I've always wondered what it's like. Wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and say to myself, "I personally have enough money to end world hunger for three years." And then not do it. Instead, just go off to work, a little spring in my step, knowing the US government would foot the bill for food stamps for my employees instead. While 600,000 children starve to death worldwide in the new year. I wonder how that would feel? Would I be conflicted about it?
Then what happens after those 3 years? Nevermind what would happen if Bezos liquidated 100% of his stock.
There are side effects of him creating such wealth. Maybe you can’t see them directly but they are there. Advances made in tech allow for people everywhere in the world to benefit. Look at smart phone penetration which allows people knowledge, greater communication, etc.
None of this comes about by what you’re commenting on. Take a look at the Gates foundation and how many tens of billions which are pledged by the world richest.
It’s very easy to judge and comment from the stands. I’d love to see what your daily activities are to help the world’s poorest. I’d dare say what they want is a job that comes from foreign investment rather than a sack of UN grains for the month’s rations.
When you have 100B surely, you can spare some to help. I understand that you need to be rewarded for creating a company that employs a lot of people but there has to be a time when you have to ask yourself, why would you want even more money at this point? I don't have a million, let alone a Billion and yet all I can think of when I imagine having this kind of money is how many lives I would be able to improve by giving some of it.
How do we know he's not giving significant amounts anonymously?
Also a more pertinent decision is how much of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, and its effectiveness. Those dollars include taxes from the likes of Bezos
this article is highly misleading and is clearly shoehorning particular statistics in to paint a rather manipulative and damning portrait of a greedy jeff bezos and the soulless company he's running. that's okay, i assume anyone here would have the mental wherewithal to discern this sort of trickery and not allow such drivel to influence their opinions too much.
the reality is that the few people in the first world (let's face it, if you're reading hackernews, you're probably in the first world) aren't benefiting directly from amazon in someway, whether it be directly or indirectly.
it's frustrating to see this generalized hatred towards anyone who surpasses a certain level of success, as if what he's doing to make the world a better place isn't quite enough and he should be off in africa spoonfeeding starving children. it's such a cartoonish and unrealistic notion that anyone with that amount of money would be able to solve the most complex issues that we face as a species simply because he has a high net worth.
i'd take facebook, google and amazon as my technocratic overlords over just facebook and google any year of the millenium.
They will get more once they figure out which city they can use to extort seattle. Then more again when they use Seattle to extort tax breaks from their new HQ.
I hate the fact that's probably exactly what will happen.
We need better ways from keeping corporations from taking advantage of the tax payer unfairly.
[+] [-] danjoc|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whb07|8 years ago|reply
There are side effects of him creating such wealth. Maybe you can’t see them directly but they are there. Advances made in tech allow for people everywhere in the world to benefit. Look at smart phone penetration which allows people knowledge, greater communication, etc.
None of this comes about by what you’re commenting on. Take a look at the Gates foundation and how many tens of billions which are pledged by the world richest.
It’s very easy to judge and comment from the stands. I’d love to see what your daily activities are to help the world’s poorest. I’d dare say what they want is a job that comes from foreign investment rather than a sack of UN grains for the month’s rations.
[+] [-] rdm_blackhole|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 8note|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hkmurakami|8 years ago|reply
Also a more pertinent decision is how much of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, and its effectiveness. Those dollars include taxes from the likes of Bezos
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dr1337|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] p2t2p|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] inspector14|8 years ago|reply
the reality is that the few people in the first world (let's face it, if you're reading hackernews, you're probably in the first world) aren't benefiting directly from amazon in someway, whether it be directly or indirectly.
it's frustrating to see this generalized hatred towards anyone who surpasses a certain level of success, as if what he's doing to make the world a better place isn't quite enough and he should be off in africa spoonfeeding starving children. it's such a cartoonish and unrealistic notion that anyone with that amount of money would be able to solve the most complex issues that we face as a species simply because he has a high net worth.
i'd take facebook, google and amazon as my technocratic overlords over just facebook and google any year of the millenium.
[+] [-] lurr|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MollyR|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yakitori|8 years ago|reply