Author and ProPublica writer Alec MacGillis says that Amazon is worsening the economic divide in this country and is turning some cities into “warehouse towns.”
Appearing on Hill.TV’s “Rising” to discuss his book, “Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America,” MacGillis said that tech large companies, especially Amazon, are widening the gap between the poor and rich, especially in terms of regional inequality by turning some cities like Baltimore into “warehouse towns” while enriching other already-wealthy cities by opening headquarters that bring thousands of jobs.
“I came to this book really through the problem of regional inequality and the growing gaps between sort of winner-take-all cities and left behind towns and cities in our country. Those gaps were getting a lot bigger in recent years we’ve always had richer and poorer places but those gaps have gone a lot bigger,” MacGillis said.
Rising host Krystal Ball noted that MacGillis explored how Amazon has impacted the economies of local communities.
“One of the first people I sort of decided to focus on when I was doing the book was a young man who makes cardboard for Amazon boxes in Dayton Ohio,” MacGillis said. “And [it’s] really kind of a heart-rending, compelling story of a man and his family, who when I met them were living in a homeless shelter in Dayton while he was working this job making cardboard for $10 or $11 an hour.”
MacGillis, says people like that young man making cardboard are at the bottom of the “ecosystem” for the multi-billion dollar company.
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