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Amazon: The real villain in the book industry

Much has been written the last days about America's DOJ having issued proceedings against Apple and some large publishers of books for alleged price-fixing.    But are they the villains?  In this piece "The Real Bad Guy in the E-Book Price Fixing Case" on Slate the writer asserts it is Amazon which is the monopolist.

"This week, the Obama administration’s Justice Department struck a great legal blow against our open market for books, and indeed against open markets in America. Even though online retailer Amazon has captured more than 50 percent of many key book markets—like the one for e-books—antitrust enforcers brought suit not against this vast and swelling monopolist but against the publishers who are the victims of Amazon’s power.

Their supposed crime? To do what is most normal in any real market: insist on the right to price your own product.

Now this vital marketplace is, for all intents, under the sway of a single boss. One that has a direct interest in stripping capital from publishers. One that has a direct interest in gouging all writers who must ride its rails. One that has a direct interest in suppressing any work of reporting that questions its power, or for that matter the political economic regime that enabled such concentration of power. One that is swiftly capturing direct control over much of the rest of the U.S. economy as well."

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