5 ms·

Given current level of disfunction in the US government, I'll take Bezos just picking who he thinks can do the most good with the money.

danem 5y ago
Well this is what has left me most confused by this decision. Are Van Jones and an incredibly successful celebrity chef really the best he could come up with? If I were Bezos I'd at least give the money to a person or organization that would help improve my PR. edit: And by this I meant things like paying for poor kids college tuition etc. I guarantee no one in the media will be talking about this story, and where Van Jones puts the money, beyond this press conference.
- jl2718 5y ago
  I think he just hired CNN for that.
  - X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
    CNN != the anchors
    - jl2718 5y ago
      Yep. Skips the middle man. Kind of like buying art instead of paying for lobbyists.
- strider3g 5y ago
  think of it as a portfolio, he can give 100m to 1000 people. So 998 people left.
dumbfoundded 5y ago
It's a classic conservative strategy. Take over a government program, run it into the ground, use it as evidence that governments don't work, and then run for office on a platform of dismantling the broken government. The essential problem with the idea of government is that it requires people to cooperate in good faith. People who say government doesn't work are essentially arguing that people cannot cooperate with each other. Given our level of social and technological progress, you'd think people would give up on this idea but it persists. In a hunter gather society, yes, like one of the ten guys in the tribe could provide way more meat than the other nine combined. In a global society of billions, it requires cooperation, coordination and institutions. A single person is an angstrom of humanity. Our personal vanity tempts us to ignore the hundreds if not tens of thousands of people that make great companies possible not even counting the public institutions and services. We like to believe a single person can be so important because that makes us feel like we can be important. In reality, no person is important. Bezos isn't important, Musk isn't important neither you or I are important. How the billions of people work together is important. We should be focusing our efforts on improving how we work together. Our systems of cooperation (aka governments, companies, communities) are the only important thing.
- jimbokun 5y ago
  At scale, capitalist economies with democratic representative governments still seem like the most effective way to organize people working together.
  - kennywinker 5y ago
    “At scale”. Name an example of a failed alternative, and i’ll show you a country where the CIA plotted coupes and waged economic warfare against them. We’re like an abused spouse - we keep hearing “i’m the only one who’ll love you” from our abuser while they cut us off from our friends and family.
    - dumbfoundded 5y ago
      I sometimes think we deserve capitalism. Capitalism is the best solution when you assume people are selfish, immoral, and all-around kind of evil. It's a system to incentive people to work together despite our awful nature. I certainly don't think it's the best system imaginable given different assumptions or conditions. I hope as the basic needs of more and more people are met, we will be able to come together. I think most evils in the world can be explained by desperation caused by scarcity but some certainly can't. I'm not sure if we deserve a better system, at least not yet.
      - kennywinker 5y ago
        The collective generational trauma of about two centuries of industrialized capitalism means we don’t actually know what people are like in a system that doesn’t beat the kindness out of us every chance it gets. I suspect, a lot nicer - but not right away, it’d probably take a few generations to shake off the damage being done right now. I don’t think it makes sense to ask if “we” deserve it. If it can be better, then it should be better.
- Justin_K 5y ago
  Take the CA DMV, long run into the ground by liberal officials. Should it just remain that way?

danem 5y ago

Well this is what has left me most confused by this decision. Are Van Jones and an incredibly successful celebrity chef really the best he could come up with? If I were Bezos I'd at least give the money to a person or organization that would help improve my PR. edit: And by this I meant things like paying for poor kids college tuition etc. I guarantee no one in the media will be talking about this story, and where Van Jones puts the money, beyond this press conference.

jl2718 5y ago
I think he just hired CNN for that.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
  CNN != the anchors
  - jl2718 5y ago
    Yep. Skips the middle man. Kind of like buying art instead of paying for lobbyists.
strider3g 5y ago
think of it as a portfolio, he can give 100m to 1000 people. So 998 people left.

dumbfoundded 5y ago

It's a classic conservative strategy. Take over a government program, run it into the ground, use it as evidence that governments don't work, and then run for office on a platform of dismantling the broken government. The essential problem with the idea of government is that it requires people to cooperate in good faith. People who say government doesn't work are essentially arguing that people cannot cooperate with each other. Given our level of social and technological progress, you'd think people would give up on this idea but it persists. In a hunter gather society, yes, like one of the ten guys in the tribe could provide way more meat than the other nine combined. In a global society of billions, it requires cooperation, coordination and institutions. A single person is an angstrom of humanity. Our personal vanity tempts us to ignore the hundreds if not tens of thousands of people that make great companies possible not even counting the public institutions and services. We like to believe a single person can be so important because that makes us feel like we can be important. In reality, no person is important. Bezos isn't important, Musk isn't important neither you or I are important. How the billions of people work together is important. We should be focusing our efforts on improving how we work together. Our systems of cooperation (aka governments, companies, communities) are the only important thing.

jimbokun 5y ago
At scale, capitalist economies with democratic representative governments still seem like the most effective way to organize people working together.
- kennywinker 5y ago
  “At scale”. Name an example of a failed alternative, and i’ll show you a country where the CIA plotted coupes and waged economic warfare against them. We’re like an abused spouse - we keep hearing “i’m the only one who’ll love you” from our abuser while they cut us off from our friends and family.
  - dumbfoundded 5y ago
    I sometimes think we deserve capitalism. Capitalism is the best solution when you assume people are selfish, immoral, and all-around kind of evil. It's a system to incentive people to work together despite our awful nature. I certainly don't think it's the best system imaginable given different assumptions or conditions. I hope as the basic needs of more and more people are met, we will be able to come together. I think most evils in the world can be explained by desperation caused by scarcity but some certainly can't. I'm not sure if we deserve a better system, at least not yet.
    - kennywinker 5y ago
      The collective generational trauma of about two centuries of industrialized capitalism means we don’t actually know what people are like in a system that doesn’t beat the kindness out of us every chance it gets. I suspect, a lot nicer - but not right away, it’d probably take a few generations to shake off the damage being done right now. I don’t think it makes sense to ask if “we” deserve it. If it can be better, then it should be better.
Justin_K 5y ago
Take the CA DMV, long run into the ground by liberal officials. Should it just remain that way?