persons, groups, ethics, bezos & monopoly

dear class, as always I try to flesh out stuff we don't have the time, or space to properly address in class.

1. are groups persons?

my point to Paola a few classes back is that ethics is not about groups (of persons). definitions first. what's a person? if p is a person, p has 4 properties: reason, free will, autonomy, sentience.

only then we ascribe responsibility. Groups do not, cannot fulfill these properties in the same manner.

example: suppose we had 200 persons breaking into a Wall-mart and 55% of them steal items from the store. We'd have to ascribe different degrees of responsibility one by one. Speaking of the "group's responsibility" may be guilty of false analogy: what is true of the whole is true of the parts ("if A is made up of persons, A is a person") or fallacy of division: what is true for the whole is true of the parts ("if my foot hurts my toe hurts").

now, are corporations persons? as the modern definition of LLC implies:

The primary reason business owners opt to take the LLC route is to limit the principals' personal liability. Many view an LLC as a blend of a partnership, which is a simple business formation of two or more owners under an agreement, and a corporation, which has certain liability protections.

As an individual, I own all my parts, but within a corporation, the parts own the whole. Big  difference.

2. amazon and monopoly

is amazon a monopoly? definitions first: exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action.

First, charging Amazon of being a monopoly doesn't fit with the prevailing definition of monopoly that's currently used by courts and the Federal Trade Commission since the 1970s. this is a crucial point:

The long term ability to raise price or exclude competitors. That is how that term is used here: a "monopolist" is a firm with significant and durable market power.

if so, a company can grow as much as it wants and control as much of the market as it wants as long as prices are competitive and consumers don't suffer.

Second, keep in mind that Amazon isn't even the largest retailer in the U.S. Walmart IS with profits of half a trillion dollars last year, 3.5 times larger than Amazon's annual sales. 

Critics of Amazon point to Whole Foods' 450 locations leverage (to push out competition in the grocery delivery business). Yet, despite its size, Amazon currently makes up only 3.6% of annual retail revenue in the U.S. which is nothing. Amazon doesn't sell cars or operate restaurants.   

here, a compelling piece by economist charles sizemore. 

economists have tweaked the complex relationship of Amazon with other business as a classic example of "coopetition," a combination of competition and cooperation. "

you're competing with Amazon, but you're partnering with Amazon, you're using their services yourself, so you're a customer of them as an organization. hope this works.

How Amazon employees felt about Amazon? in class, we debated this point. The company gets 3.8 our of 5 in worker satisfaction: a pretty good grade!

so?