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More than 1k Dutch residents plan to throw rotten eggs at Jeff Bezos' superyacht
- YaBomm 5y agohttps://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-superyacht-dutch-residents-throw-rotten-eggs-bridge-dismantling-2022-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-superyacht-dutch-...
- sgt 5y agoPretty sad. Jeff Bezos - like him or not - supports Dutch businesses, adds to their GDP, buys a yacht etc. This is the thanks.
- zinekeller 5y agoAh yes, because they valued a historical bridge more than a foreigner who didn't have a clue on what happened in that area. Not all people are wealth maniacs.
- prox 5y agoApparently the bridge was redesigned and to be brought back in its old state (its a monument) was also made to be deconstructed. The previous version of the bridge was able to let ships through. Or so I heard.
- FDSGSG 5y agoWell, the bridge is designed in a way that allows it to be easily and safely dismantled. The 2017 government promised to not dismantle it anymore, but 2022 government seems to disagree. The important part we're missing are the risk assessments from engineers involved in the project. As far as I understand from reading the news, the 2017 promise was mostly given because at that time the local government had left the bridge covered in scaffolding for an excessively long time.
- darawk 5y agoThe people who actually built the boat are Dutch. The decision to do it this way was obviously made by the firm building the boat, not Bezos.
- kergonath 5y agoPoor, poor tax-evading oppressed billionaire.
- CamperBob2 5y agoWhy isn't he in jail, if he's guilty of tax evasion?
- scollet 5y ago> Why isn't he in jail, I mean, that's the hope.
- CamperBob2 5y agoWhen, exactly, has he been found guilty of tax evasion?
- rosndo 5y agoWhen was Bezos charged with tax evasion? Do you think that because he is a billionaire he must be guilty of tax fraud? Or do you have some actual evidence?
- mkdirp 5y agoTax avoidance is not the same as tax evasion. The former is illegal, where the latter is not, though ethically it is frowned upon.
- rosndo 5y ago> though ethically it is frowned upon. That’s a bit ridiculous. Just about everyone does their best to minimize the taxes they pay. Where would you draw the line? The lawmakers drew one, but apparently you aren’t entirely happy with that.
- 6510 5y ago> Just about everyone does their best to minimize the taxes they pay. With mixed results.
- Broken_Hippo 5y agoAnd to think, he could have lobbied to change laws to pay a share of taxes that poor folks would think are fair, given money to feed people, paid for vaccines in poor countries, and a slew of other things that would likely support businesses and add to GDP in various places, but no. Instead he's buying an obscene super-yacht - which probably has its own regular yacht and a few other ships that come with it - and dismantling a bridge to get it into the water. It is more obscene considering he could likely do all of this stuff without, you know, becoming poor - but it is only the really helpful stuff that isn't getting done.
- NicoJuicy 5y agoSure, it doesn't have to do anything with the "the double dutch" tax evasion.
- zinekeller 5y agohttps://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-superyacht-dutch-residents-throw-rotten-eggs-bridge-dismantling-2022-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-superyacht-dutch-...
- kergonath 5y agoThanks. The original link gave a 404.
- aliswe 5y agoto be honest this could also be seen as a protest against the government who allow the bridge to be raised or against the shipyard who pushed through with a design that clearly wouldn't fit without making the government's do this or against bezos who ordered a far too large yacht against the shipyards recommendations (if that happened)
- FDSGSG 5y ago> against bezos who ordered a far too large yacht against the shipyards recommendations (if that happened) Lets be realistic, it's super unlikely that the shipyard would've ever brought this up with Bezos directly.
- refurb 5y ago"Stop spending your billions in our country and providing good jobs you jerk!!"
- peter-m80 5y agoWhile destroying all the local economy and not paying taxes. Good jobs are for just a few... Warehouse and shipping jobs are shitty jobs
- asia92 5y agohow is he not paying taxes?
- peter-m80 5y agohttps://www.businessinsider.es/amazon-ingresos-record-europa-2020-pero-no-pago-impuestos-859195 https://www.businessinsider.es/amazon-ingresos-record-europa... Use google translate if you don't speak spanish
- rosndo 5y agoHow is Bezos destroying the local economy in the Netherlands by ordering a $500M yacht?
- RalfWausE 5y agoI think i speak for many europeans when i say: We would be glad if Amazon, Google and Microsoft would leave and never come back.
- iqanq 5y agoI think I speak for many more Europeans when I say: I want to be free to conduct my business with whatever corporation I want.
- bluecalm 5y agoDefinitely not for me. Amazon was the first corporation that let me buy books from around the world cheaply. They were shipping from US back then and it was way faster and cheaper to get books in English from them than from any other retailer. In my country I could maybe get some abridged stuff for learners from a very limited selection. Amazon improved my life so much I don't think any European company comes close. I've learnt English and many other things thanks to them. Google for all it flows were the first with amazingly good search, first very good web based email and first very good maps with turn by turn navigation. It saved me and all of Europe so much time and money I don't think the whole of EU budget with all of the programs would ever come close to it. Those companies offer tremendous value for hundreds of millions of people in Europe every day. Honestly I would rather have the whole German economy with their polluting cheating cars and idiotic EU programs that got snatched by grant seeking industries at the cost of bigger taxes for real business go bust than Google or Amazon. I am still waiting for an EU company to come up with anything remotely as useful.
- rutierut 5y agoWhy does anyone care about this?
- SimplyUnknown 5y agoThe Dutch don't really care about his boat, but they care about a bridge. This bridge, "De Hef", is a symbol of Rotterdam. People are proud of it. Several years ago it was temporarily dismantled and almost permanently removed because it is no longer used. But the people of Rotterdam were pissed and fought to turn it into a monument, which they did. The officials made a promise to never touch the bridge again, except for maintainance. And now some billionaire comes along who wants dismantle the bridge because immense superyacht can't fit underneath. That's why people care
- VBprogrammer 5y agoI doubt Jeff was personally involved in the planning. He might have just about been involved in choosing the ship yard based on examples of their previous boats. Beyond that I doubt he'd have too much involvement. Even the snag list will be left in the hands of the captain he employees to manage the boat on a day to day basis.
- SimplyUnknown 5y agoMight be, but it's just a terribly bad look, especially when you offset it against news reports of working conditions at Amazon. Or more local, the young Dutch people not being able to buy any house in the current market. It is not related, but just rubs people in a very wrong way.
- VBprogrammer 5y agoI get it. It's utterly insane that some people are allowed to accumulate such wealth. That said, I think the only one you can really hold Jeff Bezos to account for is working conditions at Amazon.
- heckerhut 5y ago
- the-dude 5y agoTo be honest, I don't think my fellow citizens have ever seen a rotten egg in their lives. It does make for a nicer headline though. Also, probably only 7 people will actually show up.
- FDSGSG 5y agoThis was my first thought. Leave it to businessinsider to not even question where these Dutch people are going to procure their rotten eggs, most of them have never seen one.
- MikeDelta 5y agoI guess it is very easy if you have a few months to prepare for it, but on such a short notice probably impossible to find.
- kergonath 5y agoYeah. However coup you think it is, it’s fouler. I wouldn’t try to throw one, I would be to afraid to have it break in my hand and then have to live with that awful stench for more than 5 seconds.
- KaiserPro 5y agoif there is a proper date, then I can come back and join in.... Its hard to plan at the moment
- throwoutway 5y agoFrom the headline, I was wondering if there was a way to speed up a rotten egg process? Like drill a tiny hole in it and leave it in the sun? Otherwise I’d have to wait weeks/months for it to rot depending on geo
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ALittleLight 5y agoI suppose this will annoy (or employ) Bezos's yacht cleaning crew.
- aborsy 5y agoI don’t understand humans with this anti business mania that has become popular these days. Local shops sell products multiple times more expensive than Amazon does, so low quality that you have to replace them frequently, limited selection, bad customer service, bad return terms, expensive delivery … Amazon has been a blessing to customers, and innovated a lot in this space. I am not sure if I recall this explanation for existence of ultra rich people from PG. Today, a small group of software engineers can build valuable products that scale to millions or billions customers. The return to education and skills is all time high. They become rich, but also make most others better off too. I don’t think we should politicize it, become Luddites, throw eggs, or prefer a lose-lose outcome. ———————- I see strange comments in this post that don’t make sense. As for the quality of Amazon services, someone comments it’s poor. Fine, it’s an option, you may ignore it. The worth of companies is set by markets, others that apparently find it useful, hence the usage and valuation. As for taxes, every person or small business I know hires accountants to minimize taxes legally. Tax evasion is illegal, and will be severely punished. There are nation states checking every aspect these big businesses to ensure they operate legally. Modify your tax code if you want (and be prepared for changes in businesses). I think it’s well known that FAANG’s salaries are amongst highest in the market. These companies are careful, as poor treatment of people will be immediately all over media. Finally, there is a comment: let’s tax the hell out of successful businesses anyways! Bizarre. Pure jealousy. It will not stop at ultra rich, will eventually engulf everyone and hamper innovation.
- FDSGSG 5y agoIt's 2022, jealousy is fashionable. You're supposed to hate those who have more than you.
- mkdirp 5y agoHere is an idea. How about we have dislike for those that hoard wealth, while the majority of the people live in poverty, and died of it. How about we dislike those that avoid taxes like the plague, and yet, use all our services to their fullest extent. How about we dislike those that exploit workers, turned a blind eye, and give a middle finger to most of their workers, and the people? It's got nothing to do with jealousy, and everything to do with how horrible of a company Amazon is, and how its founder, and until recently its CEO, have let it become a horrible in the name of money. I don't under people defending the ultra rich. The likelihood of the average joe getting to Bezos' wealth is next to zero. It's ridiculous to defend him despite all the bad he does. Before you say he adds to society by donating money or whatnot (e.g. Bill Gates), you know what works better? A good welfare system for those that need. One that would otherwise be funded partially by the rich's tax money that they love to avoid.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- marban 5y agoYou could make a lot of omelettes with that.
- pronlover723 5y agoI'm curious what the process is for rich people wanting to buy a yacht. I can't personally imagine ever wanting one. If I was rich I'd just rent one if I wanted to experience it (maybe they aren't for rent). AFAIK none of these people have any time to use them. Further, for me at least, if I was a billionaire, I'd much rather stay at some posh penthouse in the center of town than some inconvenient boat on the water. My fiction is some yacht mafia comes up to you and says "You're buying one or else".
- YaBomm 5y agoPissing contest with other billionaires?
- the-dude 5y agoI dabbled in watersports for a bit ( sailing ). If it flies, floats or <censored>, rent it.
- hughrr 5y agoYes watercraft have another saying: the best days of owning a boat are the day you get it and the day the insurance pays out after it sinks
- bayindirh 5y agoTwo unrelated friends said the same thing after owning yachts for a long time. > Best yacht is your friend's yacht. One was racing and had many 1st place finishes too. Both sold out all floating assets.
- the-dude 5y agoAnother Dutch one I know : Koop een boot, werk je dood. translates loosely to : Buy a boat and work on it will be a deathmarch. Except in Duch, it rhymes.
- CaptainJustin 5y ago
- rocketChair 5y agoThere are reasons to hate Jeff Bezos and the super-rich, but him buying a big boat from a Dutch company isn't really one of them. Would you rather he bought the boat from a company in another country? Remember, buying luxury yacths is not the same as taking precious resources out of a country, and he doesn't decide the salaries of the ship builders.
- j4yav 5y agoThe link posted here on HN doesn’t seem to work, but the anger is about dismantling a national monument bridge that was promised to never be dismantled again (unless, apparently you are quite rich and then you can get the promise broken), not that a Dutch company built it or that it took natural resources out of the Netherlands. https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/02/a-bridge-too-far-local-anger-at-dismantling-of-historic-bridge-for-bezos-boat/ https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/02/a-bridge-too-far-local...
- rosndo 5y agoDo you think the average Rotterdam resident cares nearly as much as the press and online forums would like you to think? Also, I find it rather suspicious that none of these articles are actually discussing the technical implementation and potential issues facing that. What real risk does opening the bridge present?
- j4yav 5y agoI live here, people are upset and talking about it. The article I linked to also covers what you’re asking about, going over the perspective of the citizens concerned with breaking the promise as well as the perspective of the mayor and companies who believe they can do it safely.
- rosndo 5y agoThis really seems like the kind of a subject that would benefit hugely from good quality opinion polling. We all live in bubbles, there are always things that seem huge on social media that nobody walking down the street cares about.
- ralferoo 5y agoI don't even understand why a company would decide to build a boat in a location where it's impossible to transport it from there to the sea. The whole point of building a boat next to a port is so that it can be dropped into the sea with the minimum of hassle. An obvious solution would be to built it without the masts, move it somewhere closer to the sea and add the masts at the end. This seems far more sensible than removing a bridge.
- hughrr 5y agoI think the build must have been outsourced to software developers :)
- rosndo 5y ago>I don't even understand why a company would decide to build a boat in a location where it's impossible to transport it from there to the sea. It’s obviously not impossible to transport the boat to the sea. > This seems far more sensible than removing a bridge. Opening up the bridge is trivial, just look at it. There’s little chance they won’t open it up, as that’d just screw the local industry by placing a permanent limit on what they can build inland of the bridge. Instead they will most likely find a reasonable solution to safely and quickly dismantle the bridge and put it back together. This isn’t a hard problem to solve, and a lot of money is at stake.
- foepys 5y agoThere are multiple shipyards in Europe that were build hundreds of years ago and were never meant for ships of today's size. Procedures to get these ships out include dismantling structures (as seen above), deepening the river by digging up soil, and backing up the river. The last two procedures have severe impact on wildlife and sometimes farmers whose fields and pastures get flooded.
- pvaldes 5y agoBuy now your rotten eggs six-pack with free shipping only 39,99$ in Amazon
- MonaroVXR 5y agoHmmm Dutch citizen here, it looks like the same bridge as the one where a I lived (Alphen aan den Rijn) and it looks close to Hefbrug, there are a couple of bridges, that have the "same look". One in Alphen aan den Rijn, Boskoop, This one and may be somewhere else. Bridges like this can be "easily" dismantled. (If it's the same build/material/architecture as the in Alphen aan den Rijn.
- rosndo 5y agoYep, it’s an inherent feature of the design. You can just pick up the middle part with a crane, safe and easy.
- ndepoel 5y agoThe problem isn't that it's particularly hard or risky to dismantle the bridge. It's that this specific bridge is an industrial monument that holds a special place in many people's hearts and after the last restoration in 2017 a pledge was made that the bridge would never be dismantled or otherwise harmed again. Then along comes Mr. Rich Man with his exorbitant needs and suddenly these promises have all become worthless. It's a matter of principle; people are fed up that the rules never seem to apply to the super rich and everything and everyone has to make way for their demands.
- imgabe 5y agoWhy would you build a bridge that can be opened up and then promise never to open it up again, especially when there’s a shipyard on the other side of it? That makes no sense.
- ndepoel 5y agoBecause it doesn't function as a bridge anymore. It stopped functioning as a bridge back in 1993. It's a monument now, an industrial monument and part of the city's heritage. It's already permanently in the open state and more than high enough to let almost any ship through easily. Except for Mr. Bezos' new superyacht. That's why it would have to be dismantled.
- jdrc 5y agoWhy did he go with a shipyard that clearly has not built anything as big before?
- 6510 5y agohttps://www.oceancoyacht.com/approach/ https://www.oceancoyacht.com/approach/
- eric4smith 5y agoWhy the hate for Jeff Bezos? Compare your life relatively to his. PERCENTAGE RATIO wise, you probably did as much bad as he has. Assume you did 10% really bad things in your life. And Jeff did also 10% bad things. But the other 90% wow!!! (And your life too!!!) Millions of jobs overall. Thousands of jobs directly and indirectly to build, furnish, secure and staff that yacht. Countless kids of those families. The ability for you to order anything and have it delivered to almost any part of the world in a few days. Families taken out of poverty. Jobs for those who don't have them. Amazon AWS that touches the internet for almost everyone worldwide. Those Dutch citizens should swallow those rotten eggs. (Loved and visit The Netherlands, don't get it twisted). Whatever, I'll definitely lose karma for this one. Don't care.
- the-dude 5y agoBezos has the ability to screw people by the thousands. I don't.
- rosndo 5y agoJust park your car on a busy highway during a rush hour :) Anyone can screw others at a massive scale, luckily people mostly don’t.
- the-dude 5y agoI don't own a car. Now what?
- ithkuil 5y agoThis thread talks about the "ability" to do harm. You don't need to own a car in order to park a car in the middle of a highway. You can rent one for instance.
- the-dude 5y agoWhat if I don't have a drivers license or the money? I mean, if the whole arsenal is parking a car and causing a traffic jam, it ain't much.
- bArray 5y ago> Whoops! > Something went wrong. > (404 page not found) There seems to be quite a few people talking about the article, but I'm seeing nothing?
- DavideNL 5y agoI see the same error... and also on Archive.is https://archive.is/4n7Y7 https://archive.is/4n7Y7 Here's a link that works: https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-superyacht-dutch-residents-throw-rotten-eggs-bridge-dismantling-2022-2?international=true&r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-superyacht-dutch-...
- scollet 5y agoModern colonialism does not preclude the right to protest its effects. We should all be making omelettes on the seat of luxury. Feel, at least, a little humanity.
- styluss 5y agoCan still see the site on amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-superyacht-dutch-residents-throw-rotten-eggs-bridge-dismantling-2022-2%3famp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/jeff-be...
- aaron695 5y ago
- xuhu 5y agoI should start a rotten egg shop.