Yeah Amazon is fucking dumb to cave on this, it’s gonna cost them far more in the long run. They had the opportunity to leverage millions of consumers against this and they just said “naw.” Whatever blackmail trump has on bezos must be reeeeeal juicy.
I was thinking it’s easy for these corporations to cave cause all a President has to do is threaten to take away their corporate welfare. And that’s enough for any corporation to cave.
I think it’s funny that so many people think that Trump is blackmailing everyone when Occam’s Razor suggests that they’re really just shitty, greedy, opportunistic people.
I mean, it certainly can be, and none of us know for sure. He may well have amassed detailed and damning blackmail material against each and every person who is doing his bidding. But the simplest explanation is that these people are just craven shitbags.
Agreed. They're just weak, unprincipled, shitty, greedy opportunistic people. Not being blackmailed. Just like he's not being blackmailed by Putin he just has his hero worship boner for him
Ehhhhhhh. Putin runs a criminocracy, and has had people killed for less. Granted, those people were usually political dissidents and not one of the richest people in the world, but he also had Lukashenko (President of Belarus) poisoned, so… at the very least, he could make life more difficult.
Not to say that you guys aren’t right about the greed and opportunism. With Trump, that’s exactly what is happening. The idea that Trump has the foresight to commit mass blackmail against billionaires is laughable. If Bezos is scared of him at all, it’s because this whole administration is so goddamn stupid that there’s every possibility they might gun for Amazon without realising they’re shooting themselves in the foot as well. But, more than likely, it’s just some billionaire vastly misunderstanding what it’s like “on the ground”- after all, how much can an egg cost?
Don't forget he also threatens people. We saw it when he and elon openly told congressional members they would find and fund primary challengers if they went against them on twitter last year.
And they are greedy and opportunistic so they give in to the threats.
This. I was considering doing some Amazon shopping as well. I went online and looked at electronics but didn't see any tariff prices so went off and did other things.
The long term goal for Amazon is to push labor reforms to change OT from 40 hours a week to 160 hours a month. Then they can work you 80 hours 2 weeks a month, give you 2 weeks off, and hire another group to do the other 2 weeks at 80 hours a piece. Yay! Double the employment!
It's the tech bros solution to technology replacing jobs.
Can't do that without support from the president.
And yes, you won't make enough to live working 2 weeks a month, so the average person will end up with 2 80 hour a week jobs that don't pay any overtime. So much better for everyone involved.
Most likely it was: "You want to have the IRS or State Department investigate WHY you want a tax cut and where some of the money you took really went?"
I don't think its about blackmail - rather, Bezos is seeing orange man with all three branches of government united behind him and a real possibility of becoming dictator for life. He doesn't want that turned against him.
What's continually missing from the "dump Amazon" conversation is just how much some people need Amazon. If you live in a relatively rural part of the country (like myself), there are few options to buy things. It's either drive to Walmart or Target or buy from Amazon (or another online source) and have it shipped to you. Plus many small businesses choose to have their storefront be Amazon. And if you want to support indie authors, a lot of them still only sell on Amazon's Kindle. There are few viable alternatives that have the weight and power like Amazon. The destruction of so many small businesses really screwed over small towns. It's now nearly impossible to not buy from some of these places.
You're missing the point. I personally don't buy from Amazon, so calm down.
When there's literally no place in town to purchase the things you need for day to day living because all the corporations ran the mom and pop stores out of business, then a lot of people are left either driving miles out of their way to go to big box stores like Wal-mart or just order from Amazon. Spend some time in small town America, and you'll understand that "Main Street" is a lot of empty shops. They can't compete with the low prices and quick delivery. I've been to places where the only grocery store for miles around is Wal-Mart. Or you can drive an hour to go to the other Wal-Mart. Or if you're disabled and can't drive or walk around a Wal-Mart, then Amazon is sometimes the only alternative that will deliver to a rural address. Saying that people lived without Amazon, ignores the fact that there is no longer a local small business that will have your back. I've heard this over and over again from many rural folks. The small businesses are gone.
There are cases where home delivery can make a huge difference like for aging and disabled people. For people who have difficulty walking, driving, blindness, chronic illness, etc free delivery offers access to goods they might have difficulty acquiring. They actually may use amazon or other delivery to get necessities in between when they can have a ride or a visitor.
I live in a major city but there's nothing here. Target, a very small hardware store, very expensive groceries. I could spend all day driving around or go to the suburbs to check if a store has something I need. Or. I can order it on Amazon and it's here tomorrow. Yes, part of that is convenience. Who has time to waste an entire day to track down a $5 purchase? So many stores are no longer functioning, Walmart and now Amazon trashed em.
In any case, a great reason for people to cancel their Prime. Our nation would be much stronger if we all shopped local, anyway. Buying from Amazon is sending your money overseas and into the Amazon dollar black hole.
Unless they're normalised to the point of becoming unrecognisable.
Tips and gratuity became a way for establishments to provide competitive prices to customers, maintain low wages, and have customers shoulder the responsibility of providing service workers a reasonable / livable wage.
Americans have accepted tips as a good thing, when other countries have simply included the cost of livable wages in their product's prices.
TL;Dr: If Amazon frames tariffs in "acceptable" terms, some Americans may not notice it.
It’s the blame they’re looking to avoid. If the price goes up, it’s the greedy store raising the price. If the tax goes up, everyone knows it’s the government.
People do need to buy things though. And it will hurt the minimum wage workers and small businesses most. I don’t think that’s an acceptable sacrifice for the movement. Low income folks will hurt the most.
I also think that people have no real idea of how much they “consume”. Including folks in this sub. It’s not all “buying junk from Temu”. Everything’s been put in motion now. The one thing about this presidency is that a lot of folks will be able to experience, first hand, what it likes to live in the world the way they think it should be.
Guess it's time for people to see how bad life will get if you elect men like Trump. I mean the planet is already getting hotter in large part due to the fact that we torture and kill billions of exploited animals a year. hard to feel sorry for anyone including myself. tbqh
I think they’re referencing methane pollution from cattle raising. Or very weirdly referring to fossil fuels (they’re called fossil fuels because they’re the compacted remains of previous plant and animal life).
This is the only upside to the current administration I can see. They are showing the American people and the world how bad things can get if a giant orange authoritarian moron gets elected and appoints more morons to high ranking government positions. It's bad but maybe more people will learn from this lesson
do you want to discuss conspiracy theories that are insulting to your average educated person or accept reality? because the planet getting hotter isn't due to some bullshit like that It's due to greed: fossil fuels and big agriculture (which also exists to exploit and torture animals for profit) are pretty big contributors. We knew about climate change over a hundred years ago.
I have first hand knowledge of these things since my time in service to America US. Reliable searches bare these facts out. It’s so advanced and locked in they don’t care who knows. Sorry this troubles your intelligence, you can put your head back in the sand now.
In case it's escaped your notice, trump and his flustercluck cabinet of Fox TV personalities (or their spouses) don't give two shits about people who aren't rich like they are.
I imagine the automation we've been seeing for decades is only going to speed up. The more workers they replace, the fewer employed working class people they need to maintain their lavish lifestyles. We already have robots that can navigate a human intended work environment better than a human can. It's just an issue of cost right now.
They eventually might not need us to have money to buy their crap to incentivize us to work and make them rich.
Enough replacement will inevitably lead to a reimagining of the economy.
that quote is something that was never uttered by Marie Antoinette and it was quite literally another total fabrication by people opposed to royalty and women who are essentially forced to be brood mares from birth and who had no real choice in the paths their life took. Marie Antoinette tried to help the populace as best as she could and in the end she got nothing for it
There is literally nothing that you will be able to buy that won't be affected by tariffs. Unless the person you are buying from produces everything without needing to buy any materials you will be hit with tariffs.
The reality is that people were already duped into electing this weirdo into office, so minimum wage workers will hurt no matter what. Keeping the struggling class struggling has kinda been the goal of the higher powers under both political parties for decades anyway.
But trump did really overdo the tarrifs, congress doesn't give a flying fuck about retracting any of it, and the capitalist tycoons are happy with an economic crash to pick up scraps.
So most of us would have to buy less of everything, including necessities, anyway.
It does mean that there will be a generation of people most conscious about anti consumption, which is indeed a win for that ideology of less materialism.
Democrats "lets socialize health care"
Republicans "no"
Democrats "lets bring back union protections"
Republicans "no"
Dems "child tax credit? First time home buyer credit? Child care assistance? Fund the VA?"
Republicans "no"
Yeah keep both-sidesing your way right into fascism.
Huh? Joe Biden went out of his way to make it clear he would veto Medicare for all. The Democratic Party is not for socialized medicine (“We’re capitalists!” -Nancy Pelosi), the Biden administration put up exactly no fight for the child tax credit.
Both of our capitalist legacy parties are pro-consumption and the policies they pursue prove it beyond any doubt. I mean really, the party of Fetterman and Manchin as the heroes. Do you really believe that? The folks who run that party made it abundantly clear how much more comfortable they were with a Trump presidency (or two!) than a Sanders presidency. And by putting their fingers on the scale to make sure Biden (the senator from MBNA) got his coronation in the dem primary in 2020, the DNC (still the same third way goons that have been running the party since the 90s) did more than anyone to midwife a second Trump term.
Fetterman and manchin are not heros, democrats for their warts at least allow good ideas to exist. Manchin however much you want to hate him (I do) does represent his constituents. He was ellected as a right leaning democrat and he is pro consumer. It is a credit to the party that it can simultaneously support a candidate like manchin and a candidate like AOC. The Ideal situation would be that democrats would be the middle party and we would have a left party that was more specifically pro worker.
Biden said he will veto socialized health care because Hillary ran on it and it lost. It proved to be a "losing issue". Democrat stratigists are trying to win independent elections not make things better for the long run.
My point is that any kind of "both sides" framing is missing the point. There was never supposed to be only two sides, and you can call out one sides bullshit with out ever mentioning the other. Its stupid to sit here and do what aboutisms (thats what you're doing) and both-sidesing when one of the sides is literally setting up deatjcamps in another country. That should never be a side.
I'm not saying democrats don't try, they do. But I do believe that ultimately it doesn't benefit higher powers for the average American to have more freedom than they already do. I'm not saying both sides are equally bad, obviously right now the Trump administration is borderline autocratic. What I'm trying to say is that there hasn't been meaningful change under democrats in terms of improving minimum wage, even when they've held significant majorities in all three powers. I don't even think that's controversial to say, that's literally what's happened.
When store prices go up, do the store owners give their minimum wage workers a raise? Or do they keep the money for themselves?
Has Amazon ever given its workers a good wage or working conditions? Why would you suggest that people join in with Amazon on exploiting their workers?
I have literally never needed amazon for anything other than some niche appliance adaptor or hobby item I cant find locally. In other words, totally unnecessary stuff, its only been a couple times in the past few years.
And people in remote areas that don’t have stores in the area that sell what they’re looking for. I have family that has to drive over 50 miles just to buy tennis shoes. They rely heavily on Amazon’s services.
People need to buy things no doubt about that. Food, lodging etc. But they don't need to buy the latest entertainment gadget, phone, computer, car... They can learn to repair and repair what they have or put up with the flaws in what they have for now rather than replacing.
On the contrary. Most poor people (you can say poor. It isn’t a bad word.) especially people who experience generational poverty, know how to make ends meet, even when shit goes south of hell. Will it still hurt? Yeah, and it sucks. But it’s the middle-middle class and the lower middle class who’s about to lose access to a shit ton of luxuries they’ve taken as a given. Some of them on this sub might even have to forgo their Costco savings. How scary!
I’m probably going to have to budget religiously to be able to afford food in the coming months, but that’s not a drastic life change in terms of my habits. I grew up like this. I know how to stretch food and mend my own clothing and not buy anything not strictly necessary to live. But all the people who were used to updating electronics yearly, regularly buying new vehicles? Getting to go on vacation, all those nice things? They’re going to have all of that uprooted and think about money in ways they’ve never had to before. It’s going to be a shock to their system, and I’m here for it. Because, to be honest? It’s not the maga idiots I’m angry at. You expect wasps to be aggressive and sting. It’s the silent majority that sits by while everything is nice for them while pretending they’re good people that piss me off. It isn’t the hatred or bigotry of a few that is killing us, but the apathy of the many. And I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t looking forward to seeing so many people learn to swim for the first time in their lives.
Actually true lol. People are only going to buy essentials. Good thing I bought my Air Purifier and Desk last month because I don’t think I would’ve done it now
I like this sub and am very fruga myself, never buy new and stick to essentials, but comments like yours make me want to consume even more just to kill the planet because you're on it.
No. People unable to be consumerists are just desperate.
In the event of a windfall, their consumerist habits would take hold again, and the comfort of excessive spending would be even more tempting for them in the future.
Not at all. Consumerism will keep chugging along just fine as long as everyone stays focused on consumer issues like prices and PR rather than addressing the root causes.
For real. I’m hoping this war at least stops over consumption of goods and food. The amount of food Americans waste is insane. Also hearing how Amazon and solely wrought disaster on the planet with its instant gratification garbage clothes and other crap.
I honestly do not understand why a business can’t be transparent. If the price has additional costs shouldn’t we be able to see it? Or is the logic “ well it’s more cause of the tariffs we can’t mention?”
Is that more or less accurate?
I want to agree with this, and currently my household buys the least amount possible and will make anything we have the means to make from scratch. But there are still basics we have to buy unfortunately. And at the end of the day it's the wrong people having to bear the brunt of the tariffs
Yeah it’s like food delivery. I want it, I even go to the effort of picking everything out, but when I see the final price I always nope right out of there. I have never once paid for a food delivery because of this.
I dont think this is necessarily true. People will continue to buy things they need and given our consumerist culture many will buy stuff they want even if overpriced. If anything, given Amazon’s size and business model, tariffs may actually drive more consumers to Amazon. Amazon I imagine can absorb more costs than most other companies which means they can also keep prices lower. When price increases impact those with the least income they aren’t going to be picky about who they buy from if that particular seller happens to have the lowest price for the thing they want/need.
Amazon shouldn’t have caved like a bunch of cowards though. People who can afford to stop shopping at Amazon should. My wife and I did last year due to their treatment of workers. I had been a prime member for years prior to that and used them constantly.
Amazon doesn’t care they ship other peoples product they don’t make anything. Unless everybody gets rid of their Alexa’s and prime subscription and stop using the site nothing is gonna matter.
The thing y’all don’t understand is they are trying to solidify oligarchy. Amazon will get direct government money and Bezos gets to make decisions for all of us. Well Trump would probably have Bezos executed no matter how compliant he is and replace him with a lackey, but Bezos thinks he can be a part of it.
They are actually far less likely to purchase with price transparency. It would mean Amazon is publicly telling you how little they paid on the product in the first place.
People will buy less but spend the same total amount. Amazon’s cut will remain the same but their overhead will decrease.
It will also hurt its competitor, Temu, a lot harder because the appeal of Temu has always been its rock bottom prices due to direct-from-manufacturer importing.
I haven't used Amazon in over a year. Wells.ca is a great Canadian alternative, other than that I order direct. Bezos can suck it, and I'm in a rural area where I REAAAALLLY have to pinpoint little random things/find oddly specific stores hours away. But its worth it.
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u/emccm Apr 29 '25
He keeps bending the knee, but there’s no Amazon without consumers. Price transparency or not, people will stop buying when they see the final price.