Few businesses show the skewed dynamics between employer and employees as clearly as Amazon. Its CEO Jeff Bezos is the worlds richest person, with his wealth estimated at around $130 billion. He admits the near impossibility of spending these riches and commits $1 billion a year of his Amazon winnings to fund a personal project of space travel.

Back on Earth, Amazons 560,000 employees earn a median salary of $28,000 , its warehouse workers face strict efficiency targets that lead some to relieve themselves in trash cans , and hundreds of Ohio, Arizona and Pennsylvania-based workers are on food stamps .