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AMAZON & WALMART BATTLE FOR AD REVENUES ONLINE. WMT hired execs from NBC Universal & CBS to increase its advertising revenue. Amazon may sell ads

VIGILANTE JUSTICE? RETIRED COP SHOOTS ALLEGED SHOPLIFTER IN THE NECK AT HOME DEPOT IN CA. “The shooting did not appear to be justified.” Police arrested

FED JUDGE IN AZ. RULES WALMART VIOLATED THE RIGHTS OF AN EMPLOYEE WHEN IT FIRED HER FOR LEGAL USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA, and proved no

FOOD GLUT: KOHL’S, WHICH BEGAN AS A GROCERY STORE 92 YEARS AGO, HAS INVITED GERMAN RETAILER ALDI TO MOVE NEXT DOOR to bring in more

WALMART CAN’T BACK OUT OF INDIA. With $16 B sunk into FlipKart, WMT says its ties to India are “deep and long-term.” But Indian business

VIRGINIA & TENNESSEE THROW TAX DOLLARS AT AMAZON, BUT BEZOS MIGHT PULL OUT OF NY. “Amazon has extorted NY from the start…If their view is,

PEOPLE MAG. SAYS WALMART HAS AN “INSANELY GORGEOUS” LINE OF FURNITUR, “the trendiest pieces at a totally affordable price,” like this $350 chair—which costs a

NO APPETITE FOR FAST FOODS IN SCHOOL: On McDonald’s Nights, the fast food corp. gets teachers to work for free, serving its junk food to

FACEBOOK EMPLOYEE BONUSES WILL NO LONGER BE BASED ON USER GROWTH & COMPANY REVENUE (LIKE WALMART)but on new company goals like: progress on social issues,

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RAISING THE FEDERAL MIN. WAGE TO $15/HR WILL LIFT THE WAGES OF 41.5 M ‘WORKING CLASS’ AMERICANS—nearly a third of the workforce. At $7.25/hr. the

NY STATE LAWMAKER FILES BILL TO MAKE “OPPORTUNITY ZONES,” WHICH ALLOW COMPANIES LIKE AMAZON TO DEFER TAXES, TO BE LESS VALUABLE. Welfare for big corporations:

TELL HARVARD TO CUT TIES WITH THE MAKERS OF OXYCONTIN. Richard Sackler, a son of a founder of Purdue Pharma told company officials to “measure

AFTER ONLY 5 DAYS OF NEW FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT RULES IN INDIA, WALMART MIGHT DROP FLIPKART—A $16 B PURCHASE. WMT & AMZN sales dropping by

WALMART SAYS WORKERS WITH “SPOTLESS ATTENDANCE” can earn an additional 25% on quarterly cash bonuses they receive—based on store sales. But WMT won’t match higher

THE ONLY NATIONAL EMERGENCY IN AMERICA IS INSIDE THE OVAL OFFICE. Read more on Facebook

LAST MARCH, A SMALL MANUFACTURER WARNED THAT AMAZON WAS “COMPLICIT IN RAMPANT COUNTERFEITING. Customers are unknowingly buying crap versions of the product…Amazon and the scammers

WHAT WALMART DIDN’T DO FOR ITS WORKERS: If it were to “redirect what it spends on stock buybacks to employee compensation” it could have invested

TOYS “WERE” US WANTS TO GET BACK INTO THE GAME: in 2005 private equity firms like Bain & KKR “saddled it with a heavy debt

THE ICONIC MALL OF AMERICA IS LOSING A 200,000 sf SEARS, AND NOW A 22,000 sf AMERICAN GIRL IS CLOSING. Local shoppers of the world

THERE ARE 100 M AMAZON PRIME CUSTOMERS IN THE US, WHO SPEND AVE. OF $1,400/YEAR ON ITEMS, vs. $600 for a non-Prime customer. 8 in

MOTT CAPITAL SAYS AMAZON GROWTH IS SLOWING. “This is not to say that AMZN’s business is doomed or failing,” but “investors need to rethink how

WALMART CUTS UNEXPECTED ABSENCE DAYS FROM 9 DAYS PER 6 MONTHS, TO 5, while adding 6 days of personal time off to cover illnesses or

AMAZON & WALMART BEATEN BACK BY SMALL INDIAN MERCHANTS. India’s govt. has refused to extend Feb 1 start of new policies that ban foreigners like

INTERIOR DESIGNERS SAY HOME DEPOT IS RIPPING OFF THEIR WORK, repurposed to feature products sold on Home Depot’s website. “We’re aware of this and are

ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPERS WANT HOME DELIVERY WITHIN TWO HOURS!! More than half of e-shoppers say they would be more loyal to a store that offers

DEAD RETAIL BEING REPURPOSED INTO DISTRIBUTION WAREHOUSES. The empty Euclid Square Mall in Euclid, Ohio, is under construction to become a new Amazon e-commerce fulfillment

FEDERAL JUDGE IN WI. REFUSES TO DISMISS A PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT AGAINST WALMART, which for years has denied pregnant employees’ requests to perform fewer physical

CASHIER SUES WALMART FOR MALICIOUS PROSECUTION IN ‘PRICE MATCHING’ CASE. On October 14, 2014, Emily Rennhack, a Walmart cashier in Bradenton, Fl., was arrested at

THE PURPOSE OF A WITCH HUNT IS TO RID US OF WITCHES. Read more on Facebook

AMAZON CAN “APPROPRIATE” ANY MANUFACTURER’S PRODUCT & GIVE IT’S OWN BRAND PREFERENTIAL PLACEMENT ON ITS PLATFORM—EVEN ON GOOGLE SEARCHES. Independent producers are “chased off” of

OHIO CITY FORCES 8 MONTH DELAY IN CIVIL RIGHTS CASE OF A 22 Y.O. BLACK MAN SHOT BY POLICE while holding a pellet rifle inside

CHICKEN OF THE SEA TUNA WAR ENDS: StarKist owes Walmart $20 M from a price fixing scheme. StarKist, which is owned by South Korea’s Dongwon

TWO SEPARATE STUDIES SAY AMAZON’S FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE shows darker-skinned women as men 31% of the time. Lighter-skinned women were misidentified 7% of the time.

WALMART BODY COUNT: A WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT HAS BEEN FILED by the family of a man shot in 2017 at a Raytown,MO. WMT during an

WALMART SPLITS UP WITH GOOGLE, no longer making products available on Google’s Shopping Actions or Google Express. No reason was given, just a Tweet that

AMAZON IS TESTING “SCOUT” AN ELECTRIC SELF-DRIVING PACKAGE DELIVERY VEHICLE, ABOUT THE SIZE OF A ROBOT DOG. Cute, but easy to steal or vandalize: https://blog.aboutamazon.com/transportation/meet-scout

KNOCK-OFFS: TWO-THIRDS OF BRANDS THAT SELL PRODUCTS ON AMAZON say competing with Amazon’s private label versions of their products is a “major pain point” of

THE 3 WEEK STOPGAP FUNDING BILL WILL GIVE THE POTUS ENOUGH TIME TO FLY DOWN TO MEXICO CITY and get “the Mexicans to pay” for

FORTUNE’S LIST OF THE TOP 50 WORLDS MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES: AMZN #2, Costco #12, Home Depot #21, WMT #25, Target # 32. Fortune started by

WALMART SAYS “CUSTOMERS LOVE OUR GROCERY DELIVERY SERVICE,” BUT HAVE THEY READ THE FINE PRINT? “We will not provide you with a refund for certain

WALMART OFFERS TRUCKERS A 1 CENT/MILE RAISE & $1 FOR EVERY TRAILER LOAD DELIVERED, making the average salary $87,500. Amazon says its independent carriers can

AMAZON LOGISTICS & BEIJING JOYO SUBSIDIARY NOW LEASING SPACE ON CONTAINER SHIPS OFFERING CUSTOMERS IN CHINA DOOR-TO-DOOR SERVICE, a “seamless path” from Chinese factories/American ports/Amazon

AMAZON SELLS 100 M ITEMS ON ITS PLATFORM, but makes 80% of its sales revenue from 1% of its products—1M best sellers. Economist D.H. Taylor

The growth of coop businesses in Madison, WI, my alma mater. When traditional economics fails, coops find a new path: Growth in Madison co-ops reflective

ANOTHER SMALL TOWN IN NEW ENGLAND REJECTS DOLLAR GENERAL On Jan.17 in Cummington, MA. 200+ people asked Town officials to reject a 9,100 sf Dollar

CLOUD FIGHT: MICROSOFT & WALGREENS SIGN 7 YEAR CLOUD COMPUTING DEAL, to compete with Amazon Web Services. Walgreens, Walmart & Kroger are all using Microsoft’s