Octopus Team

Wall street millennial are the creators of this video. After doing some research on them I discovered that this is a podcast and YouTube account created for the purpose of educating on finances through social media platforms. Through this particular video the author uses evidence from Khan's past referencing a paper she wrote while attending Yale law school. This is using logos citing and showing direct evidence on the claim that the author makes. The author then goes on to make a claim agree with Khan that amazon is directly hurting consumers by abusing their economic power as a monopoly. Its profit margins are explained to be small using another technique of logos with a bar chart being visually displayed in which the author then goes on to further his opinion that amazon negatively is affecting consumers.

In the video I watched: How Amazon makes you pay more for everything by Most perfect union, I found it intriguing when they talk about dynamic pricing and it reveals how Amazon uses algorithms to adjust prices based on the different factors, like demand and user behavior. This means that two customers could see different prices for the same item, which raises questions about fairness and transparency in pricing. It’s a fascinating look at how technology can influence what we pay and how we shop, highlighting the complexity behind seemingly simple transactions. In the video they use types of persuasion such as Visuals and Graphics help to illustrate complex ideas, such as price changes and market dynamics, Emotional Appeal, where the video emphasizes how consumers might unknowingly spend more, tapping into feelings of frustration and concern about fairness, which resonates with many viewers, and lastly expert insights where they are including expert opinions or data adds credibility to their arguments, making the case more compelling.

The video "How Amazon makes you pay for everything" was released by More Perfect Union, a non-profit new media organization who aims to support and strengthen the working people. Through her storytelling, the use of visual elements such as graphics, and the contribution of experts, concrete examples and statistics, the author is trying to shed light about Amazon's monopolistic methods and how it weakens both consumers and smaller sellers. By raising awareness about this issue, it aims to put pressure on the lawsuit against Amazon in order to enforce antitrust laws. It was striking to realize how the video meets our daily use of Amazon, as we are often not looking further than the first results given the infinite and chaotic amounts of results. Amazon actually builds on that process to strengthen its monopoly, coerce smaller sellers to meet their conditions and eventually making everyone pay more. Amazon business practices combined with the lack of regulations allow them to wield an "authoritarian power" on the market, and that's why More Perfect Union is calling for action.

In the video "Google, Facebook, Amazon and the Future of Antitrust Laws" highlighted key components of antitrust laws. Antitrust laws were put into place to help smaller business and firms to be able to get in the market and stay in the market. One of the examples used in the video to demonstrate hoe the U.S. used these laws was about Rockefeller's Oil company, his company became the first antitrust case as he had merged many small, state oil companies into his own company. At one point Rockefeller's Oil company own 91% of the oil production in the United States. After the case went through the Supreme Court they were able to break up the Stander Oil Company. These antitrust laws were able to either break up or regulate these big companies within the different industries. But as time went on with different wars and leaders, these laws became less and less important to the US government or were just pushed to the side. there have also been many acts added to antitrust laws throughout the year, some being more strict and others leaning back a little. most recently stated in the video "antitrust enforcement... has been essentially dormant for the last 40 years" which has lead to the FTC challenged less of the proposed mergers and how there are only five to six major companies within the major industries. I truly find it interesting how in different eras of time and leaders changed the way antitrust laws were followed. Also how strict the government use to be following these law and looking now they aren't really followed.

"There is a difference between having a law on the books and having a law actually be enforced". In my opinion, the Government must enforce these laws to stop large tech companies from gaining more power then they already have. This is important not only for the economy, but also for people safety and protection of their information.

The video "How Amazon Makes You Pay More for Everything" explains the manipulation amazon uses to persuade its customers to buy more products, ones particularly that are more expensive. The women in the video talks about how amazon inflates its prices knocking real businesses off the market and destabilizes them. The video talks thoroughly about the way amazon adjusts prices based on factors like demand and competitor prices. The more people buy products the higher the prices become for consumers. I thought it was really interesting how it explained prime memberships being a persuasion method to get customers to buy more based on the convenience of saving on shipping. It removes the barrier or second guessing of buying a product because shipping is too much. Additionally, the algorithm of amazon promotes products that are more expensive and bundles products that are " recommended with other products" to get people to buy more and spend more. It is so interesting how the amazon can post specific things that persuade consumers thinking and influence them to buy products for higher prices.

The video "How Amazon Makes You Pay For Everything" explains how the online company Amazon's business model has a 'strangle hold' on our economy. A large portion of this video explains how there is a lawsuit claiming that Amazon is acting as a monopolist, meaning they are using aspects of their website such as the 'buy now' option to eliminate competition in this field of business. One aspect of this video I found extremely interesting is one of the ways Amazon is achieving this 'monopoly'. For example, Amazon requires local, or small business sellers to pay 1 out of every 2 dollars to Amazon, consequently 'taxing' them an extreme 50% in order to sell their product. This portrays Amazon as having complete control to charge sellers how ever much they see fit, which can have severe consequences in regards to the economy for every party involved. Due to the fact that Amazon is the only website of its kind, it is hard to have nothing else to compare it with in terms of thinking of the next steps to address these rising issues.

The video “How Amazon Makes You Pay More for Everything” illustrates the control Amazon has over its consumers and the tactics it uses to persuade them into spending more money. The video incorporates visuals and persuasive tones when emphasizing Amazon's strategies in raising prices to maintain its monopoly power. One thing I found very interesting in the video was the concept of third-party sellers and how Amazon persuades them to increase their prices. Specifically, Meagan Day highlighted the significance of the “buy now” box that sellers and buyers can view on the website. If a third-party seller is eligible for the “buy now" box they have a greater chance of getting the buyer's attention whilst avoiding all the chaos on Amazon's purchasing pages. However, if Amazon’s bots detect that the item listed by a third-party seller is being sold at a lower price, Amazon removes the product's availability. This in turn, persuades third-party sellers to raise their prices to match Amazon’s, since 80-90% of sellers depend on Amazon for their sales. This emphasizes the monopoly Amazon creates; it not only makes sellers raise their prices but also persuades buyers into thinking Amazon is offering the lowest price available, when in reality, Amazon is “artificially inflating prices on and off Amazon”. Meagan Day describes Amazon as a “privately run authoritarian government” in the way it manages its sellers, buyers, and competitors, emphasizing the push for the antitrust lawsuit against the company. 

In this video there are many different speakers from different walks of life, but all coming together to persuade the viewer on one point: that Meta and Google are operating illegal monopolies. The case in point being that these companies are taking over journalism and news, causing newsrooms to lose billions of dollars in revenue each year and cutting jobs. As newsroom revenue is fueled by advertisements, advertisers used to pay to get their ad in print in newspapers. Now, advertisers pay Google or Meta to get their ads to pop up. Google and Meta also take news published by journalists or newsrooms and post it on their accounts without paying the certain party for it. I found it interesting that Australia has found a way around this, with newsrooms coming together to bargain back ad revenue. It has been successful for them, with an abundance of revenue returning and more newsroom employees.

It was also interesting to hear a story from a small town local news business, which has been affected by the growth of the internet and how it is driving out local news as well. I noticed that this video was about "Tech Giants" and how they are using their influence to gain more control. Over all I found the video to be very informative and some what surprising.

The video "How Amazon Makes You Pay more for Everything" focuses on Amazon's monopolistic ways. This video highlights how Amazon only serves Amazon and isn't looking for the best interest of the buyers and sellers. Throughout the video, the lawsuit filed against Amazon by the FTC is mentioned. One interesting part I found when she was discussing this court case is that Amazon "artificially inflates prices on and off amazon", by forcing their sellers to sell their products for more on Amazon, but not allowing them to sell it for less anywhere else. As an Prime Member myself, I was most surprised to find out how Amazon forces it sellers pay for "FBA" service fees, to then earn a "Prime Badge" to then be able to sell their products as "Prime" products, which are typically the first results that people see when they search. Seller in a sense have to oblige to these expensive requirements to have their products be well promoted. Lastly I was shocked to discover that the seller fees are what pays for their fast and efficient shipping operation. Over all this video plays into many peoples emotions as Amazon shoppers themselves. This video highlights and presents the harsh reality of Amazon's corrupt monopoly of the online market place and the consequences it has on buyers and especially sellers.

In the video "How Amazon Makes You Pay More For Everything," the channel "More Perfect Union" the video starts with the "main character", or narrators personal story involving Amazon. This anecdote sets the stage for some of the points of the video while instantly grabbing engagement. Another way the video smartly displays its opinion is the smart editing throughout, such as when it talks about "Amazon not facing the discipline of having competitors". While talking about this, it has videos of the founder Jeff Bezos engaging in different bizarre of extremely expensive actions. This contrast helps push the point across further without directly stating it. The main focus of this video were the technical practices that Amazon uses to force a monopoly, like the "Box Selling" and extreme insistence on Prime to impose a 50% tax on sellers. This paints an easy and concise to understand way how these practices lead to inflated prices and harm smaller businesses. Finally, The final statement of the video “if you can't join 'em and can't beat 'em, you gotta break 'em up,” pushes the authors view on the matter, which they hope the viewer agrees with due to the evidence and arguments made.

When watching the video one thing I found interesting was the FTC case that focuses on how Amazon favors its search results "Selling on Amazon is like going to the casino" I understand and found it interesting that they made a methapor to a casino. This is true because it's where everyone goes to make money. It's the same thing when you sell shoes on eBay, you keep going back because of how easy it is. It's very easy to get addicted to Amazon, even when scrolling and finding something you didn't know you needed. Which in the video explains how the house always wins in this case Amazon always wins. I have fallen into this trap of Amazon because I go in and find something but find it cheaper in-store or its there's more tax due to you only getting one item, oh and let me add the shipping cost to it.