How Amazon is disrupting democracy
Has Amazon's rapid expansion come at the expense of America's democratic institutions? In some cases, the answer might be yes.
Episode 188 of the Democracy Works podcast, hosted by Alec MacGillis, titled "How Amazon is disrupting democracy" was published on September 20, 2021 and runs 45 minutes.
September 20, 2021 ·45m · Democracy Works
Summary
Has Amazon's rapid expansion come at the expense of America's democratic institutions? In some cases, the answer might be yes.
Episode Description
As we've said many times on this show, democracy is long and slow, which is the exact opposite of the ethos that Amazon has pushed into our culture through quick shipping, easily accessible entertainment, its takeover of cloud computing, and more.
Amazon's expansion across America, from distribution facilities to data centers, is exacerbating regional inequities and contributing to the unraveling of America's social fabric. Not only that, cities competing for Amazon's new facilities offer tax breaks that prevent funding from going to basic government services. And, the company's takeover of government procurement has taken lucrative contracts away from local businesses.
Alec MacGillis, a senior reporter at ProPublica, chronicles these trends in new book Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America. The book chronicles how Amazon contributed to the gap between the country’s winning and losing regions, and how its workplace practices foster isolation and competition, rather than camaraderie and shared goals.
Was Amazon deliberately trying to undermine democracy? Or using the existing system to its benefit? We talk with MacGillis about founder Jeff Bezos's political philosophy and how it's impacted the company's decision-making over the years. We also discuss what we as democratic citizens can do to push back against some of these forces.
Additional Information
Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America
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