All you people talking about how great it is for unemployed people and all the great stuff they get... Give me a break.  It's not so great having to depend on government assistance, being constantly judged, desperately trying to get a job and not being able to (whether it's because of health issues, childcare problems, difficulty with transportation, lack of education, etc), and knowing that you and your family are constantly slipping behind.

Amazon is doing this because they have a business reason for it.  Maybe it's that they hope a percentage of the folks who sign up under the discounted program will go on to pay full price later (just like existing discounted Prime memberships, like Prime Student).  Maybe they just want to get press mentions like this one.  Don't use it as a reason to bash people in worse circumstances than you.