Amazon is by no means a perfect company, but for some reason, Democrats like Elizabeth Warren think that the best way to fix Amazon is to make it give the government more money:
Giant corporations like Amazon report huge profits to their shareholders – but they exploit loopholes and tax havens to pay close to nothing in taxes. That’s just not right – and it’s why I’ll be introducing a bill to make the most profitable companies pay a fair share. pic.twitter.com/vPrmGbjUKW
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 25, 2021
Amazon News, who tweets out news about Amazon, understandably has some thoughts on what Warren has to say:
1/3 You make the tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them. If you don’t like the laws you’ve created, by all means, change them. Here are the facts: Amazon has paid billions of dollars in corporate taxes over the past few years alone.
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 26, 2021
2/3 In 2020, we had another $1.7B in federal tax expense and that’s on top of the $18 billion we generated in sales taxes for states and localities in the U.S. Congress designed tax laws to encourage investment in the economy.
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 26, 2021
3/3 So what have we done about that? $350B in investments since 2010 & 400K new US jobs last year alone. And while you’re working on changing the tax code, can we please raise the federal minimum wage to $15?
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 26, 2021
To be fair, raising the federal minimum wage won’t fix anything either, Amazon.
But let’s just focus on Elizabeth Warren for now. Because she’s really on the warpath now:
I didn’t write the loopholes you exploit, @amazon – your armies of lawyers and lobbyists did. But you bet I’ll fight to make you pay your fair share. And fight your union-busting. And fight to break up Big Tech so you’re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets. https://t.co/3vCAI93MST
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 26, 2021
Them right there’s fightin’ words.
???
— Eliza Orlins (@elizaorlins) March 26, 2021
Oh, you think Elizabeth Warren’s on fiyah, do you, Eliza?
We’d actually argue that Warren’s façade of woman-of-the-people stunning bravery is what just went up in flames.
Did you catch that last part of her tweet? Take another look:
I didn’t write the loopholes you exploit, @amazon – your armies of lawyers and lobbyists did. But you bet I’ll fight to make you pay your fair share. And fight your union-busting. And fight to break up Big Tech so you’re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets. https://t.co/3vCAI93MST
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 26, 2021
“And fight to break up Big Tech so you’re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets.”
Great reason to break up a company. https://t.co/Gn9X0cFOCk
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) March 26, 2021
"Heckling" means pointing out that the doily can pass laws if she doesn't like the consequences of the current ones.
— Mo Mo (@MollyRatty) March 26, 2021
So it all boils down to keeping Big Tech from hurting Democrats’ feelings. Elizabeth Warren doesn’t want Big Tech to get away with anything less than every single dollar in taxes, and she sure as hell doesn’t want to let Big Tech allow anyone to heckle senators with snotty tweets.
So… @SenWarren is going to "fight to break up Big Tech so [Amazon is] not powerful enough to heckle senators" via Twitter?
Because preventing criticism of politicians is what America is all about! ?? https://t.co/0r5oeua3kn pic.twitter.com/moDyEGbWry
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) March 26, 2021
Excuse me— did @SenWarren just imply that free speech should be curtailed or silenced when that speech is critical of her? #notok https://t.co/8SWXZCxwdh
— Michael G (@MGrochol) March 26, 2021
"So you're not powerful enough to heckle senators" is a pretty Trumpy thing to say. https://t.co/Ocwe3xhTrg
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 26, 2021
Warren fancies herself too important to be criticized on Twitter https://t.co/lvfLToJZqq
— Mayer Fertig (@MayerFertig) March 26, 2021
There may well be reasons to break up Amazon, but a sitting US Senator saying they should be broken up for heckling a Senator is authoritarian, censorial nonsense. This is a very bad look. https://t.co/K7euqBo8ZD
— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) March 26, 2021
So there it is. Breaking up big tech is about silencing speech and consolidating power.
Imperious. https://t.co/oBbLYhVWww
— Doug McCullough (@dougmccullough) March 26, 2021
But Warren just says it: We're going to put the vice grips on your sensitive parts so that you can't criticize the way we govern. She's not the good guy. https://t.co/bas5t3LWiu
— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) March 26, 2021
Pretty explicit: Democrats use the threat of governmental power in order to make sure nobody engages of speech that criticizes them. https://t.co/bas5t3LWiu
— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) March 26, 2021
The more I think about it, the more appalled I get at this entitled, aristocratic attitude from a sitting senator. https://t.co/0r5oeua3kn pic.twitter.com/d01np5POlj
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) March 26, 2021
You should be appalled. Because it’s appalling. Predictable and on-brand, but appalling nonetheless.
Heckling Senators is the right of every American. https://t.co/ycZFc1dPX1
— Melissa Braunstein (@slowhoneybee) March 26, 2021
literally anyone on twitter can heckle you with a snotty tweet, dipshit https://t.co/SwGwxnMmLP
— cc (@cc_fla) March 26, 2021
Heckling senators with snotty tweets isn’t a power, it’s a right. https://t.co/OPSBg6u4ko
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) March 26, 2021
a great thing about america is that we are all powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets https://t.co/whmk9tkile
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) March 26, 2021
Everyone in the US is powerful enough to “heckle” senators. It’s a feature, not a bug. https://t.co/HjbMaDu05d
— Anne (@docboogie) March 26, 2021
Every American has the right to heckle senators with snotty tweets. That's what the First Amendment protects. https://t.co/kYInPaqsF6
— Jon Fasman (@jonfasman) March 26, 2021
Heckling Senators is an American tradition and you can rip it from our cold dead hands, Senator. https://t.co/bPa7HTiZAM
— Mo Mo (@MollyRatty) March 26, 2021
What @mollyratty said.
For the record, I firmly believe that all people, regardless of their power or legal form, should heckle Senators with snotty tweets pretty much 24-7
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) March 26, 2021
Come to think of it, I seem to recall that that exact text is actually in the 1st Amendment but I could be wrong there I dunno I'm not a constitutional lawyer.
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) March 26, 2021
Anyway, snark is the currency of the internet and Senators have like an infinite supply of outstanding debts.
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) March 26, 2021
Damn straight.