Wolff Responds: The Curse of Billionaires

[@anthonytwohill9726]

They know it's a garbage reason too. As evidence, look no further to teachers trying to get a small pay rise only to be told that "well, we don't want teachers to be into teaching for the money, we want teachers that love teaching." Then why don't we want CEOs to just love running companies?

[@bonchidude]

100000000000000000%

[@anthonytwohill9726]

@@bonchidude thanks. It's a pretty obvious grift.

[@montumeroe9593]

LOL

[@cosmicmusicreynolds3266]

A worker s wage will do

[@markhedquist9597]

Because none of it makes any logical sense. None of it is about fairness, merit, honest compensation, etc... It is about pig people rigging the rules and twisting the system. Oh, by the way...from bezos' mouth, "you paid for this.". Barf.

[@totonow6955]

I love and admire Dr. Wolff's work.

[@zoomzoom3950]

It's pure comedy gold!

[@gdi1093]

I love and admire your phallic characteristics ;)

[@miguelfarrell1437]

@@gdi1093 Bezos can serve you well. Ask him for his favors.

[@asclepiushermestrismegistu7489]

It's a wake up for us thru reasoning. Thank you to Dr. Woolf, Chris Hedges , Dr. Paul and many more.

[@48Ballen]

Wolff is just another lying Communist. You simply cannot trust a word he writes or says.

[@christinepark1398]

One of the developers that are ruining Nashville was interviewed a month or so ago about the harm they do and he said "We don't look at what we've lost; we look ahead to what we will gain!" We lost a neighborhood and he gained a fortune.

[@ArchaeanDragon]

Typical privatize the gains, socialize the losses mentality. Of course he doesn't care about what losses he caused; the community will suffer them for him, thanks to the government, who is supposed to be looking out for the community.

[@zoomzoom3950]

@@ArchaeanDragon and guess who allows it? corrupt government officials who make the rules of the game, and who pick the winners and losers

[@earlviney5212]

Zoom zoom. No the capitalist oligarchs who own the politicians have them write the laws the way they want them. Follow the money that's where the truth lies.

[@zoomzoom3950]

@@earlviney5212 wrong. it's the corrupt politicians who are obeying the oligarchs then. Politicians are responsible for making the laws, the game, and rules of the game. They're elected to uphold the Constitution and the will of the people, since they fail to do both, they're responsible and should be held accountable. We didn't elect the oligarchs, nothing wrong with them doing what's best for them. Only the government can change what's happening, they don't and won't, because they're complicit and reaping the benefit of their corruption and malfeasance.

[@earlviney5212]

Then I assume that you would be in favor of overturning citizens united so that billionaires cant buy politicians? But we cant side with that socialist bernie sanders right?

[@bobdillaber1195]

I think the super rich are super disgusting. They have absolutely no idea what life is like for REAL people.

[@catherinegoodsett-wein3313]

Thank you Dr. Wolff, for calming my nerves by cutting through all the crap.

[@nancylarson7182]

I buy as little as possible from Amazon. This entire level of greed has left me wondering when I'll be just collateral damage.

[@nancylarson7182]

@James Cooper ok ...I'll look at it. Meanwhile, I'll respect everyone I meet and help where I can....unlike the savages around me.

[@bonchidude]

Do not buy anything from them. I have spent one dime on amazon since 2005.

[@SofaKingShit]

I don't need to worry about the ethical considerations of buying from Amazon simply because I'm always broke.

[@philipwood6384]

I buy from Amazon because I can get what I want because one of their vendors will have it in stock and I can get it really fast.

[@nancylarson7182]

@@philipwood6384 Well.....you sound like the shallow majority....it's all about me. Who cares about the big picture!!

[@alaurag3143]

Excellent metaphor Prof. Wolff.

[@stuckinthemud4352]

This is a horrible metaphor. Dont let this guy rott your brain. This stupid metaphor could be used for anyone who has made a profit on anything not just billionaires. Its like saying the author of a book is an asshole because he didn't pay the guy who invented paper or the guy who invented pencils or glue or the printing press its a pathetic argument.

[@stuckinthemud4352]

@James Cooper can u please explain how our current system doesn't operate on fair exchange. I believe Marxism requires way more force than capitalism ever could.

[@juniorgod321]

Yes, but it's just too bad that Richard Wolff "kinda forgot" to say that all the resources he uses to write his books ( Computers, electricity, Internet, etc) were invented or discovered by others. With that in mind why isn't he sharing the profits of the sales of his books with everybody else?

[@juniorgod321]

@@stuckinthemud4352 Yes, but he also lied about that because Bezos had to pay for every resource that he uses to run Amazon! Last time I checked, things were being gives away for free (and let alone to one of the richest guys on earth)!

[@juniorgod321]

@James Cooper But handouts have nothing to do with capitalism, and I’m totally against them! And who do you think that is mostly on favor of the government putting their filthy finger on the economy, instead of letting the free market alone? Liberals or conservatives?

[@nittamimi8842]

Blessings Sir..to you and yours..keep telling the TRUTH

[@TTTzzzz]

Billionaires don't care what happens to others. If they did they wouldn't be billionaires.

[@VinsLeMans]

Thank you for advocating for democracy and justice in these hopeless times

[@AZOffRoadster]

Imagine playing a game of Monopoly where the winner of the game got to keep all their money and property for the next game, and you have no choice but to play.

[@matthewchase2930]

I very much appreciate this metaphor. I'm going to show this to a few family members, hopefully it will help change their conservative view points

[@robertprice9052]

It had to be the dumbest not related metaphor ever. It has nothing to do with the situation at hand. There was no one in the chain of people who helped launch that aircraft the was not hire into a job they asked for and agreed on a salary. I think an idiot knows that they bought their computers and didn’t rest them from the hands of the poor. Wolff is a Marxist and will say anything to convince people that Marxism is a viable economic system. Well, there is that little inconvenient fact that Marxism is responsible for millions of deaths across the globe. What an idiot; stop listening to him...

[@ellenearl5070]

@@robertprice9052 Are you referring to the economic or political effects of Marxism fron history? I think we could easily point to numerous examples of capitalist economies that kill more in the same time period. And so peeps don't ignore this fact, what Bezos and whomever did...it's been done DECADES ago. Again he is using the break throughs of others before him to claim his prize. He is not a trailblazer. He is just wasting money.

[@user-qv4rj3fo9b]

@@robertprice9052 Wow, what happened to you?!? I hope you get better.

[@Smoothsoulsinger]

@@robertprice9052 you sound like a typical petrified white American. Your statement is absurdly false. The fact is, capitalism is responsible for the more death and suffering than system in human history

[@tombirmingham7033]

Are there any other American Intellectuals as enlightened and honest as Richard Wolff. Times are dangerous and I need to know that there is another to hold the torch. God bless you Mr. Wolff, take care, we need guidance from men like you in these times.

[@artwillvideos]

Reminds me of one of my favorite MLK quotes that I have memorized: “Whenever the preferential treatment of the negro is brought up, some of our friends recoil in horror. That the negro should be granted equality, they agree, but he should ask nothing more. On the surface this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For if a man is entered into a race…400 years after another man…he would have to perform some impossible feat in order to catch up to his fellow runner.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[@fod1202]

Problem with that os that there are fewer, but still counts of white people with not a dime in their hand, who will, rightfully or not, resent you for having preferential treatment. Universal policies are the only ones that work because you do not win with only a minority in a democracy.

[@cosmicmusicreynolds3266]

Richard Wolf has determination and guts in his commitments to take on the established order. I learnt alot from him and are grateful

[@markhedquist9597]

Thank you for this. An excellent way of describing this subject. This could, and should, be used to educate and inform those who either don't know, don't care, wilfully ignore, defend, support, or ARE billionaires. In my opinion, this, and countless other talks of yours are deserved of awards. Thank you for your work, and the sharing of it!

[@JorgePetraglia2009]

Just to think what these billionaires could do with their money in this pandemic, makes my blood boil; instead they waste all that economical power to travel to space. As always an amazing piece of information from professor Wolf. Keep the good work amigo, you are our compass in these terrible times. Greetings from Toronto.

[@tomlynn9132]

Will we live to see a world where the cultures learn to value equality, cooperation and a shared quality of life rather than the history to present which makes the accumulation of wealth by a few worthy of adulation. Again, good topic Rick!

[@coolioso808]

Will we live in that better world? Depends, are we going to wake up and reinvent the economy to eliminate money and markets, the very thing that poisons and corrupts so many people and companies, and actually intelligently use science, technology and the careful management of resources to create a high standard of living for all humans on this planet? That is the question.

[@michael511128]

Put them in a space ship, give them a month of life support, send them up into space flying out in a straight line. Send along their attorneys and accountants too.

[@sivedan]

You're doing god's work Richard....

[@jayjames7055]

Billionaires are ultra hoarders, none of us should permit such objectives within the system. Money is not an obstacle to happiness but neither does it make happiness inevitable. Society should shift focus onto general (common) wealth and well being.

[@franciscofrancesco7844]

Like always, eye opening information. Prof Wolff is right in a just society shouldn't coexist super rich and super poor. While Mr. Brazos went out of this world to enjoy a vacation in space, people in the US are concerned about being evicted.

[@franciscofrancesco7844]

Thank you, Prof Wolff.

[@anonymoususer4376]

is it Bezos responsibility to pay someone's rent? NO!

[@jetstream3528]

Pay working people decent wages to have a home and transportation and a family...and they will be good citizens and consumers....they also will get off subsidies which they probably paid for instead of billionaires. Unlike billionaires who never seem to get off of subsidies....which they never pay into.

[@bloodybonescomic]

If you are a history enthusiast you cannot help but discover the fact that inevitably the worst calamities to have smitten humanity were directly caused by extreme wealth.

[@philiphew796]

Cannot dispute the fact that billionaires cannot become one all by themselves without people. They are billionaires because the country is built by every citizens who made the country great. If the citizens do not get a fair share there will be a reckoning. Maybe there must be some form of UBI where billionaires pay via a VAT back to the people.

[@reverenceforall]

Three people would rather give all their money to Bezos!

[@oswarz]

13

[@miguelfarrell1437]

14

[@typeviic1]

Today's billionaires are yesterdays kings, feudal lords, and rulers by divine right.

[@CJ_102]

Great analogy. I like the family one too : You have a family of 10 kids. One is very very talented - smart and athletic. One is disabled and the rest are average. Would you be happy to give all your money and love ONLY to your ONE most talented child? Would you leave your disabled child on the side of the road to die? Would you teach your whole family and especially your most talented child to not care about the wellbeing of their brothers and sisters? Would you not clothe, educate, feed and nurture your WHOLE family? Yet mainstream western society still teaches that some weird Darwinian outlook should be applied to sentient human beings. Ironically, modern researchers are now finding that many animal species display empathy and caring. So our modern western society is factually less humanitarian than the animal kingdom.

[@lorrainewest7408]

Capitalism GREED leaves the too many for dead. Unless you see it for yourself there is no clue of its being so. Competitors willingly destroy opponents by various meanery just to stay above in control. Thus it is said the world is ruled by psychopaths.

[@jvcyt298]

If everyone had as much contempt for these robber barons as they have for us, they would have never gotten so obscenely wealthy. The trouble is that either people admire, even worship them, and wish they could emulate them, and then there are the complacent, who really don't care about anything or anyone else but themselves, besos got his billions from those people, and they don't have a problem with that.

[@georgekostaras]

Yuri Gagarin went higher than either of those clowns

[@simplycrypto1021]

Eat the Rich.

[@marygard4608]

The idea that all that money wasted on a sub-space joyride was "their" money is the problem.

[@Drforbin941]

Oh..wonderful analogy Doctor Wolff! Thank you.

[@C3yl0]

Unethical Billionaires, Politicians, and Lobbyists.

[@wendyzolotovskaya8202]

I guess the 15 people who put 👎 on the video were billionaires! Great video, as always!

[@stuartbell3968]

Beautiful analogy. Love it. Thanks Professor Wolf.

[@sybo10]

I propose that 100 million be the absolute most money that any one individual can have.

[@tomlynn9132]

We need to strip these malefactors of their wealth worldwide and fix our system to avoid concentrations of wealth ever again.

[@stylinstu]

The insight that I got from hearing Mr. Wolf speak in this video is the understanding of how Mr.Bezos benefitted so much from the talent, skills, an effort of the people in his workforce. It seem unsustainable if Bezos doesn't give back to the community so the community is not in distress with rising homelessness, mental and physical health resources strained, and a professional level of police, fire, government services . Also what is needed is workers being paid enough so they can nurture their children's and instill good character. (A decent family life. ) Warehouse workers working for the they mean in the world wearing productivity monitor bracelets for $15 an hour is where our labor market has sunk to.

[@Revnge7Fold]

thank you for sharing your wisdom!

[@petestanton1945]

It's ez, I keep saying, just install a democracy then nationalize Amazon

[@TheRetroPerspective]

Love it, best video yet!

[@lesliecollins3284]

Totally agree

[@paladinsorcerer67]

I don't have a problem with businesses making profits. I do have a problem with businesses lobbying congress like they are people, with obscene wealth buying off politicians, and with ignorance and extreme conservative idealogies dominating popular opinion. The first thing requires a change of the supreme court, the second thing requires higher taxes for the super rich, and the third thing requires more and better civics education.

[@DerekSpeareDSD]

The Relay Race comparison should be made over and over again until everyone knows it. #generalstrike #generalstrikeNOW

[@oswarz]

If it isn't made in MSM, only we will know it.

[@Voidsworn]

Sounds like you are arguing for Kropotkin's "all is made by all", which I agree with.

[@kazlouyahor_5946]

big thanks

[@미향주-j4s]

Root of English is here walking out here in Richard Wolff professor teaching. Thank you.

[@treefrog3349]

Bezos is a weasel's weasel.

[@tamarabartolo9185]

I one hundred percent agree!!!!!!

[@joset.guamese2213]

we should challenge these filthy billionaires to use their $ to help the people who put them where their at 🤔🤔

[@cynthiacole6140]

They got theirs, they dont care about the masses.

[@roddychristodoulou9111]

This is disaster capitalism alive and kicking and only in America .

[@maxfastest]

The end of humanity Will be the best thing that ever happened to Humanity. Those of us that understands compassion , empathy and cooperation, are the few , and we cannot overcome the most horrible among us because we are not that violent . YET !

[@hugoCastellnaos]

Wikipedia is the best example of people doing something for no money incentive

[@3jacen]

Is that why my teachers told me not to use it as a source?

[@hugoCastellnaos]

@@3jacenwell Wikipedia is a good source of info to find but most teacher want primary source, and wikipdia is a 2nd or 3rd sometimes, but Wikipedai for the most part dose have the source for the most part sometimes it dose not but the mods will flag it with citation needed. they may even flag it to be remove, the thing is the people that work and mod it do so at no pay to them self and has to debate and will only allow it on the site, it is the best example Anarchy.

[@3jacen]

@@hugoCastellnaos "sometimes it dose not" thanks for agreeing with me.

[@BBBarua]

Employers want their poor workers to spend and spend and come back to them to beg for more work. So why bother spending from the beginning? We don't need to fall for all those USELESS PROMOTIONS and MARKETING TACTICS.

[@larryboysen5911]

These billionaires are greed and power hoarders, no better than trash hoarders!

[@eziodeldegan414]

great analogy prof Wolff

[@NotAPacifist825]

brilliant

[@felicetanka]

On top of society without healthcare.

[@jjetta264]

These two BILLIONAIRES could help the 7 to 10 million people who are facing eviction. 7 to 10 million people are in jeopardy of being HOMELESS. All of that money could have helped our communities during a PANDEMIC. These BILLIONAIRES and their families have enough money for multiple lifetimes. They will never have to face going without housing, utilities, food, etc; essentially the necessities to live. In addition, Amazon doesn't pay taxes because of unjust tax laws.

[@Monkeybongoes]

To reach billionerror status through earned income (income derived from one's labor), it would take 40 yrs of 50 hrs/week making $116,000/hr!

[@matthewo2261]

Income/wealth cap. Direct democracy. People want solutions... these are your solutions.

[@kn9ioutom]

The Super Rich Have a New Status Symbol ? MY ROCKET IS BIGGER THAN YOUR ROCKET !!!

[@vidfreak56]

Not to mention that the fastest relay runners were probably on performance enhancing drugs.

[@tunnis7us]

Excellent analogy!

[@YourCapyFrenBigly_3DPipes1999]

I've been saying it for years now, there should be hard maximum limits on everything. Max net worth limits, max yearly income limits, max size to a corporatization or business, etc. Along with strong minimum standards would go a long way to fixing the crimes of greed-alism. Not entirely, but it's a good place to start.

[@marym.]

As long as the citizenry admires and supports these people, nothing is going to change.

[@shamisfarah9320]

He is a wise man

[@mikebucur8461]

Great video. Thank you. I really enjoy your content.

[@jayjames7055]

Rockets consume two million times the rate at which fuel is burned by the average family car.

[@AZOffRoadster]

Their fuel usage is insignificant.

[@beppeadr]

America put in the hands of few people their future, but that few hands just belong to good captains of their invention and the democracy give them the guide of your live instead.

[@SueEmmDee]

I think the billionaires are out of touch buffoons.

[@nicollaney]

Just out of curiosity has a socialist or Marxisteconomist ever won the Nobel prize for economics?

[@mdsolomon27]

Sorry I don't know the exact answer, but I'm sure they haven't. A interesting start would be to research the prizes namesake. Alfred Noble inventor of TNT(dynamite)

[@cosmicmusicreynolds3266]

if not they should do

[@ww4464]

Can we bring back the phrase "Robber Barons"?

[@kurtbogle2973]

Never mind shaming people. OUTLAWING money ending the power of the stinking rich.

[@williamjenkins7562]

The notion that everyone gets a slice of the pie equally is not a reality and here's the reason why, as far back as the first civilization known to mankind there has always been a structure in which kings 🤴 and queens 👸 have ruled over the vast majority of their subjects. This is a sinister way to keep total control over the majority of the population in the land. America 🇺🇸 is the only country where it is possible to achieve great success without having to pay some higher monarchy, king or queen 90 percent of your earnings just to stay in business. So the way I see it... kudos for Jeffrey and for Richard!

[@lepidoptera9337]

Kings and queens, huh? Did you lose all of your money in Vegas, again?

[@irabraus9478]

One of the unhappy byproducts of late capitalism (embodied by Jeff Bezos) is the birth of the verb "to incentivize." * As a retired music professor, I will NOT miss students who ask, "What incentivized Beethoven to write his 'Moonlight' Sonata?" * ranks among the 100 ugliest words in modern English!

[@johnnyjet3.1412]

And those that invented truck transport and paved roads

[@caulfieldmj]

What is the best way to inoculate Democracy against the Rich and their Agents 🤔

[@thomasjamison2050]

John Stuart Mill was an advocate of worker's ownership of the means of production. I think this might be an interesting idea for you to work with given the great interest in the US in a man many consider to be one of the fountainheads of liberterianism.

[@fleckx]

"Here's a million dollars, welcome to the middle class!"

[@athiran5856]

Hello, I have a question, I heard you saying that capitalisim is unstable. Five years or more the capitalist economy goes into inflation or recession. My question is why do you attribute that to capitalism, in other words, why do you think that capitalisim causes unstable economy? and how would socialism be a solution for that problem? Thanks

[@AZOffRoadster]

@WTFViewer Or read his books.

[@iamllux]

Maybe we should start calling them what they are; Social Predators.

[@thomasdives6705]

"You didn't build that." -Barack Obama

[@DearProfessorRF]

At the end of Squid Game’s first season the old man says poor people and people who have too much money have miserable lives. The latter, once they can afford anything and everything, get so bored that they look for exciting ways to spice up their lives, in legal or illegal ways, in moral or immoral ways. I added this last part, but once you watch the show you’ll see why and how.

[@dingusdingus2152]

Dogmas we once defended, no longer seemed worthwhile; ever since the world ended, I face the future with a smile. --- mose allison

[@markschuette3770]

here's another analogy Richard- all wealth is from the planets natural resources including the climate- which i consider owned by the people and the other species that we rely upon. and nature is not a renewable resource. BUT with our currently designed capitalism those with the power can funnel all that wealth to themselves! its also like irrigation (water policy in most places) from our river/streams, why should those that got the water first and farmed the land at the headwaters get to continue doing that when those downstream get nothing?

[@fafeem6333]

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" ... and we know what happened next.

[@gano101]

Bezos had the trillion dollar idea of selling stuff on the internet… genius?

[@zoomzoom3950]

at the time it was, few did it, even fewer did it successfully and expanded successfully. if it was so easy, why didn't others do it too, contemporary with Bezos creating Amazon?

[@need-to-know-]

@@zoomzoom3950 How much of this goes to the people who developed the internet? But, hey you think it’s perfectly fine for someone to sit on their @$$ and let others develop the means for them to put something on and enrich themselves for. You think people SHOULD let people stand on their shoulders to reach the fruit and eat it themselves. No future for your thinking on this planet, I assure you.

[@zia_kat]

@@zoomzoom3950 uh huh. everyone in the world has the same opportunities like bezos did: parents who will send them to princeton and give them $300,000.00 to fund their ideas. and if they don't that's fine because we all know poor people don't have good ideas or a work ethic.

[@zoomzoom3950]

@@need-to-know- did those who develop the internet patent their inventions? did they enforce their IP? did they monetize their IP? Again, people made their own choices; so people create open source software and give it away; others create software to monetize and sell; it's their choice to do what they want with their IP

[@shdhfbf412]

@@zoomzoom3950 Damn bro if you trust this system so much, why don't you just go pull yourself up by your bootstraps, become rich and stop arguing with strangers online lmao.

[@jeffreywillstewart]

It's the meaning of the book "Jurassic Park", If you didn't develop the systems and technology, you feel no responsibility to what you do with it. Too bad the book wasn't as popular as the movie! You can get the book on Amazon!

[@btbingo]

I am amazed that anyone sends money to a billionaire who needs funds to pay the lawyers protecting him from being bankrupted or imprisoned. Especially one who asserted he was so rich he never needs any money.

[@whiskeykilmer1866]

Like the doorbell cam, Bezos's gigantic robotic left-eye sees all. Be very careful.

[@brady1810]

I bet you’re a real kick-ass professor.

[@lepidoptera9337]

He is 79... and should be long retired.

[@jessicamai7783]

His grandfather is Preston Gise- he thinks he owns all of DARPA

[@troywalkertheprogressivean8433]

i'd like to know what bezos did directly. did he write some code? invent something? what did he do, other than be allowed to build a monopoly? which others have done/tried to do but were rightly prevented by law.

[@darthjarjarbinkstherealsit6832]

Feed the algorithm

[@3jacen]

4:30 "how that could speed up the movement of electricity through metal wires" Does anyone know what he is talking about?

[@ironsnowflake1076]

He's talking about the discoveries of the conductivity of certain materials (metals like copper etc) and how that propelled innovation.....but don't get lost in that analogy, the theme is basically "no man is an island" and they all stand on the shoulders of those who've gone before, and therefore the billionaire class is pretty gross & selfish.

[@3jacen]

@@ironsnowflake1076 That discover doesn't "speed up the movement of electricity through metal wires", but ok. There are major problems with his analogy as well. First off, all the tech billionaires were standing on the shoulders of giants, meaning that it isn't a relay as the metaphoric 9 other runners are ALL used by the competing billionaires. This means that they started at the same place and it is far more fair then for them to take the credit. Further his analogy breaks down when you consider he would have the audience members who didn't run get the rewards.

[@ironsnowflake1076]

@@3jacen I see by your other comments that you & I have a very basic disagreement in our beliefs. I don't think food, housing & shelter should become unaffordable...I don't think any one man deserves a Scrooge McDuck fortune, but hey, maybe you'll make it thru the Purge that squeezing the working poor will surely one day cause (I'm sure the billionaires will have their luxury bunkers)✌️

[@3jacen]

@@ironsnowflake1076 "I don't think food, housing & shelter should become unaffordable" I hope that is true, but I am unwilling to be violent to make that happen, while you appear to be looking forward to the massive violence of a purge.

[@charletonzimmerman4205]

@@ironsnowflake1076 No Mr. Wolf, was tring too get the point, of a signal, faster transmitted, from the, 1st telegraph relay, to the Vacuum Tube, "Electrol Emission", to Transistor, to IC, chip. "Analog to digital".

[@Gigika313]

Who had a bigger rocket

[@MrDXRamirez]

No question the amount of capital spent on sending two billionaires for few moments up into the edges of space is wealth squandered on personal and individual wants. Branson said he got into air travel because of space and he and Bezos have the money to do it. But it really says that few amass the wealth of the many and ultimately this leads to a situation where the expropriated of the wealth have no choice but to enact an expropriation of the expropriators, simply because with the expropriators is where all the wealth is?

[@brandoncothran6229]

Why can't we build a competitive alternative to Amazon? One that pays union wages and the like?