Hello and welcome to Business Weekly with Lucy Burton.

On the show today, we'll be finding out why the pandemic has led to people reassessing their lives

and leaving their jobs. We'll hear why coffee prices are at a seven-year high and is renting

your wardrobe really that good for the environment?

First, though, few people can say that COVID has been a positive thing, unless you happen to be

the boss of a Silicon Valley giant. The major tech companies have been posting their quarterly

earnings, and boy, have they earned. Apple's profits nearly doubled to $21.7 billion in the

three months to the end of June, as customers bought pricey 5G iPhones. Microsoft saw a $16.5 billion

profit up nearly 50% year-on-year, thanks to people buying more games and cloud services.

Google's parent company, Alphabet, also reported soaring profits, something they put down to a

greater demand for online advertising. Tech has been one of the most resilient sectors during the

pandemic, and there's a feeling that many of the online habits that we've picked up over

the last year are here to stay. But the wolves are circling around these big companies.

Politicians and regulators around the world want Silicon Valley to change its behavior

and want to curb its power. Some American politicians have claimed that tech giants even damage

the U.S. economy, his Democratic Congressman David Cicillin. They discourage entrepreneurship,

destroy jobs, high costs, and degrade quality. Simply put, they have too much power.

This power staves off new forms of competition, creativity and innovation.

And while these dominant firms may still produce some new innovative products,

their dominance is killing the small businesses, manufacturing,

and overall dynamism that are the engines of the American economy.

So are these the halcyon days of big tech,

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