Big Technology unveiled some shocking numbers this week. Over the past three months, Amazon has sold more than $ 1.2 billion a day. The company took less than four seconds to earn the average American $ 52,000 a year. Apple is worth $ 200 billion in cash, more than expected this year.
Coronavirus has pushed the global economy to the forefront, but it has proven to be a milestone for technology giants in the United States.
Back-to-back Corporate revenues Google, Apple and Microsoft all reported record-breaking sales and profits every quarter. Facebook has doubled its profits and reported rapid growth in five years. In the last three months alone, five of America’s largest technology companies have made more than $ 68 billion.
It didn’t start that way. Last April, Amazon founder Jeff Bessos warned of “a difficult time” around the United States and said shareholders should “sit down.” In the next three months, the company plans to spend $ 4 billion or more on anti-virus costs – it will spend the entire profit for the quarter.
Shareholders should not worry. On Thursday, the company reported $ 7.8 billion profit after selling $ 100 billion in the third quarter.
Money was invested when Covidy-19 won the transition to online work, marketing and automation. There are signs of trouble ahead for technology leaders, but critics worry that if the trend continues, we will spend our entire lives in the “Blade Runner future” led by a few rich, very powerful corporations. With treasures unseen in human history.
According to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) Equality Monitoring Project, this week the richest of the seven billionaires, all of whom are big tech titans, passed $ 1tn for the first time.
“We are looking at the future of Blade Runner, where a few companies control all economic activity,” said Chuck Collins, a leading expert on IPS. “This is not only bad for the economy, it is bad for consumers, for communities, for competition. There is a real disadvantage here: He said.
When a company like Amazon dominates Internet retail, Google search, or Facebook on social media, competition becomes more intense, he said. Their huge pile of money means they can buy – a popular Facebook method – or record newcomers, investors are embarrassed to make money to their competitors, and entrepreneurs plan to sell to their biggest competitors instead of capturing them.
And with that money comes political power and a way to fight any official or government that challenges them. “Basically, we are creating a political and organizational oligarchy that goes against healthy democracy and competition,” Collins said.
Academic experts have long warned that the structure of the digital economy could create a “win-win situation” situation. And there are clear indications that governments around the world are waking up to that threat. Europe, in particular, has argued for its ability to avoid technological bigotry and tax evasion. The United States has delayed and recently threatened to impose new tariffs on the United Kingdom and other technology companies.
But Biden’s administration has also made key appointments that signal the end of a technological breakthrough.
In June, Lina Khan, a scholar and a leading technology critic, was appointed chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FCC), a government body that oversees anti-religious law and consumer protection. During the verification hearing, Khan said she saw “potential risks” around technology companies. “The ability to control one market on the board in some cases gives companies the ability to expand into neighboring markets,” he said.
Biden’s administration recently added Columbia University professor Tim Wu to the National Economic Council. He warned that since the “thugs’ took control of large swathes of the American industry, a number of tech giants would be able to disrupt the competition and bring the United States back to an invisible economy.
In his 2018 book, The Bigness of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age, Wu states: “Extreme economic hardship results in extreme inequality and material suffering.
Other threats are being created. Teamsters, one of the largest and most powerful political corporations in the United States, has been trying to unify its Amazon staff after previous attempts to organize its staff. The FCC and government attorneys generally have active investigations into major technology companies in the United States.
On top of that, Washington is no longer suitable for tech – at least in public – as before.
Even some of the biggest winners of technology seem to be worried. Ten years ago Hon “The software is consuming the world,” wrote co-founder Netspeck, a former web browser and company that supported companies including Facebook, Twitter and Skype.
“Over the next 10 years, the battles between the militants in power and the software will be spectacular. Joseph Schmidt, an economist, coined the term “innovation.”
Now Andresson doesn’t seem very sure. “The dreams came true. It all worked out. And now we are the dogs holding the bus. What are we going to do with this damn bus? ”This month he told Substack writer Noah Smith.
“Instead of being pirates, we went to the Navy. When people are young and small and cruel, they may love pirates, but no one likes a navy that acts like a pirate. And today’s technology industry could suffer as much as a navy.