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These discussions are pretty difficult to have as it's clear that many people have dysfunctional ideas around corporate/brand worship (e.g. "he created such a g

These discussions are pretty difficult to have as it's clear that many people have dysfunctional ideas around corporate/brand worship (e.g. "he created such a great company") as well as success worship. To what degree Jeff Bezos is benevolent doesn't factor into this for me. Whether or not Amazon is a great company doesn't factor into this for me. It's a larger discussion about whether or not it's grotesque for a nation with such a large number of billionaires to have some of the most serious socioeconomic issues of any modern, developed nation. I'd feel more happy and congratulatory toward Bezos' increasing fortune if, say, homelessness weren't a serious problem in America, and if every child were guaranteed a decent meal, which seems like it could be accomplished with a tiny sliver of the overall wealth of America's billionaire class.

SketchySeaBeast 6y ago
> To what degree Jeff Bezos is benevolent doesn't factor into this for me I agree it's grotesque, but given the utterly inconceivable amount of money he has, maybe making a name for himself via donation wouldn't hurt his public image. The richest man in the world twice over could probably afford the same sort of PR that's softened how people feel about Bill and Melinda Gates.
edanm 6y ago
I don't disagree with the sentiment, other than it seems you're somehow "blaming" Bezos for this. Why? The States has those socioeconomic issues for historical and political reasons. They're certainly something people can change. But Bezos' wealth, large as it is, is tiny compared to the wealth the government manages. The government's money is allocated via a democratic process. There's certainly good cases to be made for fixing a lot of issues - I just don't think those cases should start with "Bezos is too rich, while there are people in with serious issues". Better to just focus on the people with the issues and figure out ways to fix that.
- brandon272 6y ago
  My point really had nothing to do with Bezos in particular. He's one data point among hundreds of America's billionaires. And their collective wealth is by no means tiny. You're right in that the U.S. has socioeconomic issues for political reasons. But we can't disconnect the billionaire class from our political class. Billionaires have ridiculous, outsized influence over politicians and therefore public policy in the United States. And that influence ranges from crafting tax law that benefits them to modifying rules and regulations that given their businesses advantage. When wealthy people have tax law changed in their favor, we could charitably say that it is "indirectly" pulling money away from social programs that matter.

SketchySeaBeast 6y ago

> To what degree Jeff Bezos is benevolent doesn't factor into this for me I agree it's grotesque, but given the utterly inconceivable amount of money he has, maybe making a name for himself via donation wouldn't hurt his public image. The richest man in the world twice over could probably afford the same sort of PR that's softened how people feel about Bill and Melinda Gates.

edanm 6y ago

I don't disagree with the sentiment, other than it seems you're somehow "blaming" Bezos for this. Why? The States has those socioeconomic issues for historical and political reasons. They're certainly something people can change. But Bezos' wealth, large as it is, is tiny compared to the wealth the government manages. The government's money is allocated via a democratic process. There's certainly good cases to be made for fixing a lot of issues - I just don't think those cases should start with "Bezos is too rich, while there are people in with serious issues". Better to just focus on the people with the issues and figure out ways to fix that.

brandon272 6y ago
My point really had nothing to do with Bezos in particular. He's one data point among hundreds of America's billionaires. And their collective wealth is by no means tiny. You're right in that the U.S. has socioeconomic issues for political reasons. But we can't disconnect the billionaire class from our political class. Billionaires have ridiculous, outsized influence over politicians and therefore public policy in the United States. And that influence ranges from crafting tax law that benefits them to modifying rules and regulations that given their businesses advantage. When wealthy people have tax law changed in their favor, we could charitably say that it is "indirectly" pulling money away from social programs that matter.