Yesterday CEO’s from Amazon, Apple, FaceBook and Google were testifying before Congress about anti-trust regulations. The question at hand is whether these four companies regulate more of the U.S. economy than our public officials do. Anti-trust laws are about monopolies. A monopoly is defined as “A market structure characterized by a single seller, selling a unique product in the market. In a monopoly market, the seller faces no competition, as he is the sole seller of goods with no close substitute. … He enjoys the power of setting the price for his goods.” NOT a good thing!
Last year I fully experienced the monopoly Amazon has become and it took WEEKS to straighten out. Apparently I was the victim of credit card “information” theft, not even MY card! Happens ALL THE TIME…..especially every time I get gas in NJ because someone pumps the gas for you there and they TAKE your credit card from you. MOST of the time Chase or whoever alerts me about a questionable purchase, they end up cancelling that card and send another. Well someone apparently was very clever and devious and took the information from someone else’s card and ADDED that card to MY PROFILE on Amazon and began making purchases. IN MY NAME! But then having the items shipped to some other address!!!
So here’s where it gets interesting. A bunch of stuff apparently gets ordered by “whoever” and then ultimately Amazon gets stuck somehow for the tab when the other card denies payment. One day I go to sign on Amazon and my account it FROZEN…..I can’t even log on to see why! All I got was an email telling me if my account was LOCKED OUT until I paid the $467 for the Go-Pro Camera I ordered! I never ordered a Go-Pro! It gets better……there was NO ONE to talk to about it…..simply PAY THE MONEY. No email reply, no phone number to call AND I couldn’t even sign on to see my “orders” to see what had happened AND I didn’t even own the credit card number they were claiming was invalid!!
So what happened? I couldn’t order anything I normally would have for work supplies or even see my account. When I did call the general “contact” number for Amazon all I got was “I’m sorry sir, we can’t discuss this with you until you make the payment”. I can’t make this stuff up……FINALLY I found Amazon’s corporate number in Seattle (figures that’s where they are!) and after 2 WEEKS spoke with a sympathetic executive staff person who looked at the situation, agreed with me I was the victim of fraud and straightened it all out. Bless him wherever he is.
Moral of the story is that we are being controlled by nearly EVERY major corporation, industry and political party BECAUSE WE’VE LET THEM!! It’s just the beginning. Every time you HAVE to have the new iPhone, post your 2cents , send your selfies to the world, or look something up you become more dependent on a handful of MONSTROUS corporations that wil CONTROL your life given the chance. It’s already happened!
P.S.A. : Yesterday I got one of those “voicemails” asking me to “call Amazon about my order for an X-Box and laptop for $2675. Please call to confirm or change the order” I KNEW it was a scam because I know Amazon NEVER will call you. (Neither will the IRS, CIA, FBI, or your credit card companies!) Tried to call the number back to screw around with them but no answer……..Maybe I’ll try again today…..most fun you can have during a pandemic!!