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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   21888 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026

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In the real world the consumer has no idea what price he could be getting without the corrupt tactics employed by Amazon. He has no idea that Amazon was secretly increasing prices. He has no reason to think that this was in the realm of possibility, and would assume that there were laws against price-fixing. He would have no reason to know any of this was happening, because the lawsuit showing this was only publicized last month.

For years, Amazon has reached out to its vendors and instructed them to increase retail prices on competitors’ websites, threatening dire consequences if vendors do not comply. Vendors, bullied by Amazon’s overwhelming bargaining leverage and fearing punishment, agree to raise prices on competitors’ websites, or to remove products from competing websites altogether. This price fixing scheme typically begins with Amazon demanding that vendors “fix,” “correct,” “increase,” “raise,” or “look into” the prices of products on other retailers’ websites. These directives to vendors are backed by the threat of significant penalties for failure to comply — ranging from advertising and promotion restrictions, to demands for financial compensation, to the removal of vendors’ products from Amazon.

https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/naming-names-attorney-general-bonta-secures-public-access-evidence-amazon-price

Replying under myself to make an additional point: should it not in theory be easy to stop this behavior while retaining the basic structure of capitalism?

  • jail time for infractors and the expropriation of all of their wealth and property. Like, actual punishments. Why are we not actually punishing these people.

  • multi-million dollar payouts to whistleblowers, plus national honors. Place their portraits in the White House, they are model citizens.

  • a government program that sends out mailers and emails to every vendor in the country, asking them about their experiences with services in exchange for a small payment for their time (this is to know where to investigate)

  • Use AI to determine which industries should be lowering their prices (but are in an unspoken agreement not to), and then force them to or tax them

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