! But the question still remains: Is Amazon.com really bringing down brick and mortar buying and selling or as Mnuchin maintains: …they’ve destroyed the retail industry across the United States? Hell no! They haven’t the capacity to take care of their own house let alone bring down entire industries!
YES! TheAmazon has killed small businesses worldwide (how many independent book stores do you know of that exist in the city in which you dwell?) as bullies always pick on smaller children in the playground. But when this “Paper Tiger” goes up against companies which possess muscle such as Amazon.com claims to enjoy having itself; well, ask this: How many Whole Foods stores have you run across since Amazon bought (on credit by the way) out the company? Barely a glitch on the radar screen! This then is the “Paper Tiger” of which I speak!