Regarding "Amazon to buy Whole Foods for $13.7B" (Page A1, Saturday), I'm surprised that this deal was announced without a word of protest from the federal government. Conventional brick and mortar stores of all descriptions have been decimated by Amazon in the past 20 years, and as the article documents, major grocery chains across the country stand to be similarly decimated by Amazon's foray into store-front retail.
The anti-trust implications are clear: the definition of a vertical monopoly is a company that dominates a particular sector, much as Amazon dominates online commerce. The definition of a horizontal monopoly is a company that dominates various sectors, such as distribution and retail, which Amazon is now attempting to do, leveraging their monopoly in online commerce.
Consumers are inevitably the victims when monopolies are allowed to flourish unchecked. It's time for the federal government to do its job, and investigate this acquisition.
Pete Smith, Cypress
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