I found one of the linked articles more interesting than the main one. Ten years of changes in the retail sector by firm size: http://digg.com/2017/amazon-vs-w

I found one of the linked articles more interesting than the main one. Ten years of changes in the retail sector by firm size: http://digg.com/2017/amazon-vs-walmart-size http://digg.com/2017/amazon-vs-walmart-size The pace and scale is even more dramatic than I thought. Rising interest rates and a big jump in expiring retail sector bonds could make 2019 an especially difficult year: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-retail-debt/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-retail-debt/ The potential impacts are hard to fathom. > The job losses in retail could have unexpected social and political consequences, as huge numbers of low-wage retail employees become economically unhinged, just as manufacturing workers did in recent decades. About one out of every 10 Americans works in retail. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/business/retail-industry.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/business/retail-industry.... That article makes it sound like all of suburbia is one giant manufacturing town, and the plant is about to close. The first link makes it look like we somehow decided to ditch the entire sector and just give it over entirely to Amazon and Walmart.