William Banks is a writer, editor, and translator. His latest book, The Great Debate: Nietzsche, Culture and the Scandinavian Welfare Society, is out now from the University of Wisconsin Press.
While the Nordic countries have long proved capable of reconciling the best aspects of liberalism with socialism, the relationship in the Anglosphere has always been troubled. A new book, and recent events in the world, suggest this may be changing.
Silicon Valley capitalist Marc Andreessen has released a manifesto that decries efforts to restrain the genius of tech billionaires. Drawing heavily from Nietzsche and Hayek, it’s the same old right-wing elitism in new packaging.
Working at Amazon isn’t just physically taxing, it’s dangerous. Despite years of scrutiny and years of company spin, Amazon still has a serious injury rate more than double the rest of the industry.
Amazon wants to be both “Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company” and “Earth’s Best Employer.” But it can’t have both. In fact, its customer-dazzling business model is predicated on worker exploitation and endangerment.
In his final letter to shareholders as Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos offers a novel — and profoundly disturbing — conception of value creation: a handful of visionaries are the sole source of all “real value.” This aristocracy mercifully blesses customers, clients, and even Amazon workers with social goods.