Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7B
Somewhat off topic, but I have had a weird thought circulating in my head (triggered by reading Red Plenty) that I wanted to put out there:<p>What is the relationship between a centrally planned economy as for example Gosplan was trying to run in the USSR, and the presence of these huge market-like but centralized entities like Amazon and Wal-Mart inside a free-market economy? This becomes particularly interesting because Amazon apparently does not have any particular interest in turning a profit.<p>A central problem faced by Gosplan was the collection of high quality data about supply chains and the estimation of the utility function of consumers. I would say Amazon is in a pretty good position to do both right now.<p>Another question, somewhat related: At what point does it become profitable for Amazon to lobby for more redistributive taxation? This might sound paradoxical because you would assume that Amazon represents the interests of it&#x27;s owners, who would probably suffer under such a taxation scheme. But shouldn&#x27;t there be a point at which giving more disposable income to poor people will boost the overall income of an entity Amazon (since Amazon doesn&#x27;t sells many flat-screen TVs but not as many mansions or yachts)?