On Saturday morning, Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos had something on his mind that he needed to share with the world. He was extremely excited to send several very wealthy people into space for 10 minutes. Bezos reported that everyone was "happy." Though he was not flying into space himself, Bezos dressed in a blue spacesuit anyway.
Profit above all: there simply has to be something more to American life than money and consumption. Prosperity as envisioned by Founding Fathers approximated “enough” more than “excess”. Materialism without a moral base demeans all of us.
Thank you Judd and team. This exposure demands a legal redress of working conditions...everywhere. Thinking of the meat-packing facilities where covid first became rampant. If workers benefitted greatly by taking these risks--if they were part owners and had choice to leave or stay when facing warnings--maybe.... Has nothing changed since Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE?
The culture at Amazon Web Services is also brutal. Employees are expected a relentless increase in productivity on a 6-month cadence until the bar is so high that they burn out or are fired. Amazon doesn’t care because there is an endless stream of young software developers who want AWS on their resume. America never relinquished slavery, it just found better ways to implement it and to bribe lawmakers to support it.
Great article today. If what is reported is accurate about no tornado drills that seems very stupid and shortsighted. I lived for a time in Tornado Alley (near where this superstorm started - Monette, AR) and it was a matter of course that you learned where to run when the tornado came. Routes to tornado shelters are posted in most buildings. Did they have this? Did they have the shelters? Drills not performed (as you said)? If you build factories in tornado country you just have to expect to get hit at some point, especially now as storms are getting stronger and more frequent. Working through tornado warnings and not going to shelters?? - well, I admit there are sometimes a lot of false alarm sirens, but ignoring them is just like ignoring a fire alarm. You're going to get burnt eventually. If they made them work through those sirens, then just damn Amazon management all to Hell and I hope those responsible are criminally prosecuted.
So so troubling to think of being trapped under 11” of concrete; being essentially nameless at one’s workplace (but a beloved Mom or Dad or Uncle at home); living in a tornado alley and watching one’s Uberboss play astronaut with his wealthy pals hundreds of miles away, oblivious to one’s very existence let alone work on his behalf. Can we call this work what it is - wage slavery?
And yet, just last night I spent another $28 (on a book and a DVD) online with Amazon, thinking more of putting money in the makers’ (poet’s and opera composer’s) pockets than Jeff’s. Or even of the fulfillment center workers’. Alienation is the illness of modern times - when we see the suffering on TV, or read about it online, but can’t reach out and touch it, FEEL it, beyond the edges of our tiny lives.
Well, anyway, thanks Judd & Co for more provocative journalism - congrats on the Bloomberg shout out - and RIP to the four whose names, ages and lives you beautifully memorialized. May their deaths (let alone shortened lives) not be in vain.
These crazy stresses on Amazon workers are put there so we can get our orders instantly. It has become an expectation and needs to stop. The internet gained speed and in response we have become impatient and demanding.
Years ago, pizza places raised the competition by guaranteeing 10 minute deliveries etc. They would dock the pay of low-paid drivers if the goal was not achieved. Unsurprisingly, pizza delivery workers started getting into crashes. The law stepped in to put an end to these unrealistic time demands.
We all need to think of workers as the people they are, with loved ones. People over profit!
The truth is we can all do something to show what we think and to help the workers at Amazon and ultimately, ourselves. We can get over the convenience of having cheap stuff sent to us overnight and we can shop elsewhere. Not easy, I'm not immune, but if we all did it...
Profit above all: there simply has to be something more to American life than money and consumption. Prosperity as envisioned by Founding Fathers approximated “enough” more than “excess”. Materialism without a moral base demeans all of us.
Thank you Judd and team. This exposure demands a legal redress of working conditions...everywhere. Thinking of the meat-packing facilities where covid first became rampant. If workers benefitted greatly by taking these risks--if they were part owners and had choice to leave or stay when facing warnings--maybe.... Has nothing changed since Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE?
The culture at Amazon Web Services is also brutal. Employees are expected a relentless increase in productivity on a 6-month cadence until the bar is so high that they burn out or are fired. Amazon doesn’t care because there is an endless stream of young software developers who want AWS on their resume. America never relinquished slavery, it just found better ways to implement it and to bribe lawmakers to support it.
Great article today. If what is reported is accurate about no tornado drills that seems very stupid and shortsighted. I lived for a time in Tornado Alley (near where this superstorm started - Monette, AR) and it was a matter of course that you learned where to run when the tornado came. Routes to tornado shelters are posted in most buildings. Did they have this? Did they have the shelters? Drills not performed (as you said)? If you build factories in tornado country you just have to expect to get hit at some point, especially now as storms are getting stronger and more frequent. Working through tornado warnings and not going to shelters?? - well, I admit there are sometimes a lot of false alarm sirens, but ignoring them is just like ignoring a fire alarm. You're going to get burnt eventually. If they made them work through those sirens, then just damn Amazon management all to Hell and I hope those responsible are criminally prosecuted.
Congratulations on the Bloomberg Businessweek's Jealousy List inclusion. That's wonderful news.
So so troubling to think of being trapped under 11” of concrete; being essentially nameless at one’s workplace (but a beloved Mom or Dad or Uncle at home); living in a tornado alley and watching one’s Uberboss play astronaut with his wealthy pals hundreds of miles away, oblivious to one’s very existence let alone work on his behalf. Can we call this work what it is - wage slavery?
And yet, just last night I spent another $28 (on a book and a DVD) online with Amazon, thinking more of putting money in the makers’ (poet’s and opera composer’s) pockets than Jeff’s. Or even of the fulfillment center workers’. Alienation is the illness of modern times - when we see the suffering on TV, or read about it online, but can’t reach out and touch it, FEEL it, beyond the edges of our tiny lives.
Well, anyway, thanks Judd & Co for more provocative journalism - congrats on the Bloomberg shout out - and RIP to the four whose names, ages and lives you beautifully memorialized. May their deaths (let alone shortened lives) not be in vain.
These crazy stresses on Amazon workers are put there so we can get our orders instantly. It has become an expectation and needs to stop. The internet gained speed and in response we have become impatient and demanding.
Years ago, pizza places raised the competition by guaranteeing 10 minute deliveries etc. They would dock the pay of low-paid drivers if the goal was not achieved. Unsurprisingly, pizza delivery workers started getting into crashes. The law stepped in to put an end to these unrealistic time demands.
We all need to think of workers as the people they are, with loved ones. People over profit!
The truth is we can all do something to show what we think and to help the workers at Amazon and ultimately, ourselves. We can get over the convenience of having cheap stuff sent to us overnight and we can shop elsewhere. Not easy, I'm not immune, but if we all did it...
Can you confirm? Jeff Bezos stated earlier this year that Amazon will go bankrupt. He should know....