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FTC Asks To Delay Amazon Prime Deceptive Practices Case, Citing Staffing Shortfalls (cnbc.com) 78

Posted by msmash from the new-world-order dept.
The Federal Trade Commission asked a judge in Seattle to delay the start of its trial accusing Amazon of duping consumers into signing up for its Prime program, citing resource constraints. CNBC: Attorneys for the FTC made the request during a status hearing on Wednesday before Judge John Chun in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Chun had set a Sept. 22 start date for the trial. Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, asked Chun for a two-month continuance on the case due to staffing and budgetary shortfalls.

The FTC's request to delay due to staffing constraints comes amid a push by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency to reduce spending. DOGE, which is led by tech baron Elon Musk, has slashed the federal government's workforce by more than 62,000 workers in February alone. "We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team," Cohen said.

FTC Asks To Delay Amazon Prime Deceptive Practices Case, Citing Staffing Shortfalls More | Reply

FTC Asks To Delay Amazon Prime Deceptive Practices Case, Citing Staffing Shortfalls

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  • How convenient (Score:5, Insightful)

    by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Wednesday March 12, 2025 @01:48PM (#65228271) Journal
    Cut people then claim you don't have enough to do the job, allowing Amazon to continue to deceptively bilk people from their money. Sounds like how convenient it was that the agency investigating the ongoing crashes and deaths involving Tesla vehicles was gutted. Or how the CFPB, tasked with protecting consumers from unscrupulous financial practices, dropped its case against Capitol One [npr.org] which involved not paying $2 billion in interest to its customers.

    It's clear the Russian asset is allowing companies free reign to do whatever they want to customers.

    • Or how the CFPB, tasked with protecting consumers from unscrupulous financial practices, dropped its case against Capitol One [npr.org] which involved not paying $2 billion in interest to its customers.

      Noting that the CFPB also oversees (saw?) Tesla consumer financing and would have oversight of the "X Money Account" financial services / payment / digital wallet thing X is working on with VISA. Wonder why Elon is trying to axe that agency ... ?

      X partners with Visa on payment service in an effort to become an ‘everything app,’ [apnews.com]
      Elon Musk's DOGE takes aim at agency that had plans of regulating X [npr.org]

    • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

      by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )
      The groceries alone make Amazon Prime worth every penny. So much food you can't get locally and often you can get your order the same day.

      • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

        It might be worth every penny, but is it worth the fascism that Bezos promotes?

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Petersko ( 564140 )

          Is it worth the fascism? We may feel like the right answer is, "Of course not." And if you press us, we might even say it. But collectively our actions say, loudly, "Yes. It is worth it." Might not be the noblest value we hold... but there it is.

          And for the US, the tolerance for fascism in their provider of goods pales in comparison to the tolerance for it in their leaders. It runs way deeper than Bezos.

          • When I order from Amazon, this is a consensual business relationship I entered into willingly. I've never felt coerced or that I was "under fascism".

            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

              I've never felt coerced or that I was "under fascism".

              You're funding fascism. Is that willful or ignorant?

              • Same thing I tell people who buy tesla's. Really people should look carefully at the definition of fascism. The unholy alliance of business and government with DOGE is just one of the characteristics. The latest purge of the VA culling ex-veterans with disabilities is another with essentially a eugenics flavor to it.

                • Really people should look carefully at the definition of fascism.

                  That's the problem, innit? Right here in this thread you can see people arguing that the definition of fascism is something other than what it is. No clue where they got their bullshit definitions, except that it was fascist propaganda to make them unable to recognize fascism instead of what actual fascists outright told us that it meant. They don't know because they don't want to know.

                  • I recently thought of a simple way to think of it. With fascism, biz owns government, with communism, government own biz. Democracy tries to keep them apart. And I think simple is important, even if not totally accurate. If trump has proven anything, simple slogans work.

          • None of those links make a particularly good case. Either they aren't trying to make that case at all, or they (and this is the weird part) associate individual liberties and free markets with fascism. If anything, those are very anti-fascist. You've already made it clear that you're opposed to individualism, which makes you much more of a fascist than any of these guys.

            You also take common cause with people who terrorize others by painting swastikas on and/or firebombing their property, and who will gun do

      • Eggs are cheaper at the co-op than Amazon. I guess stop shopping at Walmart and Safeway/Vons if price is your biggest factor.

    • Starve the Beast [wikipedia.org]

      Welcome to the endgame of American Conservatism. At his point their goal for so long has been the destruction of the administrative state that I don't even think they are sure why they are doing it anymore, they've just said it for so long that they can't go back now.

    • The FTC only made the cuts because of DOGE decisions. So then saying they are lacking staff is confirmation that DOGE is making a lot of short sighted and short term decisions.

      I suppose one thing that is becoming clear, thanks to DOGE, is that successively running a country is a lot more labour intensive than some people think it is.

    • Sounds like how convenient it was that the agency investigating the ongoing crashes and deaths involving Tesla vehicles was gutted.

      Then he did it too late considering they already published their report:

      https://www.theverge.com/2024/... [theverge.com]

      Basically they're not saying Teslas are unsafe, rather they're saying that the self driving features aren't doing enough to keep the drivers engaged.

      Interesting, that Tesla takedown site run by Alex Winter (Bill of Bill and Ted) looks to this little nugget:

      https://www.tesladeaths.com/ [tesladeaths.com]

      Honestly the numbers there seem pretty low for ANY manufacturer to have. Particularly considering many of these seem to be

      • Wiki says 51. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]. Contrast that with the takata airbag recall. 28. https://apnews.com/article/tak... [apnews.com] Remind me again what action was taken to prevent additional deaths of the takata bags at 28 versus the FSD deaths at 51? Which action would you characterize as more radical?

        • Well first of all, the count associated with FSD is two, not 51. Second of all, not all of those 51 were the fault of the Tesla or its driver. Third of all, I think the main difference would be that faulty airbag deployment isn't the result of operator error.

          • And yet from my link, "As of October 2024, there have been hundreds of nonfatal incidents involving Autopilot[2] and fifty-one reported fatalities, forty-four of which NHTSA investigations or expert testimony later verified and two that NHTSA's Office of Defect Investigations verified as happening during the engagement of Full Self-Driving (FSD)" And they list them.
          • You really should go thru the wiki link if you are using FSD. Those grizzly details may have you think twice about using it. I'd rate it up there with being hit with shrapnel from an airbag. And we know airbags saved many more lives than FSD could dream about. I personally know several people who have walked away from serious accidents because of airbags. So the risk reward with airbags is pretty impressive. I just don't see anything close to that with FSD. If you're drunk, call a taxi. Bars are happy to ar

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        Interesting, that Tesla takedown site run by Alex Winter (Bill of Bill and Ted) looks to this little nugget:

        https://www.tesladeaths.com/ [tesladeaths.com]

        Honestly the numbers there seem pretty low for ANY manufacturer to have. Particularly considering many of these seem to be causes unrelated to the car at all. For example, the other driver was at fault. Notably, FSD, which has been out since 2016, has a whopping two deaths associated with it.

        Pedantically, chances are the two in 2024, despite not claiming FSD Beta, were presumably running on the same stack. AFAIK, if you're on HW3, Tesla only has a single stack, and the difference between FSD Beta and Autosteer mode is whether a bunch of features are turned on, like making turns, steering around stopped cars instead of stopping for them, etc. So realistically, that number could be as high as four, depending on how old or new the car was.

        For that matter, even with TACC, I would expect the FSD B

      • Then he did it too late considering they already published their report:

        And revenge never crossed your mind. Or future investigations.

        Please.

    • Prosecuting Attorney: "I don't work here anymore..."

      Judge: "Case dismissed!"

      Defendant: "Thanks, DOGE."

      (working as intended)

    • Cut people then claim you don't have enough to do the job, allowing Amazon to continue to deceptively bilk people from their money. Sounds like how convenient it was that the agency investigating the ongoing crashes and deaths involving Tesla vehicles was gutted. Or how the CFPB, tasked with protecting consumers from unscrupulous financial practices, dropped its case against Capitol One [npr.org] which involved not paying $2 billion in interest to its customers. It's clear the Russian asset is allowing companies free reign to do whatever they want to customers.

      I'm beginning to suspect he's not a direct Russian asset. He's just a corporatist that happens to fall into Russian alignment by default. Because destroying America may not be the goal with corporatists, but they're "Profit above all" movements will, eventually, lead to the downfall of America all the same. Turns out capitalism was the Russian asset all along. Who saw that plot twist coming?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dryeo ( 100693 )

        I'm beginning to suspect he's not a direct Russian asset. He's just a corporatist that happens to fall into Russian alignment by default. Because destroying America may not be the goal with corporatists, but they're "Profit above all" movements will, eventually, lead to the downfall of America all the same.

        He does admire Putin and thinks things like it was smart for Putin to invade Ukraine.

        Turns out capitalism was the Russian asset all along. Who saw that plot twist coming?

        I think it was Marx who wrote that a capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with. The direction America has chosen is likely to fuck up America and many another country.

        • I'm beginning to suspect he's not a direct Russian asset. He's just a corporatist that happens to fall into Russian alignment by default. Because destroying America may not be the goal with corporatists, but they're "Profit above all" movements will, eventually, lead to the downfall of America all the same.

          He does admire Putin and thinks things like it was smart for Putin to invade Ukraine.

          He seems to admire all autocrats, even the North Korean bungler. While it makes him stupid, it doesn't necessarily make him an asset for them. Just a useful worshiper.

          Turns out capitalism was the Russian asset all along. Who saw that plot twist coming?

          I think it was Marx who wrote that a capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with. The direction America has chosen is likely to fuck up America and many another country.

          I think, ultimately, many other countries will be better off once they separate their economies from America's. That is, if the Trumper-tantrum doesn't manifest itself in a full-blown world war.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dryeo ( 100693 )

            I'm beginning to suspect he's not a direct Russian asset. He's just a corporatist that happens to fall into Russian alignment by default. Because destroying America may not be the goal with corporatists, but they're "Profit above all" movements will, eventually, lead to the downfall of America all the same.

            He does admire Putin and thinks things like it was smart for Putin to invade Ukraine.

            He seems to admire all autocrats, even the North Korean bungler. While it makes him stupid, it doesn't necessarily make him an asset for them. Just a useful worshiper.

            What it does do is make him easily manipulated.

            Turns out capitalism was the Russian asset all along. Who saw that plot twist coming?

            I think it was Marx who wrote that a capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with. The direction America has chosen is likely to fuck up America and many another country.

            I think, ultimately, many other countries will be better off once they separate their economies from America's. That is, if the Trumper-tantrum doesn't manifest itself in a full-blown world war.

            I'm Canadian and getting worried about even a small war. Also it is hard to separate our economy from yours as we've become very intertwined.

  • Shocker. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Wednesday March 12, 2025 @01:48PM (#65228275) Journal

    Step 1: fire people that handle the cases against the American Oligarchy
    Step 2: request to delay / dismiss cases due to staffing issues
    Step 3: Profit!

    Welcome to the new order. If you aren't worth $100m+ you're just more grist for the machine.

    • Step 1: fire people that handle the cases against the American Oligarchy Step 2: request to delay / dismiss cases due to staffing issues Step 3: Profit!

      Welcome to the new order. If you aren't worth $100m+ you're just more grist for the machine.

      I think your estimate of $100m+ is a little low. Those folks are paupers compared to the ones that actually matter to the current administration.

  • But here we are I guess.

  • We just won't prosecute selected criminals.

    • Is that if I commit a crime a cop shows up with a gun. On the other hand if a multimillionaire or a billionaire commits a crime it's a bureaucrat that shows up to enforce the law. And it's real easy to fire or under resource that bureaucrat so that they can't enforce the law.

      But the guys who are in charge of arresting me if I do something bad get almost unlimited funding, staffing and access to military grade weapons. The guys in charge of arresting Elon Musk are lucky if they don't have to buy their o

  • I predict that the FTC will only get smaller over the next few months - and it may be closed down altogether.

    In today's 'irregulatory' environment in the US, the contention that "justice delayed is justice denied" no longer partakes of hyperbole. It's now a cold, hard, literal fact.

    • It was never hyperbole. The alleged but nonexistent right to a speedy trial is a thing because of it. Too bad we don't enforce that right. Instead we give corporations all the time they need to invent a defense.

  • Menu, scroll down to Prime Membership.
    Scroll through a wall of text to the cancel button.
    Two more screens trying to get me not to cancel, including misdirection about how I'll lose my benefits. Well, yeah. I'm canceling, but I won't lose them until the end of my already free or paid period. Also buttons for pausing instead of canceling, whatever the fuck pausing is.
    Then finally it's done.

    Only takes me a minute because I've navigated through all that shit before. My mother? She'd call me, stuck.

  • Oligarchy (Score:1, Informative)

    by battingly ( 5065477 )

    This is what an oligarchy looks like. Remember those tin pot kleptocracies we used to laugh at? We're one of them now.

  • ...would do a bit of research and question that if 4 days ago they still couldn't define who Amazon's competition was... maybe this isn't really due to recent staffing cuts.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/mone... [msn.com]

  • This is absolutely by design (Score:3, Informative)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday March 12, 2025 @02:28PM (#65228395)
    And it's going to translate into higher prices that you are going to pay.

    That means higher inflation which means the Federal reserve is going to keep interest rates high.

    And I'll remind everyone high interest rates are engineered to cause layoffs. So stuff like this increases the odds you are personally going to get fired and then not find another job.

    Elections have consequences. Especially when you do not understand the systems that undergrid your economy.
  • "We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team," Cohen said.

    Ask DOGE for some of that $105B in savings they've recovered so far.
  • Our company has been made too complicated--by the piles of money we have lying around.
  • When you can do regulatory obliteration!

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