[i]Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Alex Tabarrok
A French court has ruled in favor ( Amazon’s free shipping costing ?1,000 per day in France | Ars Technica ) of the French Bookseller’s Union that Amazon’s free shipping policy violates a law forbidding booksellers from offering discounts of more than 5 percent off the list price. Amazon was told to start charging for shipping within ten days or pay a daily fine. It must also pay 100,000 Euros to the French Booksellers’ Union.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, however, is refusing to charge for shipping and is taking the case to the French public. Way to go Jeff! My advice? Tell the state, laissez nous faire![/i]
[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, however, is refusing to charge for shipping and is taking the case to the French public. Way to go Jeff! My advice? Tell the state, laissez nous faire![/i][/quote]
Laissez-nous detruire toutes les petites libraries…is what you mean, right?
[quote]entheogens wrote:
BostonBarrister wrote:
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, however, is refusing to charge for shipping and is taking the case to the French public. Way to go Jeff! My advice? Tell the state, laissez nous faire![/i]
Laissez-nous detruire toutes les petites libraries…is what you mean, right?
[/quote]
Qui, comme tous les autres entreprises qui ne peuvent pas exister sans l´aide du gouvernement.
[quote]Rykker wrote:
But, technically, isn’t the shipping charge (whatever it may be) a separate issue? The list price of a book pertains to the book, itself, right?[/quote]
That shall be settled in court. The French Bookseller’s Union and its code is anterior to the Internet and other delivery services.
French unions can really be a pain in the ass, but in this case, I side with them.
[quote]lixy wrote:
Rykker wrote:
But, technically, isn’t the shipping charge (whatever it may be) a separate issue? The list price of a book pertains to the book, itself, right?
That shall be settled in court. The French Bookseller’s Union and its code is anterior to the Internet and other delivery services.
French unions can really be a pain in the ass, but in this case, I side with them.[/quote]
Defending the French book sellers God given right to make a living at the expense of others?
[quote]orion wrote:
Defending the French book sellers God given right to make a living at the expense of others? [/quote]
God given right? Not really. They spilled a lot of blood to equalize their society.
But yes, I will side with the local librairie over an international corporation anytime.
That said, and with those ridiculous free-trade “agreements”, Amazon can very easily sue the French government. I don’t picture Paris coughing up damage money though.
[quote]lixy wrote:
orion wrote:
Defending the French book sellers God given right to make a living at the expense of others?
God given right? Not really. They spilled a lot of blood to equalize their society.
But yes, I will side with the local librairie over an international corporation anytime.
That said, and with those ridiculous free-trade “agreements”, Amazon can very easily sue the French government. I don’t picture Paris coughing up damage money though.[/quote]
A) The French book sellers spilled blood for the right to steal?
When did that happen and how does that make it better?
B) Well that makes you no different from the people who were against abolishing the guilds, mechanization and computerization.
Without them you would not be studying rather esoteric matters but working the field with a stick.
Then you are mainly siding against French people that like to read. Fuck Gutenberg for making books available to everyone.
C) If the EU commission decides against them, which they will, like in Germany and Austria, they French will cough up the money.
Lixy, in Germany, we have similar silly laws. Books are “protected” by the mighty state so their prices are kinda fixed like in the former GDR.
Of course, it’s only in our best interest so everbody here will surely appreciate the precious (and costly) books.
In the end, this leads to strange behaviour as book stores regularly stamp a “defect” sign (the law doesn’t apply to flawed goods) on otherwise perfect books as to to attract customers with a cheap outlay.
C) If the EU commission decides against them, which they will, like in Germany and Austria, they French will cough up the money.
[/quote]
That’s what I thought. And why is Lixy ready to stick it to big, bad, and evil Amazon. Like you said, this will just make the French have to pay more, right? Am I missing something?
C) If the EU commission decides against them, which they will, like in Germany and Austria, they French will cough up the money.
That’s what I thought. And why is Lixy ready to stick it to big, bad, and evil Amazon. Like you said, this will just make the French have to pay more, right? Am I missing something?[/quote]
If it’s a ruling by the WTO, I’m not holding my breath over the French paying up. The EU would be something different…
And why is Lixy ready to stick it to big, bad, and evil Amazon. Like you said, this will just make the French have to pay more, right? Am I missing something?[/quote]
No, you aren’t missing anything - Lixy thinks any group of people organized as a “corporation” is inherently wrong, evil, and presumed guilty of bad behavior - regardless of what the “corporation” actually says or does, and practical consequences be damned.
[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
No, you aren’t missing anything - Lixy thinks any group of people organized as a “corporation” is inherently wrong, evil, and presumed guilty of bad behavior - regardless of what the “corporation” actually says or does, and practical consequences be damned. [/quote]
A business corporation is inherently evil. It exists for the sole purpose of making money, often at the expense of human life or dignity, the environment, society, etc. As a juristic person, it enjoys the rights of a human being without the responsibilities, biological aging, etc.
So yes, when the little guy is up against a corporation, I will side with the underdog. If nothing else, to protect the working stiff from the sharks, investors and other speculators who have their money working for them.
A business corporation is inherently evil. It exists for the sole purpose of making money, often at the expense of human life or dignity, the environment, society, etc. As a juristic person, it enjoys the rights of a human being without the responsibilities, biological aging, etc.[/quote]
I can’t begin to even pretend a response to such rank stupidity, but I will offer this:
A corporation made your computer, Lixy. It is an instrument produced in furtherance of said evil. As such, you should stop the cycle of evil and stop using it.
[quote]lixy wrote:
thunderbolt23 wrote:
No, you aren’t missing anything - Lixy thinks any group of people organized as a “corporation” is inherently wrong, evil, and presumed guilty of bad behavior - regardless of what the “corporation” actually says or does, and practical consequences be damned.
A business corporation is inherently evil. It exists for the sole purpose of making money, often at the expense of human life or dignity, the environment, society, etc. As a juristic person, it enjoys the rights of a human being without the responsibilities, biological aging, etc.
So yes, when the little guy is up against a corporation, I will side with the underdog. If nothing else, to protect the working stiff from the sharks, investors and other speculators who have their money working for them.[/quote]
Good grief Lixy, grow the fuck up and drop the whole “rage against the machine” neo hippy bullshit. Your comments are putting on full display your lack of real world experience.
Somewhere along the line, someone has tossed a veil ignorance over your face and it is not serving you well.
[quote]lixy wrote:
thunderbolt23 wrote:
No, you aren’t missing anything - Lixy thinks any group of people organized as a “corporation” is inherently wrong, evil, and presumed guilty of bad behavior - regardless of what the “corporation” actually says or does, and practical consequences be damned.
A business corporation is inherently evil. It exists for the sole purpose of making money, often at the expense of human life or dignity, the environment, society, etc. As a juristic person, it enjoys the rights of a human being without the responsibilities, biological aging, etc.
So yes, when the little guy is up against a corporation, I will side with the underdog. If nothing else, to protect the working stiff from the sharks, investors and other speculators who have their money working for them.[/quote]
And here I thought that corporations, by making it possible to finance large operations, were responsible for cheap food, cheap, clothing, cheap transport etc…
It may be true that that cost a lot of women who made an extra buck stitching at candlelight their jobs, but the clever ones had their money in stitching companies anyway…
So yes, when the little guy is up against a corporation, I will side with the underdog. If nothing else, to protect the working stiff from the sharks, investors and other speculators who have their money working for them.[/quote]
But those smaller bookstores are also corporations.
What about the real little guy who wants to educate himself and his family at affordable costs? Why can these evil corporations exploit consumers when Amazon is willing to sell for less?