Amazon Shares Fall After Report Trump Wants to Curb its Power

DooKey

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Lately it seems like anytime someone popular has something to say about a company it's stock seems to react one way or the other in quick succession. The latest instance of this is Amazon losing stock value after President Trump was reported to have said he wants to "go after" them. I'm not saying I'm pro or con Amazon or President Trump, but society is becoming way too lemming like with social media and I can't believe the reactions of the stock market based on anonymous reports or celebrity pontification. Think for yourself and delete all social media. Thanks cageymaru.

“With Facebook and regulatory worries, the last thing nervous tech investors wanted to see was news that Trump is targeting Bezos and Amazon over the coming months as this remains a lingering cloud over the stock and heightens the risk profile in the eyes of the Street,” GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives said.
 
Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the country and pays exactly zero taxes. I'm not sure how long they expected that to continue.

They pay taxes though. Don't tell me they didn't pay 2017 either, as those are currently deferred. As in, they're paying them. Just not right now, as they're waiting for the business tax break.
 
How much damage Amazon has done to local stores, it's incomprehensible. I don't mind Amazon being on the hit list. Local jobs are much more important. Besides, Amazon has turned into a shithole of 3rd party sellers from China selling junk quality items.
 
Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the country and pays exactly zero taxes. I'm not sure how long they expected that to continue.
They pay taxes though. Don't tell me they didn't pay 2017 either, as those are currently deferred. As in, they're paying them. Just not right now, as they're waiting for the business tax break.

They also pay them in the states and locales where their operations and warehousing facilities are including payroll, unless local leaders gave them breaks (which is on them not Amazon).

To say, "they pay NO taxes", is to say, "you don't eat to survive".

Personally, I think states requiring taxes on internet sales is dubious as they don't require out-of-state retailers to collect taxes when I jump to the state next door to purchase vehicles, clothes, boats, etc. I found the larger items online or in trade magazines and sent emails/texts or made calls to inquire about and hold items. How is this any different than ordering from Amazon?

All purchased outside my home state and only paid taxes on those purchases to the state where the goods I was purchasing are located.

Most states are simply lazy when it comes to attracting and helping businesses prosper and internet commerce has simply become as easy money grab for them.
 
Lately it seems like anytime someone popular has something to say about a company it's stock seems to react one way or the other in quick succession.

Lately? Try instead: "Ever since stock was invented ..."
 
How much damage Amazon has done to local stores, it's incomprehensible. I don't mind Amazon being on the hit list. Local jobs are much more important. Besides, Amazon has turned into a shithole of 3rd party sellers from China selling junk quality items.

No, actually WE "damaged" local businesses by buying from Amazon. My mom always makes the same weak argument about Walmart. Bitching about how they're destroying mom and pop shops as she rolls thru her local Walmart with a buggy full.

Amazon offered up a service and we, you, me and most everybody you know started using it. It's economic evolution. The vast majority of Americans would rather click on Amazon, find what they want and have it shipped to their door cheaper than they can leave the house and search 3 or 4 stores for it.

Amazon did nothing wrong but offer us a service we obviously want and make money while doing it. To say they're somehow evil and belong on a government "hit list" is just ridiculous.
 
They also pay them in the states and locales where their operations and warehousing facilities are including payroll, unless local leaders gave them breaks (which is on them not Amazon).

To say, "they pay NO taxes", is to say, "you don't eat to survive".

Personally, I think states requiring taxes on internet sales is dubious as they don't require out-of-state retailers to collect taxes when I jump to the state next door to purchase vehicles, clothes, boats, etc. I found the larger items online or in trade magazines and sent emails/texts or made calls to inquire about and hold items. How is this any different than ordering from Amazon?

All purchased outside my home state and only paid taxes on those purchases to the state where the goods I was purchasing are located.

Most states are simply lazy when it comes to attracting and helping businesses prosper and internet commerce has simply become as easy money grab for them.

Technically most states require you to pay the sales tax when you bring the item into your state. They are just really bad about enforcing it.
 
It's time level the playing field and pay the internet sales tax, regardless of where infrastructure is located.

I agree that we are to blame by choosing Amazon over local retailers however it has always been advantageous to do so because they automatically are 5-10% cheaper purely for sales tax.

That's obviously unfair to local business and we have been getting away without paying taxes on goods for years.
 
No, actually WE "damaged" local businesses by buying from Amazon. My mom always makes the same weak argument about Walmart. Bitching about how they're destroying mom and pop shops as she rolls thru her local Walmart with a buggy full.

Amazon offered up a service and we, you, me and most everybody you know started using it. It's economic evolution. The vast majority of Americans would rather click on Amazon, find what they want and have it shipped to their door cheaper than they can leave the house and search 3 or 4 stores for it.

Amazon did nothing wrong but offer us a service we obviously want and make money while doing it. To say they're somehow evil and belong on a government "hit list" is just ridiculous.

the other side of it is living in area's where amazon, newegg and walmart are really your only option for buying things that aren't price jacked.. e.g. the only computer stores within 500 miles is bestbuy(who the fuck buys computer hardware from bestbuy??).. want tools? well too bad your only option is the 2 home depot's and one small lowe's store within 100 miles that only sell tools from garbage companies they have contracts with, so buying online is the only real option we have.. the only thing we have plenty of is auto zones, oreily's, and furniture stores that constantly say they're going out of business with 70% off sales even though all their prices are retail, lol.

It's time level the playing field and pay the internet sales tax, regardless of where infrastructure is located.

I agree that we are to blame by choosing Amazon over local retailers however it has always been advantageous to do so because they automatically are 5-10% cheaper purely for sales tax.

That's obviously unfair to local business and we have been getting away without paying taxes on goods for years.

sadly we get screwed here in washington on internet sales tax.. we're required to pay seattle's 9.6% sales tax instead of the states 6.5% base sales tax no matter where the purchaser lives. but i agree it should be mandatory to pay your states sales tax on all online purchases.
 
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Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the country and pays exactly zero taxes. I'm not sure how long they expected that to continue.
So you're saying they collect sales tax whenever I order from them and just pocket it without passing it on?(y)
 
Amazon is helping to kill retail, yes. But it's also shithole companies like Bain Capital buying up established brands, saddling them with debt, selling the assets off to pay the debt, and then liquidating what's left while the employees lose their jobs and pensions. This is what happened to Toys R Us. They could have been a legitimate retail option in both online and brick and mortar with the right ownership and management, but they got Bain capital instead. Who founded Bain? Mitt Romney.
 
I suspect it is just talk. Because my understanding is China is about to grant 5 year tax exemptions to their chip manufacturers in response to proposed tariffs from the United States.

/speculation
 
mega supermarkets destroying competition = WELL, that the exact thing they are aiming for.

fits right in with generally myopic American outlook.
 
Amazon is helping to kill retail, yes. But it's also shithole companies like Bain Capital buying up established brands, saddling them with debt, selling the assets off to pay the debt, and then liquidating what's left while the employees lose their jobs and pensions. This is what happened to Toys R Us. They could have been a legitimate retail option in both online and brick and mortar with the right ownership and management, but they got Bain capital instead. Who founded Bain? Mitt Romney.

predatory companies like this is dime-a-dozen. When it gets to predatory business practices, politics is the second last on the list of what they concerned with. Morality being the last naturally. Money, Money, Money and how to get away with it fills the top spots.
 
Be it Amazon, eBay, Walmart, etc. eCommerce has revolutionized retail sales. With more convenience, better pricing and selection brick and mortar retail is simply never going to ne the same. It's easy to paint Amazon as the evildoer here because of their size but the problems facing brick and mortar retail aren't because of Amazon, they are because eCommerce is a superior retail system.
 
sadly we get screwed here in washington on internet sales tax.. we're required to pay seattle's 9.6% sales tax instead of the states 6.5% base sales tax no matter where the purchaser lives. but i agree it should be mandatory to pay your states sales tax on all online purchases.

Sorry, but you are wrong here. The only place I have been forced to pay Seattle sales tax, is Steam. All other places that charge me sales tax, charge me the identical tax I would pay going to the store in Spokane which is 8.9%.
 
The stock market has always moved according to investor's perceptions and emotional responses more than cool, rational consideration of the known facts.
 
Be it Amazon, eBay, Walmart, etc. eCommerce has revolutionized retail sales. With more convenience, better pricing and selection brick and mortar retail is simply never going to ne the same. It's easy to paint Amazon as the evildoer here because of their size but the problems facing brick and mortar retail aren't because of Amazon, they are because eCommerce is a superior retail system.

+1

If it wasn't Amazon, it would be someone else.
Sears used to have a huge catalog business, they even sold kits to build houses.
I'm sure there where local businesses complaining about Sears back then.

However, like many businesses, Sears didn't adapt to the changing marketplace.
It would have been a natural fit to move their catalog business to the internet, but they failed.

We now see Amazon moving more into physical locations. Places where you can pick up what you ordered.
If they don't adapt, it will eventually be Amazon complaining about the competition.

Just wait until we have robots making deliveries, and the cost to deliver items falls significantly.
 
Great quote from the article: "Trump has criticized Amazon over taxes and jobs in the past, without offering evidence."

Read: Trump doesn't like what the WP says about him, so he's going after the owner, because The Whackos love capitalism, except when their cult leader says it bad or sad. The guy who uses (abuses?) the system to included every and all loopholes is sad others do the same? Please... Pot meet kettle, then add vendetta for bonus XP.
 
Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the country and pays exactly zero taxes. I'm not sure how long they expected that to continue.

Just about as long as they keep plowing their potential profits back into the company. I don't think Amazon is pulling the Double Dutch Irish Sandwich (or whatever it's called), they're just spending all their free cash on deductible investments in their business, and totally willing to have razor thin margins. OTOH, where I think they're going to get themselves into trouble is how they exercise editorial control to avoid selling certain Apple and Google TV devices, but are totally ok with selling counterfeit products, some of which are commingled with legitimate products.
 
Safe to say this is going to go exactly nowhere. This is the same guy who said he was going to drain the swamp. The only thing he has drained is peoples patience for him to do what he promised for those that voted for him. It's a big nothing and as soon as a week passes and new news is on the horizon about something else stupid trump said Amazon stock will recover just fine.
 
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