Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.

    AmazonÂ’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/opinion/paul-krugman-amazons-monopsony-is-not-ok.html?_r=0 
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Here are some excerpts from Paul Krugman's article. He is one of the few 
economists that saw the 2008 crash coming.

"Amazon.com, the giant online retailer, has too much power, and it uses 
that power in ways that hurt America."

Read all the article to understand the statement.

"So far Amazon has not tried to exploit consumers. In fact, it has 
systematically kept prices low, to reinforce its dominance. What it has 
done, instead, is use its market power to put a squeeze on publishers, 
in effect driving down the prices it pays for books"

Note the term "dominance".

"...In economics jargon, Amazon is not, at least so far, acting like a 
monopolist, a dominant seller with the power to raise prices. Instead, 
it is acting as a monopsonist, a dominant buyer with the power to push 
prices down."

"So can we trust Amazon not to abuse that power? The Hachette dispute 
has settled that question: no, we canÂ’t."

The important question.

"Last month the TimesÂ’s Bits blog documented the case of two Hachette 
books receiving very different treatment. One is Daniel Schulman’s “Sons 
of Wichita,” a profile of the Koch brothers; the other is “The Way 
Forward,” by Paul Ryan, who was Mitt Romney’s running mate and is 
chairman of the House Budget Committee."

Note the political bias here. That is the fear with any high level of 
power. It is a problem with ownerships of newspapers and media as well - 
books are a major part of culture and of political influence on electors.