The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is upset with Amazon for setting up its express delivery service, Prime Now, in her city. Amazon have dared to offer cheap, one-hour delivery of up to 18,000 products, or free two-hour delivery.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/20/11975404/amazon-prime-now-paris-mayor-delivery
The mayor uses the red herring of “pollution” as a concern, (fancy that, leftists using the environment as an excuse to demonise business,) but the really interesting thing from the statement by the office of Mayor Hidalgo’s is their call on Amazon to ensure that it preserves the “diversity” of the local Paris economy.
This is like asking Novak Djokovic not to try so hard, so someone else can have a go at winning a Grand Slam. In essence, the Mayor of Paris wants to tax and regulate Amazon before it gets too good.
This is completely the wrong approach. Instead, the government should remove taxes and regulations on other delivery businesses, hell, any business, in Paris, and let them all compete on a level playing field. The best ones will succeed, the worst ones will fail, and overall, prices will be cheaper and consumers will have better services.
But then again, whenever they try, the French start burning things. Something tells me that a Frexit wouldn’t necessarily lead to a freer France.
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