4 ms·

Greenwashing. $400M is about what AMZN spent on the totally-unwanted LOTR reboot.

by 23B1 3y ago

deanCommie 3y ago
It's bigger than that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Corporation_of_New_York https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Corporation_of_New_Yo... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation And now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos#Philanthropy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos#Philanthropy (not significant enough yet to warrant it's own page) A classic move by exploitative billionaires to launder their legacy. But what's the alternative? NOT doing it? We should support it, and shame the billionaires that DON'T. do this.
- k4rli 3y ago
  Definitely hard to trust their philanthropy. This was also a nice watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH4uh8cHuto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH4uh8cHuto
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  > But what's the alternative? Taxing the crap out of them in some way that passes constitutional muster, and if necessary changing the constitution?
caturopath 3y ago
That doesn't mean that $400MM is a small amount of money, it means the LOTR reboot was an expensive TV show or whatever it was. It is a large amount of money.
kyleblarson 3y ago
[flagged]
danzer420 3y ago
what a nonsense comparison. anyway, you're showing a misunderstanding of the complexity of capital allocation. So he should have donated 1 billion? why not 2? why not 5? why not 10? well hang on, 10 billion for greening some areas? That's not an optimal use of 10 billion. 8 of those should go to doctors without borders. wait hang on, have you seen the ukrainian refugee crisis? and you're putting 8 billion towards doctors without borders? they should get at least 3 of that. wow so you've donated 10 billion dollars but not a single dollar towards educating women in third world countries? etc ad nauseum. I guess your take is probably that it's his responsibility to donate 100% of his wealth optimally across the world, and spend the rest of his life doing that. but i'm appealing to people with more sense when I say: don't underestimate how difficult it is to "correctly" spend a large amount of wealth.
NickM 3y ago
Just because they could afford to give more doesn't make this money meaningless. I'm not saying we need to like, bow down and praise Bezos over this, or that it erases any other bad things he may have done...but let's try to acknowledge that hundreds of millions toward this kind of charity is an actual good thing and not just a pointless PR stunt.
- axlee 3y ago
  I'd prefer if Amazon et al paid their taxes and society as a whole could decide how to spend it to better itself, through the democracy that we are supposed to live in.
  - blamazon 3y ago
    To that end, to put the $400MM in perspective, Amazon has received $671MM of disclosed tax breaks and other subsidies from New York State. [1] (Context note: NYS 'jobs for tax cuts' program may be the most aggressive in the nation? I'm not an expert.) [1]: https://goodjobsfirst.org/amazon-tracker/?state=New+York https://goodjobsfirst.org/amazon-tracker/?state=New+York
  - pb7 3y ago
    What taxes do they not pay? Have you contacted the IRS about this tax evasion? They have a whistleblower program so you could pocket some cash!
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - NickM 3y ago
    Well, sure, there are lots of things that could happen in the world that would be even better than a $400M donation like this, but that doesn't make a $400M donation a bad or pointless thing. Nor does it make this donation somehow responsible for stopping those other good things from happening.
bee_rider 3y ago
I mean, nobody should have this much money, so it isn’t like I want to defend the guy, but it was the most expensive show ever. If “less expensive than Rings of Power” is the benchmark, almost every other project in the world is a tiny indie affair. IMO the lesson there is “money can’t buy competence.” I bet they can make some nice parks for $400M. According to Wikipedia, Disneyland cost $130M adjusted to 2021 dollars. 3 Disneylands isn’t nothing.
blamazon 3y ago
It's also in the ballpark of what one AMZN warehouse in Alabama may have cost to build. ($325M)[1] I'd like to compare this $400M action to the effort AMZN has spent on paving the planet. ('Making a dent', one might say) https://www.constructiondive.com/news/amazon-breaks-ground-on-325m-alabama-fulfillment-center/538879/ https://www.constructiondive.com/news/amazon-breaks-ground-o...

Greenwashing. $400M is about what AMZN spent on the totally-unwanted LOTR reboot.

by 23B1 3y ago

Greenwashing. $400M is about what AMZN spent on the totally-unwanted LOTR reboot.

It's bigger than that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Corporation_of_New_York https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Corporation_of_New_Yo... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation And now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos#Philanthropy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos#Philanthropy (not significant enough yet to warrant it's own page) A classic move by exploitative billionaires to launder their legacy. But what's the alternative? NOT doing it? We should support it, and shame the billionaires that DON'T. do this.

k4rli 3y ago
Definitely hard to trust their philanthropy. This was also a nice watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH4uh8cHuto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH4uh8cHuto
PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
> But what's the alternative? Taxing the crap out of them in some way that passes constitutional muster, and if necessary changing the constitution?

caturopath 3y ago

That doesn't mean that $400MM is a small amount of money, it means the LOTR reboot was an expensive TV show or whatever it was. It is a large amount of money.

kyleblarson 3y ago

[flagged]

danzer420 3y ago

what a nonsense comparison. anyway, you're showing a misunderstanding of the complexity of capital allocation. So he should have donated 1 billion? why not 2? why not 5? why not 10? well hang on, 10 billion for greening some areas? That's not an optimal use of 10 billion. 8 of those should go to doctors without borders. wait hang on, have you seen the ukrainian refugee crisis? and you're putting 8 billion towards doctors without borders? they should get at least 3 of that. wow so you've donated 10 billion dollars but not a single dollar towards educating women in third world countries? etc ad nauseum. I guess your take is probably that it's his responsibility to donate 100% of his wealth optimally across the world, and spend the rest of his life doing that. but i'm appealing to people with more sense when I say: don't underestimate how difficult it is to "correctly" spend a large amount of wealth.

NickM 3y ago

Just because they could afford to give more doesn't make this money meaningless. I'm not saying we need to like, bow down and praise Bezos over this, or that it erases any other bad things he may have done...but let's try to acknowledge that hundreds of millions toward this kind of charity is an actual good thing and not just a pointless PR stunt.

axlee 3y ago
I'd prefer if Amazon et al paid their taxes and society as a whole could decide how to spend it to better itself, through the democracy that we are supposed to live in.
- blamazon 3y ago
  To that end, to put the $400MM in perspective, Amazon has received $671MM of disclosed tax breaks and other subsidies from New York State. [1] (Context note: NYS 'jobs for tax cuts' program may be the most aggressive in the nation? I'm not an expert.) [1]: https://goodjobsfirst.org/amazon-tracker/?state=New+York https://goodjobsfirst.org/amazon-tracker/?state=New+York
- pb7 3y ago
  What taxes do they not pay? Have you contacted the IRS about this tax evasion? They have a whistleblower program so you could pocket some cash!
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- NickM 3y ago
  Well, sure, there are lots of things that could happen in the world that would be even better than a $400M donation like this, but that doesn't make a $400M donation a bad or pointless thing. Nor does it make this donation somehow responsible for stopping those other good things from happening.

bee_rider 3y ago

I mean, nobody should have this much money, so it isn’t like I want to defend the guy, but it was the most expensive show ever. If “less expensive than Rings of Power” is the benchmark, almost every other project in the world is a tiny indie affair. IMO the lesson there is “money can’t buy competence.” I bet they can make some nice parks for $400M. According to Wikipedia, Disneyland cost $130M adjusted to 2021 dollars. 3 Disneylands isn’t nothing.

blamazon 3y ago

It's also in the ballpark of what one AMZN warehouse in Alabama may have cost to build. ($325M)[1] I'd like to compare this $400M action to the effort AMZN has spent on paving the planet. ('Making a dent', one might say) https://www.constructiondive.com/news/amazon-breaks-ground-on-325m-alabama-fulfillment-center/538879/ https://www.constructiondive.com/news/amazon-breaks-ground-o...