US to rule whether Amazon is wonderful Wonka or price-fixing monopolist

Four years, 50 million pages, and the numbers behind the FTC's decision to target the world's $1.7 trillion e-commerce leader...

In Warner Bros’ recent reboot of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a line lands with a thud: “The greedy hurt the needy every time Wonka. That's the way of the world.”

It’s a great line, in a great film, that modernises the oldest story in the book. The one where the rich get richer, and the rest of us go serf.

It’s delivered by Wonka’s world-weary sidekick Noodle as the two face up to the seemingly impossible task of beating ingrained, wealthy tyrants.

Chocolate barons have sown up the market by paying sweeteners to authorities. Now, their cartel aims to block Wonka from giving people delicious treats. Evil eh…

It’s notable how often movies echo real life, from Orwell’s Big Government in 1984 to the threat of self-aware AI that interlaces throughout The Matrix.

Media is a soothsayer, a storyteller, and make no mistake, Wonka is too. It’s a tale of modern-day monopoly wrapped in caramel and translated for the masses.

Yesterday, the US Government pulled the trigger on its latest assault…