<story><title>Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-16/happy-prime-day-jeff-amazon-ceo-s-net-worth-tops-150-billion</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nostromo</author><text>I think Bezos is a bad argument for us being in a new guilded age.&lt;p&gt;When you look at Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, and perhaps even Gates, they had near total control over some aspect of the American Economy.  And they used that control to make incredible profits.&lt;p&gt;Amazon is trying to do the same, but they haven&amp;#x27;t done so yet.  Their retail business is not wildly profitable (if at all).  They haven&amp;#x27;t monopolized online retail (and may never be able to do so).&lt;p&gt;Amazon may be the next Walmart, but they&amp;#x27;re not the next Standard Oil.  And the market has priced in huge expectations that Amazon will eventually have to meet, or investor exuberance will wane.</text></item><item><author>Endama</author><text>I feel that America is in the midst of a new gilded age; instead of Standard Oil, we have Amazon.&lt;p&gt;Like the late 1920s, we saw losses in purchasing power of the average American, the collection of wealth among the top 1%, and disruption of our civic spaces as a result. I think the thing that many Americans aren&amp;#x27;t aware of was just how violent that time in US history was[1].&lt;p&gt;The US economy isn&amp;#x27;t just about how comfortable the average US citizen is, it is also a measure of how much cushion there is in our society between us being frustrated looking at a job board and being angry and armed in the streets. The teachers strikes in Oklahoma, Florida, and W. Virginia are showing the rise of Unions (much like in the gilded age as well). Protest and civic engagement must be our response, we should take signs like the wealth of Bezos as a cautionary tale, rather than something to simply marvel at.&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ludlow_Massacre&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ludlow_Massacre&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Matewan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Matewan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;1920_Alabama_coal_strike&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;1920_Alabama_coal_strike&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Blair_Mountain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Blair_Mountain&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>save_ferris</author><text>&amp;gt; When you look at Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, and perhaps even Gates, they had near total control over some aspect of the American Economy&lt;p&gt;According to TechCrunch[1], Amazon controls 49% of the entire e-commerce market, and 5% of the entire retail market overall. They&amp;#x27;re also in a position to jockey for even more market share as retail continues to move online.&lt;p&gt;Amazon is in the perfect position to completely own e-commerce, so it&amp;#x27;s quite possible that we&amp;#x27;re just early in making our comparison.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;07&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;amazons-share-of-the-us-e-commerce-market-is-now-49-or-5-of-all-retail-spend&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;techcrunch.com&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;07&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;amazons-share-of-the-us-e-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-16/happy-prime-day-jeff-amazon-ceo-s-net-worth-tops-150-billion</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nostromo</author><text>I think Bezos is a bad argument for us being in a new guilded age.&lt;p&gt;When you look at Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, and perhaps even Gates, they had near total control over some aspect of the American Economy.  And they used that control to make incredible profits.&lt;p&gt;Amazon is trying to do the same, but they haven&amp;#x27;t done so yet.  Their retail business is not wildly profitable (if at all).  They haven&amp;#x27;t monopolized online retail (and may never be able to do so).&lt;p&gt;Amazon may be the next Walmart, but they&amp;#x27;re not the next Standard Oil.  And the market has priced in huge expectations that Amazon will eventually have to meet, or investor exuberance will wane.</text></item><item><author>Endama</author><text>I feel that America is in the midst of a new gilded age; instead of Standard Oil, we have Amazon.&lt;p&gt;Like the late 1920s, we saw losses in purchasing power of the average American, the collection of wealth among the top 1%, and disruption of our civic spaces as a result. I think the thing that many Americans aren&amp;#x27;t aware of was just how violent that time in US history was[1].&lt;p&gt;The US economy isn&amp;#x27;t just about how comfortable the average US citizen is, it is also a measure of how much cushion there is in our society between us being frustrated looking at a job board and being angry and armed in the streets. The teachers strikes in Oklahoma, Florida, and W. Virginia are showing the rise of Unions (much like in the gilded age as well). Protest and civic engagement must be our response, we should take signs like the wealth of Bezos as a cautionary tale, rather than something to simply marvel at.&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ludlow_Massacre&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ludlow_Massacre&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Matewan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Matewan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;1920_Alabama_coal_strike&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;1920_Alabama_coal_strike&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Blair_Mountain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Blair_Mountain&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zeusk</author><text>&amp;gt; Amazon is trying to do the same, but they haven&amp;#x27;t done so yet. They are not wildly profitable (if at all). They haven&amp;#x27;t monopolized online retail (and may never be able to do so).&lt;p&gt;Please tell me you&amp;#x27;re being sarcastic.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;re hiding profits and just plowing all the revenue back into the business while undercutting both competitors and their own employees.</text></comment>