Donald Trump Presidency-Day One

[buttslinger]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.0ce61c3e4e2d

Maybe Amazon.com is going to show Trump what real money and pull can do. They're dancing him into a corner.

[Stavros]

Maybe Amazon.com is going to show Trump what real money and pull can do. They're dancing him into a corner.

What you could do is wait for the President to bad mouth a major corporation, watch its stock price fall -and buy, counting your profits with a smile six months later. Why else is this man in the Presidency if not to use it for financial gain?

As for prosecutions, the first person prosecuted by Mueller has been given a 30-day jail sentence for lying, which at least makes it clear that lies can be punished.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-investigation

As for Amazon, the President either doesn't bother with the facts, can't add up, or is only interested in their stock price...his nonsense remarks about Amazon and the US Postal Service debunked here-
https://www.independent.co.uk/infact...-a8287016.html

[trish]

Donald doesn't give a shit about Amazon's business practices or how it uses the mail. The pressure in his bloviating pipes is caused by his irrepressible hatred for the Washington Post and it's owner Jeff Bezos.

[buttslinger]

Besos has a lot more money than Trump. More Power??? We'll see.
Trump should buy some tobacco companies, I heard in Prison the currency is cigarettes.

[Stavros]

Donald doesn't give a shit about Amazon's business practices or how it uses the mail. The pressure in his bloviating pipes is caused by his irrepressible hatred for the Washington Post and it's owner Jeff Bezos.

It now appears that it might go beyond your tasteful assessment. It is about the difference between 'bricks and mortar' and e-commerce, something that has passed by the Chief Executive and his buddy Rupert Murdoch. One assessment of property in Manhattan suggests that the success of online retailers like Amazon has led to a decline in the value of Manhattan real estate and that this has directly affected the Billionaire CEO of America LLC-

“Values of several Manhattan properties, particularly those on or near Fifth Avenue, have dropped, shaving nearly $400 million off his fortune,” the magazine says.Appearing on CNN Tuesday, Forbes assistant managing editor Kerry Dolan specifically leveled blame for Trump’s losses on Amazon. Specifically citing the lease of the Niketown store and the Trump Tower property, Dolan said that retailers are suffering--even on the high end. It would appear that Amazon’s strategy of e-commerce over brick and mortar retail is winning, and that is having an effect on real estate values, she added.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazo...225554760.html

But, if the President were to propose the use of anti-trust law to break up Amazon, this would surely not revive the 'mom and pop' or corner stores of ye olde Amerique? E-Commerce is here to stay, it is not a fad. Are city councils going to reduce their rents for commercial property?

[trish]

In rural areas mom-and-pop businesses died a long time ago when franchises spread and took root everywhere. WallMarts, Hallmarks, CVS’s, Barnes & Nobles, Olive Gardens, etc. Homogeneity is the price Americans are willing to pay for predicable quality and service.

When Amazon first started it sold books. You bought them online and they sent them to you through the mail. Then they sold kindles and e-books. Border’s Books was one of the first brick and mortar franchises to die probably because of direct competition with Amazon. Now that Amazon sells just about everything under the Sun, others find themselves in a much more competitive market because of Amazon’s head start on online-commerce.

I had not thought what it means to the real estate market as brick and mortar stores either die or switch to the online model. But apparently those with an interest in these matters see a correlation between declining real estate values, the decline in the retail market and the rise of online shopping.

Oddly, the mom-and-pop stores that are able to thrive often do so because they have an online presence. Arts and crafts supplies, vitamins, birdhouses, scratching posts for cats etc. can be bought from small online businesses. Some are businesses that have a brick and mortar presence in some small town somewhere, others are literally ma and pa working out of their home. Some of these businesses work with and through Amazon.

Is Amazon too big? Should it be broken up? I have no current opinion, although I’m quite certain Trump’s opinion on the matter is biased in many ways: 1) Jeff Besos owns the Washington Post; 2) Jeff Besos’s networth is twenty-fives times greater than Trump’s; 3) and now Amazon may be having a negative effect on the value of Trump’s real estate.

Thanks for the article.

[blackchubby38]

Trish summed up perfectly what I wanted to say about what led to demise of "mom and pop" businesses in the United States. The only thing I will add is that the first mall opening up 30 years ago, probably signaled the first death knell for them as well.

As for retailers, they have to start thinking twice before they open a brick and mortar location. Especially in a place like NYC. Unless they can figure out a way to have the location also operate as a fulfillment center that offers same day delivery. But even with that, I don't think they could do enough business to pay rent, electricity, wages, etc..

[Stavros]

Trish summed up perfectly what I wanted to say about what led to demise of "mom and pop" businesses in the United States. The only thing I will add is that the first mall opening up 30 years ago, probably signaled the first death knell for them as well.
As for retailers, they have to start thinking twice before they open a brick and mortar location. Especially in a place like NYC. Unless they can figure out a way to have the location also operate as a fulfillment center that offers same day delivery. But even with that, I don't think they could do enough business to pay rent, electricity, wages, etc..

This is a fascinating post, because it raises a profound question: what are cities for? We may have to re-configure the urban environment if e-commerce does lead to the decline of shops, though I think that a balance may be found because I do think people love the physical act of 'going into town' to browse and maybe buy stuff, and although fruit and veg even a carton of milk can be bought online from the supermarket in town, I still believe that seeing and touching things matters a lot, though I make the observation as an older man.

The CEO and Murdoch it seems to me have missed their chance with e-commerce. We know from past reports that Murdoch is attached to newsprint because he inherited so many Australian titles from his father, much as the Boy from Queens inherited a property empire from his father and grandfather and must have some emotional attachment to 'bricks and mortar' or in his case, 'concrete and glass' even if the concrete is provided by a firm -'a legitimate business'- owned by the New York Mafia. I don't know how cities will change, I think there will always be a place for bookshops as well as coffee shops, and designer outlets where Sears no longer stands, but the city-scape will be different. And so far away from the Norman Rockwell America of David Dennison that he seeks to revive.

[filghy2]

This is a fascinating post, because it raises a profound question: what are cities for? We may have to re-configure the urban environment if e-commerce does lead to the decline of shops, though I think that a balance may be found because I do think people love the physical act of 'going into town' to browse and maybe buy stuff, and although fruit and veg even a carton of milk can be bought online from the supermarket in town, I still believe that seeing and touching things matters a lot, though I make the observation as an older man.

Actually, the cities that have embraced the knowledge economy seem to be thriving. The declining cities are the ones still stuck in the old 'rust belt' economy - see this recent Paul Krugman column. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/o...er=rss&emc=rss

The idea that technology will mean that it no longer matters where people live seems to be wrong, or at least greatly overstated. There still seem to be big advantages in knowledge industries and the people who work in them clustering together in cities.

I suspect there may a bit of a dichotomy happening, where the supply of 'mass market' physical goods becomes more concentrated in those larger businesses who can do this most efficiently, but there remains a large field for niche products and services that can be supplied by smaller business. As people's incomes rise they tend to spend a larger proportion on the latter.

[Stavros]

Meanwhile in advance of the book James Comey is about to publish, I found two reviews of books one of which -Russian Roulette seems to have gone unnoticed, being an account so far of Russian involvement in US election politics, with an essay by Samantha Power in the second book edited by her husband Cass Sunstein also an interesting new book, the two reviews are here:

Russian Roulette
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-biden-treason

Can it happen here? Authoritarianism in America
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...merica-fascism