> I'd like to say this is just politics but I'm not even sure it's good politics. How many people are really concerned about the size of Amazon, Facebook, Google, etc
Oh, lots and lots.
> If people are that concerned, why do so many people I know have Prime?
The reason so many of the people you know have Prime is because of Amazon's dominant market position.
Yes. But if they are THAT concerned they would be dropping Prime and shopping elsewhere.
The "lots and lots" - if they exist (you added no link) - are likely to be the Coastal Elites. The same minds who were so out of touch we got DJT. Regardless, to think that Middle America is going to go from "build a wall" to "break up Facebook" is, at best, a stretch. As politics goes, this is a non-issue.
p.a. After the crash of 2008 we were told by many a political "leader" (including the POTUS at the time) how there was too much power concentrated on Wall Street. Liz W was one of those "leaders". Yet there were no breakups, etc. While I wouldn't put SV in the same class as WS, it's hard to imagine anything changing.
> Yes. But if they are THAT concerned they would be dropping Prime and shopping elsewhere.
You know and I know that that's not true. People stick with things because of inertia, convenience, network effects, … To use a tech analogy, many people back in the day hated Microsoft's stranglehold on the desktop and server operating system market but very few initially changed to MacOS or Linux. To this day Microsoft still has a stranglehold on the consumer desktop market, the difference being that smartphones and tablets and chromebooks (browser appliances) have given people alternatives.
No, for me (a European) lots and lots refers to the many people outside of the US that would like to see non-US companies taking a bigger slice of the tech pie. Of course Americans are going to have less of a problem with US companies dominating the web.
I hold no firm political allegiance other than it is clear the establishment is happy with the status quo, anybody who promises to tackle concentrations of power in either big media, big tech, big finance, big you name it, gets my approval. If we spent some time talking about concrete issues and policies I bet we'd agree on a lot of things!
Oh, lots and lots.
> If people are that concerned, why do so many people I know have Prime?
The reason so many of the people you know have Prime is because of Amazon's dominant market position.
Yes. But if they are THAT concerned they would be dropping Prime and shopping elsewhere.
The "lots and lots" - if they exist (you added no link) - are likely to be the Coastal Elites. The same minds who were so out of touch we got DJT. Regardless, to think that Middle America is going to go from "build a wall" to "break up Facebook" is, at best, a stretch. As politics goes, this is a non-issue.
p.a. After the crash of 2008 we were told by many a political "leader" (including the POTUS at the time) how there was too much power concentrated on Wall Street. Liz W was one of those "leaders". Yet there were no breakups, etc. While I wouldn't put SV in the same class as WS, it's hard to imagine anything changing.