WSJ: If your porch has a lot of Amazon packages, maybe take down the American flag
If someone has an American flag flying on their porch and Amazon boxes often at their doorstep, maybe they should take the flag down and put up a Chinese flag. Amazon appears to be profiting by cutting out much our domestic retail community and instead helping Chinese businesses. And don’t expect Amazon to pay much in local taxes either.
This past weekend’s WSJ shares how third-party sellers, many of them from China, have flooded Amazon with spurious listings, leaving consumers confused and potentially ripped off.
How is this possible? One reason is Amazon in 2010 embraced sellers (aka factories) in China as sellers on its platform. Nearly 50% of the top sellers on the Marketplace are located in China. In other words, there’s a 50-50 chance you’re buying something that doesn’t support the U.S. economy like it could.
In this way, Amazon has directly linked Chinese factories with U.S. consumers and bypassed: U.S. factories, U.S. brands (that often own the intellectual property), U.S. retailers (that collect taxes for our community), and myriad other folk in the supply chain (aka our neighbors).
And what about taxes? Amazon and its founder have a poor tax record. In 2011, Bezos reported a loss to the IRS. At the time, his wealth stood at: $18b. Thanks, World’s Richest Man.