[S]tacy Mitchell, the co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, says Amazon.com is more than a retail giant. The company now produces original TV shows, handles food delivery in cities, and even acts as a defense contractor, managing data storage for U.S. intelligence agencies.
Mitchell is the co-author of a report called “Amazon’s Stranglehold: How the Company’s Tightening Grip on the Economy Is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities.”
She says that as Amazon takes over more of the infrastructure powering its operation, its effect on American commerce both nationally and locally is increasingly stark. But few antitrust regulations seem to be curbing the company’s expansion.
“We have to use our power as citizens to take away Amazon’s power and to make it operate within a set of democratic values,” she says, “as opposed to it deciding what the values are.”
At a VTDigger event in Manchester earlier this week, Mitchell talked to Anne Galloway about how Vermont can manage the Amazon effect.
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Event audio production by GNAT-TV. Music by Lee Rosevere.
