FTC Gives Green Light for Amazon to Buy Whole Foods. The Federal Trade Commission, the US government body in charge of consumer protection and investigating anti- competitive marketplace practices, has announced that it will not stand in the way of Amazon’s plan to merge with Whole Foods. In a statement posted to the FTC’s website on Wednesday, acting director Bruce Hoffman wrote the agency had investigated the matter and determined the planned $1. The FTC conducted an investigation of this proposed acquisition to determine whether it substantially lessened competition under Section 7 of the Clayton Act, or constituted an unfair method of competition under Section 5 of the FTC Act,” Hoffman wrote. Based on our investigation we have decided not to pursue this matter further. Of course, the FTC always has the ability to investigate anticompetitive conduct should such action be warranted.”As noted by the Wall Street Journal, the move is essentially a green light for Amazon to move forward with its purchase—and potentially muscle its way into the grocery sector. Whole Foods investors approved the plan the same day, making it pretty much inevitable now. ![]() The Washington Post added the FTC’s decision flies in the face of President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said Amazon does not pay taxes—it does, though is remarkably adept at shifting its tax burden overseas—and suggested it has an antitrust problem. Per CNBC, the combined Amazon- Whole Foods would control just 1. US grocery market, though it would likely have a disproportionate impact on its future. Amazon has largely avoided antitrust scrutiny by arguing it competes on price and quality, not abuse of its market position, though critics have repeatedly warned buying a major brick- and- mortar chain could be a prelude to another type of anti- competitive behavior: pricing its competitors out of the market before taking over those retail sectors. Amazon’s dominance has spooked some competitors into banding together to resist it, per the New York Times: Walmart and Google have begun banding together to sell products via Google Express, though it’s not clear the move will have any impact.[Ars Technica, Wall Street Journal]. Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason. Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason.
Below is Thomas Paine's outstanding book on God. Deism, Nature, Christianity, the Bible, Judaism, etc., The Age of. Reason. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand. Deism, Judaism and Christianity as well as for anyone interested in. Bible study. With this important book, Thomas Paine took Deism out of the. If you'd like to own all of Thomas Paine's writings on. God, Deism and theology you can order The Age of Reason, The. Complete Edition by clicking. To read and/or download The Age of Reason in PDF. To read the book in PDF you need to have Adobe Reader. To download Adobe Reader for free. ![]() The Federal Trade Commission, the US government body in charge of consumer protection and investigating anti-competitive marketplace practices, has announced that it. Music streaming service Spotify no longer officially supports Apple’s Safari browser, and Safari users who attempt to access it say they are being redirected to use. Thomas Paine(by Matthew Pratt)THE AGE OF REASONby Thomas Paine. TO MY FELLOW- CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I PUT the following work under your protection. It contains myopinions upon Religion. You will do me the justice to remember, that Ihave always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his ownopinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He whodenies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to hispresent opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changingit. The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall. Your affectionate friend and fellow- citizen, THOMAS PAINE Luxembourg, 8th Pluvoise,Second Year of the French Republic, one and indivisible. January 2. 7, O. S. IT has been my intention, for several years past, to publish mythoughts upon religion. I am well aware of the difficulties thatattend the subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it toa more advanced period of life. ![]() I intended it to be the lastoffering I should make to my fellow- citizens of all nations, andthat at a time when the purity of the motive that induced me to it,could not admit of a question, even by those who might disapprovethe work. The circumstance that has now taken place in France of the totalabolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everythingappertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsivearticles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, butrendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest in thegeneral wreck of superstition, of false systems of government, andfalse theology, we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of thetheology that is true. As several of my colleagues and others of my fellow- citizens of. France have given me the example of making their voluntary andindividual profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do thiswith all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of mancommunicates with itself. I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religiousduties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to makeour fellow- creatures happy. But, lest it should be supposed that I believe in many otherthings in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work,declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for notbelieving them. I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, bythe Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the. Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind. is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christianor Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up toterrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believeotherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentallyfaithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or indisbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does notbelieve. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may soexpress it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a manhas so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as tosubscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, hehas prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He. takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and in order to. Can we. conceive any thing more destructive to morality than this? Soon after I had published the pamphlet Common Sense, in. America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in thesystem of government would be followed by a revolution in the systemof religion. The adulterous connection of church and state, whereverit had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had soeffectually prohibited by pains and penalties, every discussion uponestablished creeds, and upon first principles of religion, thatuntil the system of government should be changed, those subjects. Human inventions and priestcraft would be detected. God, and no more. Every national church or religion has established itself bypretending some special mission from God, communicated to certainindividuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus. Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, asif the way to God was not open to every man alike. Each of those churches show certain books, which they callrevelation, or the word of God. The Jews say, that their word of Godwas given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, thattheir word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say,that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from. Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and formy own part, I disbelieve them all. As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before Iproceed further into the subject, offer some other observations on theword revelation. Revelation, when applied to religion, means something. God to man. No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make sucha communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case,that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed. When he tells. it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth,and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It isrevelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, andconsequently they are not obliged to believe it. It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything arevelation that comes to us at second- hand, either verbally or inwriting. Revelation is necessarily limited to the firstcommunication- after this, it is only an account of something whichthat person says was a revelation made to him; and though he mayfind himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me tobelieve it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me,and I have only his word for it that it was made to him. When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the twotables of the commandments from the hands of God, they were notobliged to believe him, because they had no other authority for itthan his telling them so; and I have no other authority for it thansome historian telling me so. The commandments carry no internalevidence of divinity with them; they contain some good moral. It is, however, necessary to except the declaration which saysthat God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children; it iscontrary to every principle of moral justice. When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven and brought. Mahomet by an angel, the account comes too near the same kind ofhearsay evidence and second- hand authority as the former. I did notsee the angel myself, and, therefore, I have a right not to believeit. When also I am told that a woman called the Virgin Mary, said,or gave out, that she was with child without any cohabitation with aman, and that her betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel toldhim so, I have a right to believe them or not; such a circumstancerequired a much stronger evidence than their bare word for it; butwe have not even this- for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any suchmatter themselves; it is only reported by others that they saidso- it is hearsay upon hearsay, and I do not choose to rest my beliefupon such evidence. It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that wasgiven to the story of Jesus Christ being the son of God. He was bornwhen the heathen mythology had still some fashion and repute in theworld, and that mythology had prepared the people for the belief ofsuch a story.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |