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So Jeff Bezos creating a company that employs people and grows the economy in a non zero sum way through efficiency gains shouldn’t be rewarded billions for the

by wincy 4y ago

So Jeff Bezos creating a company that employs people and grows the economy in a non zero sum way through efficiency gains shouldn’t be rewarded billions for the trouble? Why are people so concerned with the salary of the ultra rich? It doesn’t make your life objectively worse, if anything our lives are substantially better because of it, even if you don’t directly shop at Amazon.

tetris11 4y ago
Because they can privately buy the regulators who can then make them even richer. If you place that much influence in the hands of anyone, it will be misused for personal gain.
- csallen 4y ago
  1. If the regulators can behave so unscrupulously, making Jeff Bezos poorer won't solve that problem. 2. Wealth and influence are always used for personal gain. That's kind of the point, no? People are incentivized to work and earn money exactly so they can use it to make their lives better.
  - tetris11 4y ago
    1. They could be more easily bribed by his competitors, or even by the government to do their jobs. It's less power to him. 2. If your goal in life is to maximize your own self interest without regards to how it impacts the society as a whole, then yes I agree.
zht 4y ago
because the rich use their wealth to buy instruments that sway public opinion at the expense of everyone else?
- LanceH 4y ago
  Except for you. It's just the rest of the public which is dumb, of course.
  - iamcurious 4y ago
    He is part of the public, he falls to ads just as we do too.
    - LanceH 4y ago
      It's always the opposing side which is brainwashed.
ironlake 4y ago
The hn bootlickers really come out hard when someone suggests that wealth inequality can't be fixed by unregulated capitalism. Won't someone think of the oligarchs?
- shukantpal 4y ago
  The commies are here to give an actual argument, finally. Won't somebody listen to them?
JaimeThompson 4y ago
>It doesn’t make your life objectively worse If my taxes go up to fund plants / warehouses for profitable companies I am objectively worse, am I not?
- jokethrowaway 4y ago
  Absolutely, we need to abolish taxes and the government. I don't see why your solution to your taxes should be "let's make the government control even more of the private sector via more regulations". Get rid of the public sector and everything will move according to value for the customers, instead of who can bribe politicians better.
OminousWeapons 4y ago
> Why are people so concerned with the salary of the ultra rich? Two reasons. First it's because the left lets Twitter determine their messaging and so the economic problems facing the country have been framed incorrectly with an unnecessary moral slant. The economic problems facing the poor are not a function of "wealth inequality" (the delta between rich and poor), but instead are a function of the poor having insufficient resources and services regardless of how much money the rich have. When you frame the issue as wealth inequality, then bringing Bezos's wealth down without any concomitant increase in funding for the poor is a victory as the delta is being reduced. Certainly the rich will need to be taxed more to pay for additional services necessary to improve the lives of the poor and middle class, but explicitly lowering the wealth of the rich doesn't need to be in scope to solve the problems we are facing. Second, no one wants to admit it and by saying it this comment will get flagged, but people care because they are jealous and misinformed. They have zero understanding of what an executive's job actually entails / they don't know anyone in such a role, and as such they (incorrectly) think anyone could do it. Therefore they don't understand why executives are receiving very high levels of comp or amassing massive net worths when they don't appear to be "doing" anything complex.
- evandale 4y ago
  > they are jealous and misinformed. They have zero understanding of what an executive's job actually entails / they don't know anyone in such a role, and as such they (incorrectly) think anyone could do it. Therefore they don't understand why executives are receiving very high levels of comp or amassing massive net worths when they don't appear to be "doing" anything. Yep. It's the same jealously when people are paid millions to just shoot a ball in a hoop. Like, no. You shoot a ball into a hoop and have people who will pay $1000 to watch you do it. One of my favourite punchlines: Tapping with a hammer $2.00 Knowing where to tap $9,998.00

by wincy 4y ago

tetris11 4y ago

Because they can privately buy the regulators who can then make them even richer. If you place that much influence in the hands of anyone, it will be misused for personal gain.

csallen 4y ago
1. If the regulators can behave so unscrupulously, making Jeff Bezos poorer won't solve that problem. 2. Wealth and influence are always used for personal gain. That's kind of the point, no? People are incentivized to work and earn money exactly so they can use it to make their lives better.
- tetris11 4y ago
  1. They could be more easily bribed by his competitors, or even by the government to do their jobs. It's less power to him. 2. If your goal in life is to maximize your own self interest without regards to how it impacts the society as a whole, then yes I agree.

zht 4y ago

because the rich use their wealth to buy instruments that sway public opinion at the expense of everyone else?

LanceH 4y ago
Except for you. It's just the rest of the public which is dumb, of course.
- iamcurious 4y ago
  He is part of the public, he falls to ads just as we do too.
  - LanceH 4y ago
    It's always the opposing side which is brainwashed.

ironlake 4y ago

The hn bootlickers really come out hard when someone suggests that wealth inequality can't be fixed by unregulated capitalism. Won't someone think of the oligarchs?

shukantpal 4y ago
The commies are here to give an actual argument, finally. Won't somebody listen to them?

JaimeThompson 4y ago

>It doesn’t make your life objectively worse If my taxes go up to fund plants / warehouses for profitable companies I am objectively worse, am I not?

jokethrowaway 4y ago
Absolutely, we need to abolish taxes and the government. I don't see why your solution to your taxes should be "let's make the government control even more of the private sector via more regulations". Get rid of the public sector and everything will move according to value for the customers, instead of who can bribe politicians better.

OminousWeapons 4y ago

> Why are people so concerned with the salary of the ultra rich? Two reasons. First it's because the left lets Twitter determine their messaging and so the economic problems facing the country have been framed incorrectly with an unnecessary moral slant. The economic problems facing the poor are not a function of "wealth inequality" (the delta between rich and poor), but instead are a function of the poor having insufficient resources and services regardless of how much money the rich have. When you frame the issue as wealth inequality, then bringing Bezos's wealth down without any concomitant increase in funding for the poor is a victory as the delta is being reduced. Certainly the rich will need to be taxed more to pay for additional services necessary to improve the lives of the poor and middle class, but explicitly lowering the wealth of the rich doesn't need to be in scope to solve the problems we are facing. Second, no one wants to admit it and by saying it this comment will get flagged, but people care because they are jealous and misinformed. They have zero understanding of what an executive's job actually entails / they don't know anyone in such a role, and as such they (incorrectly) think anyone could do it. Therefore they don't understand why executives are receiving very high levels of comp or amassing massive net worths when they don't appear to be "doing" anything complex.

evandale 4y ago
> they are jealous and misinformed. They have zero understanding of what an executive's job actually entails / they don't know anyone in such a role, and as such they (incorrectly) think anyone could do it. Therefore they don't understand why executives are receiving very high levels of comp or amassing massive net worths when they don't appear to be "doing" anything. Yep. It's the same jealously when people are paid millions to just shoot a ball in a hoop. Like, no. You shoot a ball into a hoop and have people who will pay $1000 to watch you do it. One of my favourite punchlines: Tapping with a hammer $2.00 Knowing where to tap $9,998.00