A question to ask is whether bezos could have started Amazon if, instead of being a wealthy US citizen, he were a poor non English speaking citizen of say, Mada

A question to ask is whether bezos could have started Amazon if, instead of being a wealthy US citizen, he were a poor non English speaking citizen of say, Madagascar, back in the 90s. He almost surely wouldn’t have. All that is to say that despite the founder genius culture of worship that exists, success is heavily dependent on the society you are in, and those who benefit the most (through a combination of work, skill, and luck) should be obligated to provide resources to maintain that system, commiserate with their ability to do so. Bezos’ wealth is largely tied up in Amazon stock, so obviously he would have to sell off portions of that stock in order to pay his obligations, but it’s not like he has some mandate from god to be the king of Amazon à la medieval kings. Further, given that his taxes would be paid in dollars, not Amazon stock, I’m not sure how that constitutes a government takeover.