Bill Maher warns against Amazon dependence, goes after Jeff Bezos

Bill Maher took issue with Jeff Bezos as the Amazon founder is poised to become the first trillionaire.

If you’re like millions of others, the pandemic has increased your reliance on Amazon to deliver anything you need to your doorstep. The company’s stock price certainly reflects this boost, helping founder Jeff Bezos close in on trillionaire status. The economic and environmental effects of Amazon dependence and Bezos’ net worth were the subject of Bill Maher’s “New Rule” segment on Friday night.

Real Time with Bill Maher isn’t the first late night show to examine Amazon or Jeff Bezos. Recently Last Week Tonight with John Oliver explored the dangerous working conditions in many of the company’s warehouses. Some of the issues came to light again during the pandemic as Amazon deliveries have increased while the public is quarantined.

Amazon’s stock price has increased and Bezos is projected to become a trillionaire. It prompted Bill Maher to ask “what is wrong with this man?” as he compared the businessman to the robber barons of the 19th century.

Watch as Maher breaks down why he thinks the Amazon model is anti-capitalist. The Real Time host also offered an explanation of why Americans have allowed this to happen:

Bill Maher continued to encourage policy informed by environmentalism.

In Maher’s opinion, Americans will do just about anything for convenience. It’s why Amazon Prime is so popular and used by millions including Maher. So while the late night host doesn’t see the company as pure evil, it’s not without major flaws.

Maher calls out the Democrats, the party of environmentalists,  for failing to acknowledge the problems with shopping in a “wasteful, piggish manner.” Single-item packages stuffed with plastics particularly annoy Maher.

Real Time has continuously highlighted environmental issues during season 18. Most notably, it came when Maher discussed the lessons the world can learn from the pandemic with specific attention given to factory farms.

Maher encourages his audience to go out and shop at an actual store this weekend. Whether or not that is possible depends on state-specific guidelines but the message is still the same. It won’t exactly keep Jeff Bezos from becoming a trillionaire, but Maher is confident is the moral thing to do.

What did you think of this week’s “New Rule” segment? Let us know in the comment section below. Keep checking Last Night On for more from Real Time with Bill Maher and the rest of late night television.