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Librarians destroy Forbes writer who wants to replace libraries with Amazon bookstores

In a now-deleted opinion piece at Forbes, economics professor Panos Mourdoukoutas wrote that public libraries are outdated and wasteful, and that they should be replaced by Amazon bookstores.

One of Mourdoukoutas’ main arguments was that libraries are a waste of taxpayer money. In the article, Mourdoukoutas wrote, “At the core, Amazon has provided something better than a local library without the tax fees. This is why Amazon should replace local libraries. The move would save taxpayers money and enhance the stockholder value of Amazon all in one fell swoop.”

He says this in the face of facts. According to the Harris County Public Library in Texas, countless studies have shown that libraries more than pay for themselves. In Texas, for every tax dollar spent on public libraries, $4.64 is returned back to the economy. As a professor of economics, you would think that Mourdoukoutas would be able to wrap his brain around this.

These inflammatory statements enraged librarians everywhere, who quickly took to social media using the hashtag #LibrariansofTwitter to voice their opposition:

After being annihilated by the surprisingly savage Librarian Twitter, Forbes caved and deleted the article. A Forbes spokesperson said the following:

“Forbes advocates spirited dialogue on a range of topics, including those that often take a contrarian view. Libraries play an important role in our society. This article was outside of this contributor’s specific area of expertise, and has since been removed.”

Perhaps this whole thing started because Mourdoukoutas was shushed in the library as a kid and never really got over it.

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