Mammon category archive
Uber-Pinnings 0
On this week’s episode of Le Show, Harry Shearer interviews Hubert Horan, a long-time consultant in the transportation field, about Uber and Uber’s business model.
You can listen to the interview here. It is well worth your while.
Here’s an excerpt:
Shearer: The future that is sometimes sketched out by supporters of Uber is, “Well, but wait until driverless cars.”
(snip)
Horan: All the people who talk about driverless cars are people who watched the Jetsons too much when they were children.
Spoiler Alert.
Trapped Up the Amazon 0
A woman bought a defective product* from a third-party vendor on Amazon; the vendor has since disappeared completely.
She’s suing Amazon. Amazon is denying liability, claiming (I’m paraphrasing here) that it is but an innocent go-between, a mere pipeline, a sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal, guaranteeing nothing. Nevertheless, there seem to be cracks in its defense strategy. Here’s a bit from the news story:
The Amazon lawyer repeated his question. “I don’t know. The product was in my cart and I paid for it as usual,” said Oberdorf . . . .
I have from time to time–only when there seems no other option–purchased items from the “Amazon Marketplace.” In my own experience, whether you are purchasing from Amazon or through Amazon isn’t necessarily made obvious.
I commend the story to your attention, especially if you buy stuff from (or through?) Amazon with any frequency.
____________________
*The product was a dog collar which broke when her dog lunged, snapping back and blinding her in one eye.
Misdirection Play, Climate Crisis Dept. 0
At the Bangor Daily News, Gwynne Dyer reveals industry’s latest tactic to avoid action on carbon emissions. A snippet:
Time for another change of strategy by the fossil fuel industries and their allies. If they can no longer hope to discredit the science or confuse the public about the evidence, maybe they can at least deflect and divert the pressure for effective action on climate change on to targets that do not directly threaten the sales of their products.
Follow the link for the evidence.
Putting the Public Good Up for Sale 0
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a controversy in a school district that led to an ouster of a majority of the school board.
Follow the link for details.
“It Would Be a Shame If Something Happened to Your Imports” 0
Paul Krugman explains that it’s not just Ukraine:
And the implicit quid pro quo for such exemptions is that corporations support Donald Trump, or at least refrain from criticizing his actions.
Follow the link for the rest.
Health Scare 0
Wendell Potter predicts the tactics health insurers will use to fight against anything that looks like “Medicare for all.” A snippet:
A Case of Health Some-Call-It Insurance 0
David discusses increases in the cost of his health coverage and explains why free market concepts don’t apply to health care.
“Oligarchy on Parade” 0
Thom muses on the rise of the oligarchs.
The Entitlement Society 0
Bruce Lowery argues that a law suit about a wine-stained $30,000 hand bag denotes a society that’s out of hand. A snippet:
Follow the link for the hard-to-believe details.
In It for the Money 0
Shaun Mullen throws the book at John Bolton.
The Pusher Men 0
The Bangor Daily News reminds us that today’s Big Pharma is but the most recent manifestation of a long American tradition of making fortunes from opiates.
Facebook Frolics 0
The Des Moines Register’s Rekha Basu recounts a tale of tangling with Facebook’s how-dare-the-Zuckerborg-call-them-standards for advertisements.
Honest to Pete, Dali never created anything so surreal.