Who Would Have Thought That Events Of Two Centuries Ago Would Resonate With Such Relevance Today?
Have you been following my IMAGINE and other posts about the various Anti-Trust/Monopoly legal suits the US Government recently brought against Amazon and Google?
If not, here ya go !
Now…do you know what a robber baron is??
It's a person who becomes rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices. The term originated concerning prominent US businessmen in the late 19th Century.
To give it more depth and color...their wealth was driven by the exploitation of:
Thank you, Oxford and Merriam-Webster Dictionaries.
Not to make this a history lesson, but please read up on this era, my dear Readers, no matter where you live... And, allow me a paragraph or two more.?
As ruthless as they were and as callous as they were to their employees and even the public (What?! Us accountable?!), they honestly believed they were doing "God's" work affirming the power of capitalism and free market economics.
And, of course, they were great philanthropists—contributing to society. (Or, more accurately, creating a new, very closed society out of their philanthropy using the funds that came from their unfair trading practices, workers' wage exploitation, driving the competition out of business, and appropriating capital…a nice way of saying diverting, aka stealing.)
Bottom line…does any of this sound familiar to you??
Read the latest US Government cases against Amazon (one of the most liked companies in the US, BTW), and do so through the lens and filter of history from two centuries ago…it all comes alive.
Unlike the case against Google, which is actually, at least partially, about Google's Tech (see my IMAGINE on the subject), the case against Amazon has nothing…zero…nada to do with tech and everything to do with the basic playbook of the Robber Barons of old.?
Yes, it's my soapbox. But why do I care??
I have railed against DIGIBABBLE forever. The pundits (analysts and experts who preach Digital First) worship "Big Tech." They have created valuations (and fortunes) the likes of which the world has never seen AND (in my view) have stunted the true growth of digital solutions to do more than target ads, push merchandise I don't want, and spread hate.?
We live, dear Reader, in a Digital World. FULL STOP. We pay for our lunch from the food truck by digital means. We use our phones or watches to go through turnstiles at events and even to board the train. And, if you still read a printed newspaper or watch linear TV, both come from a digital source.??
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Bottom line: If you aren't in, you can't win.?
“Digital is everything. But not everything is digital.”
Yet, it's not just about Digital. It's about how digital enhances it all—be it actual retail stores, Taylor Swift events, or a visit to your doctor. Digital first?
PEOPLE FIRST! You've heard me soapbox this since I started writing and sharing.
Now, back to the topic…BIG TECH. ENOUGH!!!!! Ford is as much a tech company as Tesla. Walmart is as much a tech company as Amazon. Uber and Airbnb are significant users of tech, but they are not TECH GIANTS or even Tech companies.?
However, we are blinded by the word DISRUPTION…and have convinced ourselves that they have disrupted and changed forever…life as we once knew it.
Yes, much like the Robber Barons, they disrupted capital raises, fair wages, fair and equitable tactics, and on and on.?
That doesn’t mean they haven’t helped to accelerate evolutionary change…they have. But at what cost and for what purpose??
And, as a historian, the Robber Barons were Big Tech's equal as market disruptors. Although in the naked, unforgiving light of history, they remain Robber Barons who we study, admire (some), and love to watch portrayed in movies and series; however, in the aggregate, they were not good folk.?
If we held Amazon and the rest accountable for what they do…
and on and on…they might not make the same outlandish sums, but then they wouldn't be selling us fake brands or exploiting gig workers, for example.?
So does it make a difference? I think so. I hope so.?
I want to unleash the full and true power of the amazing technology at our fingertips…and I want AMAZON to be the true consumer-centric company it can be…not lock it up in DIGIBABBLE.
And a few final thoughts to ponder as we sort all of this out…as quoted by Farhad Manjoo in the New York Times, 9/29/2023, The Flaw In The Case Against Amazon:
Kind of puts things in perspective…no??
What do you think?
Hey Siri, tell me about the antitrust suits (better yet pick your choice of new AI front ends) TikTok influencer “head to Etsy to buy XYZ” Think the huge difference in yesterdays Robber Barton’s (I’ll go up to ATT) is that resources/infrastructure were hard to replace once there. So unlike other countries who own their resources and infrastructure, we sold them off. I have zero confidence the government understands much of what happens in the private sector. When the windows suit happened, MSFT had 90%+ of entry point to apps, and many of the apps. Today maybe 15% with mobile, web, etc. that has nothing to do with the suit. MSFT does well in browser space. Doing well in cloud and maintained/grew office. Last point. I buy a lot direct from Target online and never would have with Amazon showing me it was safe. Sure Amazon has the numbers of what impact beyond their own, on the economy.
Legal Researcher | Expert on Election Petition Tribunal | Data Analyst | Technical Writer.
1 年Thank you so much.
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1 年Interestingly, the difference between 200 years ago and now is technology. But, it's imperative to note that all successful entrepreneurs, politicians, activists and others get inspiration from human history. If you asked every individual in any field where the inspiration comes from, it's always from those that did it exceptionally in the past. To build further on your thoughts, I will add, what can governments or the populace do in the future to avoid being the serfs in the next 100 years? Or, what kind of stories can we tell to shape the minds of people that will dare greatly in the future? Thanks for sharing David
Identifies as 6'6" NBA guard.
1 年Watch the Netflix documentary on Cambridge Analytica.