Thirty years ago, Amazon was a quirky internet bookseller. But even back then, founder Jeff Bezos wanted to build an empire. Today, Amazon has inserted itself into almost every facet of daily life, and it’s done so by ruthlessly muscling out competition — likely using illegal market tactics.
For years, regulators watched Amazon’s growth and failed to investigate claims that the company violated federal law by engaging in predatory pricing. That changed last year when Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan announced she and 17 state attorneys general were suing Amazon and charging it with being an illegal monopoly. The thing is, Amazon probably could have been sued a long time ago.
On this week’s Lever Time, David Sirota and Arjun Singh unpack how an ideological movement successfully suppressed efforts to challenge corporate monopolies in the United States for nearly half a century and enabled Amazon’s unprecedented rise.
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Dems' Broken Pipe(line) Dreams (w/ Sen. Brian Schatz)
Ron DeSantis' Worst Nightmare (w/ Charlie Crist)
The NFL Is A Political Weapon (w/ Dave Zirin)
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“Let Them Eat Student Debt” (w/ Astra Taylor & Marshall Steinbaum)
Exposing The Biggest Political Donation In U.S. History
Who Fact Checks The Fact Checkers?
Who Do Democrats Actually Work For?
This One Election Could End Democracy (also, Susan Sarandon On Being Liberals' Scapegoat)
How Corporations Can Put You In Jail (w/ Steven Donziger)
Chris Smalls Is Having A #HotLaborSummer (w/ Chris Smalls)
How America Legalized Corruption
The Man Who Bought The Supreme Court
The Social Security Chopping Block
The Fed Hates You
America’s Top Gun Problem
There's No Duty To Protect (also, Judd Apatow on George Carlin)
Trailer: Lever Time with David Sirota
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