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A comment on Amazon soars to more than 341K employees, adding 110K people in a single year. Parent comment

Re:Amazon soars to more than 341K employees, adding 110K peo... by ue_ on Friday February 03, 2017 @04:47PM (#13563613)
The fact is that automation replaced jobs (good thing!) yet rather than the 'savings' being returned to the labourer, so that she no longer needs to work, it is passed to Amazon. That person who was replaced would no longer need to work, at least not that job, in an ideal world. Rather than the automation improving the lives of the workers, it causes suffering by means of making people either unemployed (unemployment itself is not bad, it is only bad within Capitalism because the worker is unable to sustain herself without the State) or to move them to yet another job.

In some respects I believe the re-purposing of humans for other jobs may be worse.

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Re:Amazon soars to more than 341K employees, adding 110K peo... by hueving on Friday February 03, 2017 @05:34PM (#13563947)
>it is passed to Amazon.

Incorrect. If that is true, it's only temporary. It is passed to the consumer via lower prices due to competition pressure.

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Re:Amazon soars to more than 341K employees, adding 110K peo... by mabbo on Saturday February 04, 2017 @02:55AM (#13566144)
Bezos's famous line: 'Your margin is my opportunity'. When Amazon cuts costs, they cut prices to gain market share.
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Re:Amazon soars to more than 341K employees, adding 110K peo... by ue_ on Friday February 03, 2017 @08:56PM (#13565170)
What about the labourer? He is still being exploited when if it weren't for the profit motive he would not be required to sell his labour. That difference in profit, once the cost of the machinery and its maintenance is substracted, could be passed to the displaced worker.

Why should it go to the 'consumer'?

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Re:Amazon soars to more than 341K employees, adding 110K peo... by jamornh on Saturday February 04, 2017 @01:29AM (#13565926)
Is the 'labourer' not a 'consumer'? If all prices fall due to competitive pressure, all consumers and thus all 'labourers' benefit from cheaper goods. Sure, the 'labourer' may not receive extra compensation due to lower costs and higher margins, but they end up able to purchase more with their dollar when prices fall.

We're all in the same market, I don't see why you would have to make a distinction between 'labourers' and 'consumer'.

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