Wal-mart guy buys RAPHA...

[54ny77]

Speaking of retail....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...about-industry

[dddd]

Originally Posted by livingminimal

...Bezos learned how to master selling to affluent urban/suburban rich whites...

How do you manage to make this about race?

Is your statement that rich = "white"?

How do you define "white", exactly? Did you do some sort or survey? Why?

Do you look at people and say "hmmm, white or black?"

And such categorization is useful in solving what problem?

I get that the talking heads use such terms on TV, but I don't take much from them.

So it was "white" people who somehow were the only one's to catch onto using Amazon while Bezos was getting rich. Yeah, sure.

[livingminimal]

Originally Posted by dddd

How do you manage to make this about race?

Is your statement that rich = "white"?

How do you define "white", exactly? Did you do some sort or survey? Why?

Do you look at people and say "hmmm, white or black?"

And such categorization is useful in solving what problem?

I get that the talking heads use such terms on TV, but I don't take much from them.

So it was white people who somehow were the only one's to catch onto using Amazon while Bezos was getting rich. Yeah, sure.

It's really not nearly as complicated as you're making it out to be.
Bezos purposely marketed to a particular demographic. Ones with liquid income for ancillary goods and services. He didn't enter the marketplace targeting the working class, POCs, or anyone else of any color. He targeted the affluent and marketed in a particular way.

Tell me how many working class folks, of which quite a large percentage are persons of color, can afford an Amazon Prime membership?

My point is Bezos strategy ran through the rich white affluent suburbs. Is there an argument otherwise?

And yes, I do see things quite often through the prism of race and class because the capitalist system was designed to exploit the most vulnerable and enrich the best protected.

Alternatively, in my original point I said Walmart's goal was to destroy small businesses and monopolize the market on where the poor could shop.

[54ny77]

Wow, is that what they're teaching in school these days?

It's funny but my grandfather, who came over here with nothing from a land far away, didn't quite have that attitude.

Buying a color t.v. was a pretty big deal back in his day (the 50's). And he was proud of it. Work hard, save money, buy it. Only in America.

Little to no native language was spoken in the home. It was embrace America, speak English, enjoy the opportunities it affords. Oh and encounter brutal racism along the way. But overcome.

He was a reasonably smart guy, but I don't even think he could have uttered the phrase you just described (as in, he probably couldn't even speak those words in English let alone grasp the concepts).

Many years later he did end up cooking for a President or two and some royalty, so he got to meet the heads of capitalism who exploited him for his duck l'orange. By then he might have understood what you said. Maybe.

Eventually he ended up in FL, driving a Cadillac and living the American dream: full-house air conditioning.

Originally Posted by livingminimal

And yes, I do see things quite often through the prism of race and class because the capitalist system was designed to exploit the most vulnerable and enrich the best protected.

[BobO]

Originally Posted by livingminimal

and yes, i do see things quite often through the prism of race and class because the [strike]capitalist[/strike] corporatist system was designed to exploit the most vulnerable and enrich the best protected.

Ftfy as there is a rather profound difference.

[dddd]

I just don't get the designation of an "of color" designation at all. Think about it, it makes no real sense, yet we hear these words from the media all the time.

In the absence of laws designating who is "black", "white", "of color", etc., all of which is 100% bs fabrication, these words are only used by those either wishing to make sweeping generalizations to support their arguments/agenda, or those perhaps trying to divide the electorate into supporting legislation that they can use to exploit a more-divided electorate/population.

That Bezos focused on a more affluent statistical "demographic" of some sort certainly comes as no surprise though!

I am often irked by politicians directing legislation for example at stupidly-defined (actually less-then-defined) categories correlating to nationality/race, instead of directing it at, say, "poverty", homelessness, or current criminal status, which guarantees that real problems will never get solved even while money is spent and rules are ...bent.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by dddd

I just don't get the designation of an "of color" designation at all. Think about it, it makes no real sense, yet we hear these words from the media all the time.

In the absence of laws designating who is "black", "white", "of color", etc., all of which is 100% bs fabrication, these words are only used by those either wishing to make sweeping generalizations to support their arguments/agenda, or those perhaps trying to divide the electorate into supporting legislation that they can use to exploit a more-divided electorate/population.

That Bezos focused on a more affluent statistical "demographic" of some sort certainly comes as no surprise though!

I am often irked by politicians directing legislation for example at stupidly-defined (actually less-then-defined) categories correlating to nationality/race, instead of directing it at, say, "poverty", homelessness, or current criminal status, which guarantees that real problems will never get solved even while money is spent and rules are ...bent.

Uber racially profiled customers: https://www.theatlantic.com/business...-rides/506000/

AirBnB is so notorious for not renting to minorities it spawned other apps that would maybe fulfill that need: http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-N...y-alternatives

And yes, Amazon set up algorithms to allocate where Prime service would be available that excluded minority neighborhoods: http://www.computerworld.com/article...lgorithms.html

The country has a long and storied history of companies catering to or ignoring demographic groups based on race. It's literally what the Civil Rights Movement was about.

[Bruce K]

OK

I think we're done here.

Too much thread drift in all the wrong directions.

A couple of folks seem to continually want to push threads into political/ socioeconomic discussion.

This is not the place for that.

Please re-read William's post about being part of the solution.

BK