John Minchillo/AP Photo
The Whole Foods chain was purchased by Amazon for $13.7 billion in 2017.
Goldman Sachs is no longer the ultimate giant squid, wrapping its toxic tentacles around the whole economy. Goldman has fallen to second place. First place goes to Amazon.
There is a Whole Foods in my neighborhood. I shop there as little as possible, but once in a while, it can’t be helped. They used to have a terrific selection of teas. Yesterday, I noticed that most of the favorite brands have been expunged, in favor of Whole Foods’ crappy house brands.
They’ve done this with more and more independent products. This is called a conflict of interest, and it’s one of several dozen different kinds of abuses of market power displayed by Amazon.
Back in the day, when we had a robust FTC and Justice Department Antitrust Division, abuses like these got investigated. Congress used its capacity to do investigative hearings to add to the pressure for reform.
One of the secondary sources of Trump damage is that other needed investigations of predatory capitalism have been put on hold, as all eyes are on impeachment. Once Trump is gone—and he will be gone—it’s time to go after all the other abuses that helped create the backlash that elected Trump in the first place.
