Amazon
Whenever I walk into Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa, it’s nearly deserted—even in the height of Christmas shopping season. I hear the big box stores are more crowded. But traditional “brick and mortar” outlets must surely be doomed.
In their place arises Amazon, with labor practices that are apparently and unrelentingly even more abusive than Wal-Mart’s.[1] I don’t know what to do. I shop at Amazon as well, even being well aware of their abuses. Increasingly I feel I have no choice. It’s become too hard to find stuff at local retailers and their prices are often high.
Natalie Kitroeff, “Amazon drivers say they are pushed to the limit as holiday deliveries reach a frenzy,” Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-drivers-20161218-story.html
Unemployment
We can ask why, if conditions are so awful at Amazon, anyone would work there. Here’s part of the answer.
Andrew Tangel and Patrick McGroarty, “U.S. Factories Are Working Again; Factory Workers, Not So Much,” Wall Street Journal, December 18, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-factories-are-working-again-factory-workers-not-so-much-1482080400
For-profit education
Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “Education Dept. Denies Student-Aid Funds to For-Profit Law School,” Chronicle of Higher Education, December 19, 2016, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/education-dept-denies-student-aid-funds-to-for-profit-law-school/116201
Horse race
Hopefully, it is now over.
Kyle Cheney, “Electoral College sees record-breaking defections,” Politico, December 19, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/electoral-college-electors-232836
Olivia Nuzzi, “Donald Trump Electoral College Win Crushes the Last #NeverTrump Dream,” Daily Beast, December 19, 2016, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/19/donald-trump-electoral-college-win-crushes-the-last-nevertrump-dream.html
- [1]Daniel D’Addario, “Amazon is worse than Walmart,” Salon, July 30, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/07/30/how_amazon_is_worse_than_wal_mart/; Mike Daisey, “Amazon’s brutal work culture will stay: bottom lines matter more than people,” Guardian, August 22, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/22/amazon-brutal-work-culture; Josh Eidelson, “Amazon Keeps Unions Out By Keeping Workers in Fear, Says Organizer,” Alternet, January 22, 2014, http://www.alternet.org/labor/amazon-keeps-unions-out-keeping-workers-fear-says-organizer; Nichole Gracely, “‘Being homeless is better than working for Amazon’,” Guardian, November 28, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/nov/28/being-homeless-is-better-than-working-for-amazon; Simon Head, “Worse than Wal-Mart: Amazon’s sick brutality and secret history of ruthlessly intimidating workers,” Salon, February 23, 2014, http://www.salon.com/2014/02/23/worse_than_wal_mart_amazons_sick_brutality_and_secret_history_of_ruthlessly_intimidating_workers/; Dave Jamieson, “The Life and Death of an Amazon Warehouse Temp,” Huffington Post, n.d., http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/life-and-death-amazon-temp/; Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld, “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace,” New York Times, August 15, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html; Natalie Kitroeff, “Amazon drivers say they are pushed to the limit as holiday deliveries reach a frenzy,” Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-drivers-20161218-story.html; Joe Nocera, “Jeff Bezos and the Amazon Way,” New York Times, August 21, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/22/opinion/joeera-jeff-bezos-and-the-amazon-way.html; Alex Seitz-Wald, “Amazon is everything wrong with our new economy,” Salon, July 30, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/07/30/amazon_is_everything_wrong_with_our_new_economy/; Spencer Soper, “Inside Amazon’s Warehouse,” Morning Call, September 18, 2011, http://articles.mcall.com/2011-09-18/news/mc-allentown-amazon-complaints-20110917_1_warehouse-workers-heat-stress-brutal-heat; ↩