Amazon not so Amazing

All of the hand wringing over Amazon’s choosing Washington D.C. and New York City over the Texas location for its HQ2 is misplaced. Jeff Bezos did not choose the location for his second headquarters because of access to a supposed pool of talent or quality of life for his workers. He chose it for money and political access. New York and D.C. essentially bribed Amazon to locate in their environs, but there’s really more to it than that. If history is any guide to the future, it won’t be long before Amazon faces a serious antitrust problem. Little over a century ago the railroad robber barons, the steel tycoons, and the oil magnates enjoyed the rapid growth and fantastic profits similar to those Bezos and other tech companies have today. Their success provoked antitrust legislation and the breakup of the huge trusts and monopolies. The laws that ended the hegemony of monopolies are still on the books. Bezos has ingratiated himself with, and poised his company’s location to secure access to, the big political donors and lobbyists to forestall antitrust action against his company. DFW is better off without Amazon. There are better ways the assembled and projected bribe money can be spent to improve our area.