I normally love Krugman, but it seems like he skipped a step here. Amazon is squeezing publishers to push prices down, which is bad becuase... why?
I mean, the apocalyptic end game here is that publishers are forced out of business entirely and Amazon ends up buying content directly from authors, I guess. That doesn't sound so bad to me, nor like something that's going to "hurt America". Maybe then they might squeeze authors too, though that seems like something publishers are already able to do today, no?
What's the critical function provided by publishing houses that Amazon is in danger of disrupting?
I mean, the apocalyptic end game here is that publishers are forced out of business entirely and Amazon ends up buying content directly from authors, I guess. That doesn't sound so bad to me, nor like something that's going to "hurt America". Maybe then they might squeeze authors too, though that seems like something publishers are already able to do today, no?
What's the critical function provided by publishing houses that Amazon is in danger of disrupting?