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ontheotherhand's avatar

Had a friend who sold his book through Amazon. He told me that they "lost" some of his books, but then saw that they were available new through another Amazon seller. Pretty stinky way to do business.

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Our_Man_In_Redneckistan's avatar

That reminds me — they’re killing the publishing industry WHILE ALSO flooding the market with poorly-written, barely-edited slop.

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Tza's avatar

Bookshop.com is a good alternative.

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fifthdentist's avatar

I've started finding what I want on Amazon and then purchasing the product from Ebay if it's available.Ebay's price is usually less than Amazon, but I have to pay for delivery, but even then the total amount is generally less with Ebay. Haven't decided whether or not I'll re-up on my Amazon Prime next year. But it is a good deal -- free movies and delivery. I live in Booniesville, so it would be hard to live without Amazon, and it gives me the option of not going out to stores during a deadly virus.

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AK's avatar

The pandemic really didn't take off here until mid-March though...

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Ellie still exists in 2023's avatar

I would be happy to go back to the Eisenhower years - for taxes. Oddly enough, all those "conservatives" who want the "good old days" of the 50s back, don't want anything to do with the tax rate from back then.

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Mr Canoehead/M Tête-Canoë's avatar

Okay, when a billionaire dies there is still an estate tax (so far), so billions of dollars go into the government coffers, where at least some of it will go to public health, nutrition, and other programs that save lives. Not terribly efficiently, but it does happen. Ethical question: Given that the death of a billionaire results in a net increase of lives saved, is it moral not to shoot one?

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Hesavebread!'s avatar

This. It is like the quote doing the rounds just now saying that 8 billionaires own half the worlds wealth. Which cannot possibly be true but people parrot it. What the report says is that the eight richest billionaires own as much as the poorest half of the world. You can cherry pick figures to prove anything, and what they generally prove is that journalists don't understand figures.

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Swampay's avatar

I did some rough bullshit calculations based on some rough bullshit assumptions. If Bezos lives to be 100, here's what he'd have to spend to get rid of all of his money in his lifetime: 10,690,909,091 per year 29,290,162 Per day 1,220,423 Per hour 20,340 Per minute 339 Per second

Every single year/day/hour/minute/second.

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Crip Dyke, ABOLISH THE POLICE's avatar

That's why Jean Valjean invented sous vide.

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Crip Dyke, ABOLISH THE POLICE's avatar

Indiana has a lot of hot spots, but you wouldn't know it from all the positivity

It's a negative positivity.

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CripesAmighty's avatar

It's not based on the performance of the indices writ large, but their known holdings--which have rocketed past the indices reflecting the 'real economy', which reflects in sum, iwholesale destruction of 'main street' and the consolidation of market power into these giants.

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RefillingThorsBeer's avatar

or, he could cheat on another wife.....

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RefillingThorsBeer's avatar

and hydroxyboner pills. Lets not forget those.

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RefillingThorsBeer's avatar

all I hear is the whimpering of whipped dogs...

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