Paul Krugman Uncovers a Right-Wing Conspiracy at Amazon.com

Professor of Economics at Princeton University Krugman attends The Russia Forum 2012 in MoscowBig-government aficionado Paul Krugman is calling for “public action to curb the power” of an entity he can’t quite bring himself to call a monopoly, even as he nonetheless compares its “abuses” to those of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil company. The subject of his ire? “Amazon.com, the giant online retailer, has too much power, and it uses that power in ways that hurt America,” Krugman whines.

“Does Amazon really have robber-baron-type market power? When it comes to books, definitely,” Krugman insists. “Amazon overwhelmingly dominates online book sales, with a market share comparable to Standard Oil’s share of the refined oil market when it was broken up in 1911. Even if you look at total book sales, Amazon is by far the largest player.”

It is the largest player that even Krugman is forced to admit “has not tried to exploit consumers.” Yet he posits the notion that keeping its prices “systematically low” is not a benefit for those consumers, as much as it allows Amazon to “reinforce its dominance.” That dominance is used to “squeeze” publishers to lower the price of book sales to Amazon, and despite the fact that Krugman has already admitted Amazon passes those savings on to its customers, he remains adamant that one of the most basic concepts of free-market competition is a bad thing. “In economics jargon, Amazon is not, at least so far, acting like a monopolist, a dominant seller with the power to raise prices,” he writes. “Instead, it is acting as a monopsonist, a dominant buyer with the power to push prices down.” Despite Krugman’s hand-wringing, one is inclined to think the public would look favorably on this effect on the marketplace.

He notes that people buy books because they’ve heard about them, other people are reading them, they’re a topic of conversation, they‘ve made the best-seller list, and writers are promoting them. Yet Amazon’s “immense” power gives it the ability to “kill the buzz.” “It’s definitely possible, with some extra effort, to buy a book you’ve heard about even if Amazon doesn’t carry it,” Krugman concedes, “but if Amazon doesn’t carry that book, you’re much less likely to hear about it in the first place.”

Not exactly. There are innumerable ways for authors and publishers to promote books. One of those ways is known as “advertising,” a concept one hopes is self-explanatory. The other is promotion. Perhaps Krugman forgets that before Amazon, there was Oprah Winfrey, whose power was also so “immense” the book promotions she did on her daytime show virtually guaranteed best-seller status. In fact Krugman’s own newspaper described the former daytime talk show queen as “the publishing industry’s unrivaled tastemaker,” further noting that over the years “a book’s selection as an Oprah-sanctioned title translated into instantly skyrocketing sales of more than a million copies, extraordinary numbers for any title.”

In 2012, Winfrey revived her book club after a two-year break using her own 24-hr. cable network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), as the vehicle for doing so. One is hard-pressed to recall any column by Krugman advocating public action to curb the power of OWN.

Regardless, with regard to Amazon, Krugman sees a conspiracy at work. “So can we trust Amazon not to abuse that power?” he wonders. “The Hachette dispute has settled that question: no, we can’t.”

That dispute, the result of failed negotiations in which Amazon was seeking better terms, is described in another Times column by David Streitfeld. He characterizes it as a case of Amazon “bullying” Hachette. That bullying consists of Amazon charging more for Hachette-published books, suggesting readers might enjoy books from other authors, and in some cases, taking weeks to deliver a Hachette book if one was ordered.

Yet even Streitfeld was forced to admit Amazon’s dominance consists of controlling only a third of the book business, and that some Hachette writers remain “unscathed by the dispute.” Furthermore, he is forced to reveal the most likely reason for Amazon’s increasingly hard-line stance with publishers: Amazon’s “shares are down sharply this year and analysts are cutting earnings forecasts.”

Business realities apparently aside, Krugman describes the penalty imposed by Amazon on Hachette as being animated by a “curious selectivity.” “Last month the Times’s Bits blog documented the case of two Hachette books receiving very different treatment,” Krugman complains. “One is Daniel Schulman’s ‘Sons of Wichita,’ a profile of the Koch brothers; the other is ‘The Way Forward,’ by Paul Ryan, who was Mitt Romney’s running mate and is chairman of the House Budget Committee. Both are listed as eligible for Amazon Prime, and for Mr. Ryan’s book Amazon offers the usual free two-day delivery. What about ‘Sons of Wichita’? As of Sunday, it ‘usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks.’ Uh-huh.”

What a difference a couple of days apparently makes. Here is the Tuesday listing for “Sons of Wichita” at Amazon’s website. “Want it Thursday, 23 Oct.? Order it within 22 hrs 3 mins and choose One-Day Delivery at checkout,” the site states.

Uh-huh.

In a column for the NY Post, author and editor Ira Stoll takes Krugman to task, asking readers to imagine “if Krugman’s argument were applied to another ‘immense’ power in the book industry — The New York Times itself.” Stoll reveals that “Sons of Wichita” a book that attacks the Koch brothers, who are this year’s leftist bogeymen, “got a full-length Sunday review by Nicholas Lemann, was featured in the Times Book Review podcast, and was mentioned yet again in the Sunday Book Review as an ‘Editors’ Choice.’”

Ryan’s book? “When it showed up at No. 5 on the Times bestseller list, the book review deigned to mention it in a two-paragraph item that denounced the book as being ‘full of your basic agitprop’ and inaccurately described it as Ryan’s ‘first book,’ a distinction that in fact belongs to the 2010 book ‘Young Guns,’ which the Times itself handled back in 2010 with a four-sentence review that managed to be about 100 percent wrong,” Stoll explains.

Moreover, the “curious selectivity” of the NY Times best-seller list is hardly a new development. Conservative author David Limbaugh’s latest book, “Jesus on Trial,” was banished despite sales better than 17 other books on the list. The same treatment was afforded to Dinesh D’Souza’s “America: Imagine a World Without Her,” which had sales higher than 13 other books that made the Times best-seller list back in June.

Stoll whacks Krugman for his hypocrisy, noting that if his standard for demanding government intervention “is a powerful book-industry force treating two different books differently…the Times columnist ought to be calling for the Justice Department to rush into Midtown Manhattan and take dramatic action.” Stoll suspects Krugman’s self-righteousness concerns far more germane realities: the fact that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos now owns the Washington Post, which competes with the Times, and the allegation that Bezos has a libertarian-oriented political view, which is at odds with Krugman’s statism.

That would be the statism that animates Krugman’s totalitarian impulses. He isn’t worried that Amazon is too “powerful.” The aforementioned example he uses to accuse Amazon of “curious selectively” is nothing more than a thinly-veiled example of a “right wing conspiracy.” In reality he’s concerned that Amazon sells too many conservative books–and wants the government to crush them for doing so.

Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.

Subscribe to Frontpage’s TV show, The Glazov Gang, and LIKE it on Facebook.

  • UCSPanther

    Wants to ban books because he doesn’t agree with them?

    How Soviet of him…

    • kiwi41

      Maybe he will suggest a re-enactment…..

      http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-bookburn.htm

      • Gee
        • kiwi41

          Why wait ? Start tomorrow ! These ba$ tards in power are so evil they would make those Nazis look benign; at least they were not trying to exterminate their OWN people.
          From the top down.

          • Moa

            YOU are the enemy of the Left. Didn’t you know. That’s why they are bringing in jihadis and ebola and illegals in ever increasing numbers.

          • frances951

            my stepmother recently got an awesome month old Chevrolet Express Cargo Diesel by working from a home computer. see post ……..>> -> CHECK INCOME HERE!! <-

    • Virgil Hilts

      Is your icon a photo of one of Stephen Gaskin’s old buses?

      • Gee

        That is a railroad locomotive

      • UCSPanther

        That is a Montreal Locomotive Works RS18 Diesel Locomotive.

        Namely, it is British Columbia Railway #607.

        • barney59

          Nice, classic engine!

        • Virgil Hilts

          Outstanding! Fantastic photo!

          • UCSPanther

            The older diesel locomotives had more character than the new ones.

            I think the ALCO and MLW diesels were the best sounding with their tractor-like snorts when accelerating under load, usually with some pretty good puffs of exhaust smoke…

  • Adhemarde

    The Left is never bothered by Leftists. Look at what our government has become. The Constitution is used in roll form by these statists, yet the liberals, or progressives, or whatever they call themselves this week line up behind them, as long as their targets are conservatives and Christians. If they were carried off to gulags Nancy Pelosi would be jumping up and down applauding. Let anyone suggest that a liberal program might have undesired consequences and that person should be at the very least vilified, deprived of his money and property, and preferably done away with. Krugman couldn’t care less about any of the straw men he sets up; he, like obama and his government, only wants to prevent dissent. So did all previous dictators and tyrants.

  • Hewlett Harris

    Krugman…his face should be put on the inside of every toilet bowl in the country.

    • http://www.dilbert.com scook84

      Hey!

      Don’t harsh the toilet!

      <3 Muah!

    • Larry Larkin

      The pucker factor from that would result in a constipated nation and complaints to the International Criminal Court for human rights violations from tourists.

  • RobX

    I think Krugman just watched “The Men Who Built America” and was so mad he had to lash out so he tried to find a modern equivalent to complain about.

  • http://johnnyangeladvocacygroup.net JohnnyAngel Advocacy Group

    The Krugly American could live just as well under Chinese communism financially and 100% better philosophically !! Shill is a dish named Krugman !!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Marks/1266358046 Paul Marks

    Dr Krugman’s history is wrong as well as his economics being wrong. Standard Oil was not hit by the government to help costumers (who it was not “abusing”) – it was hit by the government in order to help politically connected competitors. “Anti Trust” – “competition policy” is inherently corrupt.

  • jwmiller

    Krugman’s version of Book Burning? Must have seen Gore & Clinton’s books on sale for a $! at local store.

  • kiwi41

    Another leftist P-O-S that shows how insignificant and worthless a Nobel Prize has become.

    • Moa

      Nobel Prize has always been worthless, but hyped by the Left as it rewards its fellows. For more, read “Disinformation” by Ion Mihai Pacepa – which you can get off Amazon :)

  • Cappy1437

    Makes me want to buy more books from Amazon and I’m a good customer of conservative political books. Krugman just doesn’t want to see Americans educating themselves and finding out the truth.

  • Cappy1437

    Another thought on this. Amazon has the Amazonsmile program which donates to a group or charity of your choice. Krugman doesn’t like this because he doesn’t want all this money going to possible conservative groups. I like Amazonsmile. I always make sure I order under that program and I donate to a great conservative group. Thank you Amazon.com

  • FlPatriot98

    He wants to do away with freedom of the press for conservatives, but let the liberal presses keep running. This guy has reached the zenith of his hypocrisy!!!

    • DaveGinOly

      You may mean the “nadir.” I know, it’s usually “the heights of hypocrisy,” but hypocrisy is (usually) considered negative, so your reference would be more apt if it were “nadir.” (But then again, “heights of hypocrisy” should be “lows” or “depths,” in order to connote the negative. Just sayin’. As a proofreader, I can’t let that go – I’m programmed to be critical of people’s writing. I do know what you mean!)

      • FlPatriot98

        Thanks for the insight!!

  • Pete

    Krugman is a partisan @ss.

    What Is Liberty Island?
    “Welcome to the new counterculture.”

    ***

    The Democrat Party operates like the Mafia and many political machines of the past that we studied in social studies.

    The Democrats stuff ballot boxes, buy votes and import people knowing they will be ripe to have their votes bought. So they have appeared to have been the majority for the last have century when they were not. The majority of the people are not or were not Democrats. People voluntarily choose to read certain books. There is no conspiracy.

  • Hard Little Machine

    Well they should stop selling Krugman titles at any rate.

  • james connolly

    Paul Krugman must be taking too much acid or smoking too much weed. How else do you explain his severe mental impairment and paranoia? His psychosis has made him completely out-of-touch with reality.

  • odin2

    Krugman is a one trick pony. His solution for everything is for the government to print and spend more money. It doesn’t matter to him if it is for a good or bad purpose or whether the spending accomplishes anything. To Krugman, the spending stimulates the economy and that is good in and of itself.

  • steve b

    INSTEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT BREAKING UP AMAZON, HOW ABOUT IF WE LET AMAZON BREAK UP THE GOVERNMENT? AFTER ALL, IF I DON’T WANT TO BUY FROM AMAZON, I DON’T. UNFORTUNATELY, GOVERNMENT WON’T LET NE IGNORE THEM THE SAME WAY!

  • Gee

    Funny but MicroSoft is far more monopolistic than Amazon, but because Bill Gates is a leftist they get a pass?

    I use Bookfinder.com and beat Amazon’s prices at least 50% of the time.

  • Virgil Hilts

    What a dishonest, lying pile of KRAP! The guy who loves Big Government and believes that they have the wisdom and the ‘right’ to dictate to others what THEIR size should be, what they may sell, what they may say, what they may earn, what they may support…is the same lying pack of hypocrites whose brains’ ability seems to resemble the last stages of syphilis; in the same breath, they condemn ‘big’ oil…as if ‘small oil’ were better…knowing all the while that the petroleum companies make about five to nine cents a gallon; the REST is stolen by the government. “We’re not too big; but you are.”

  • artfuldgr

    Krugman fantasizes that his books would be more popular in a “controlled” open market AND that he would not have to lower the price (and so his remuneration), if it was more “controlled” open. (if you think controlled open is not possible, then you might ‘get’ his idea of freedom and free markets)

  • De Doc

    The true nature of today’s progressive eventually and always rears it’s ugly head. Control of all things for its own sake. The greater good is the excuse, but in truth, it’s about what offends that particular progressive. The bizarre part is how much the MSM fawns over control freaks like Krugman, who probably would have no qualms over limiting their freedoms, if they were deemed damaging from his perspective.

  • Dan Knight

    Krugman needs his tin-foil hat adjusted. …

  • Shel Zahav

    Marxists should be deported.

  • http://geoffreybritain.wordpress.com/ Geoffrey_Britain

    Amazon carries it, here’s the link, took me less than 15 seconds to find it.

    http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Coming-Civil-War-Savage-ebook/dp/B00I829RX8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

  • newsel

    Next it will be book burning time….selective of course.

  • Erudite Mavin

    …….has too much power, and it uses that power in ways that hurt America,” Krugman whines..
    Paul, you just described your party, the Democrats.
    The Democrats control the White House, Senate, MSM, Social Media, Public Schools, Universities, Unions, and the list goes on.

  • truebearing

    Krugman is nowhere near as intelligent as he thinks he is. If he was half as smart as he deludes himself into believing he is, he wouldn’t have allowed his maunderings on Amazon to appear in public. It makes him look like a fool, which is the only redeeming aspect of his nonsensical drivel, but it also invites scrutiny of the NY Times, which it can ill afford.

    We should all be thankful that Krugman speaks for the Left.

  • Steve L Hampton

    This clown is so biased he’s just not relevant.

  • barney59

    Krugman’s fantasy is to be the Wizard of Oz.. this guy is salivating to have centralized planning control everything… what an apparatchik wanna-be he is…

  • Bryan Schmick

    My guess is that Krugman’s books aren’t selling very well on Amazon just like the paper he writes for isn’t selling very well. The NY Times has been expanding into the travel industry to prop up its’ revenue. Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged where a failing author proposed equalizing book sales so that bad authors received as many sales as good authors. Maybe he should start taking medication and revise his opinions.

  • desertgoldwing

    Low priced books delivered in 2 days!? Those evil bast*rds!! ;)

  • David

    Amazon has been a boon for independent authors. For every best seller that costs $20 there are dozens of cheaper books, just as good, for 4.99. Here’s just one example of a book written by an independent author that’s worth checking out: http://www.amazon.com/Chest-David-Sumner-ebook/dp/B0064F8WO6/ref=la_B00OBT81YS_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414041962&sr=1-1

  • DavidM

    Hey Krugman the market has spoken. Shut up and go away.

  • Redwine123

    Krugman is a fascist. Ban books, then burn them, if he doesn’t agree with their political orientation.

  • miss_msry

    Guess they aren’t giving him a large enough cut.

  • Archibald_Bomwitz

    Krugman has got it all wrong! People tend to buy books for their contents, not price or venue of sale! There is no alternative for a particular book, in that way each book is unique: if Aamzon don’t carry Hachette books you can’t find the same books from Barnes&Noble. It is very seldom you can find the same book from two publishers!

  • CivilusDefendus

    I am going to Amazon to order Rush Limbaugh’s 3rd “Rush Revere” history book. Thanks for reminding me, Krugman.

    http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Revere-American-Revolution-Time-Travel/dp/1476789878/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414357881&sr=1-1