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AOC's power will vanish the moment she breaks with the interests of her constituency. Bezos' wealth does not represent a continuing endorsement of his actions.

zozbot234 6y ago
> [Politician]'s power will vanish the moment s/he breaks with the interests of his/her/their constituency This is almost never the case. Power corrupts.
- jakelazaroff 6y ago
  How would AOC continue to have power if people were to stop voting for her or caring about what she has to say?
  - darawk 6y ago
    How would Bezos continue to have power if people stopped using Amazon? Most of his wealth is in Amazon stock. Sure, he'd have a few billion left over, but his real political power comes from his companies, not his money.
    - jakelazaroff 6y ago
      "A few billion" places his wealth in the top .0001%. It's telling that even in this far-fetched scenario where Amazon and Bezos' "real political power" are destroyed, he's still much more powerful than the vast majority of US citizens.
      - darawk 6y ago
        You seem to be equating wealth and power. Wealth and power are certainly related, but probably on a logarithmic scale. Someone worth $20,000 isn't twice as powerful as someone worth $10,000. The primary source of political power Jeff Bezos has is his control of a very large employer. Employing lots of people gives you some power over local politics in the areas where you employ those people, and it gives you some level of influence with politicians who might be interested in ensuring you continue to employ lots of people, because it's good for the economy. Your run of the mill billionaire heir/heiress that doesn't really do any useful economic activity doesn't have a huge amount of political power, in general. They probably have more than you or I do, but not a ton more. Certainly not more in (linear* proportion to the wealth difference. Once you realize that the relationship between wealth and power is logarithmic, it's not really a super concerning relationship. There are other sources of power that are much more important, and much less transparent.
categorybooks 6y ago
I would guess that most of Bezos' wealth is stilled tied to the stock price of Amazon, and thus actually represents an endorsement of his actions at least a bit more than if it were all in cash.
- throwaway2048 6y ago
  if amazon's stock price plunged 95% (basically unthinkable) bezos would still be a billionare.

zozbot234 6y ago

> [Politician]'s power will vanish the moment s/he breaks with the interests of his/her/their constituency This is almost never the case. Power corrupts.

jakelazaroff 6y ago
How would AOC continue to have power if people were to stop voting for her or caring about what she has to say?
- darawk 6y ago
  How would Bezos continue to have power if people stopped using Amazon? Most of his wealth is in Amazon stock. Sure, he'd have a few billion left over, but his real political power comes from his companies, not his money.
  - jakelazaroff 6y ago
    "A few billion" places his wealth in the top .0001%. It's telling that even in this far-fetched scenario where Amazon and Bezos' "real political power" are destroyed, he's still much more powerful than the vast majority of US citizens.
    - darawk 6y ago
      You seem to be equating wealth and power. Wealth and power are certainly related, but probably on a logarithmic scale. Someone worth $20,000 isn't twice as powerful as someone worth $10,000. The primary source of political power Jeff Bezos has is his control of a very large employer. Employing lots of people gives you some power over local politics in the areas where you employ those people, and it gives you some level of influence with politicians who might be interested in ensuring you continue to employ lots of people, because it's good for the economy. Your run of the mill billionaire heir/heiress that doesn't really do any useful economic activity doesn't have a huge amount of political power, in general. They probably have more than you or I do, but not a ton more. Certainly not more in (linear* proportion to the wealth difference. Once you realize that the relationship between wealth and power is logarithmic, it's not really a super concerning relationship. There are other sources of power that are much more important, and much less transparent.

categorybooks 6y ago

I would guess that most of Bezos' wealth is stilled tied to the stock price of Amazon, and thus actually represents an endorsement of his actions at least a bit more than if it were all in cash.

throwaway2048 6y ago
if amazon's stock price plunged 95% (basically unthinkable) bezos would still be a billionare.