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Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

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Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#301

Post by dredmorbius »

sumedh wrote: post #254
andrepd wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, Bezos didn't create more value than 100,000,000s of people. How could he? He started it, sure, he owns it and he directs it, but Amazon employs 341,000 people. Those are the people who generate the bulk of the value produced by the Amazon company, yet they share in very little of the value they produced. Would you say a CEO is responsible for all the value the company makes? Would you say it's fair for a feudal…

> yet they share in very little of the value they produced. Those employees are free to start their own companies. If you take the risk of starting a business then you should get the rewards if it succeeds.

You're begging the question (and yes, that's proper use): why should all the rewards go to those who've taken some risk?

What of the risks taken by others? Are there uncompensated risk-bearing activities?

Are there activities with low risk but high return?

Suppose, say, dropping a drill bit next to the guy who's just blown in a gusher? Or securing control of the pipelines, railroads, and refineries by which that oil must make its way to market?

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#302

Post by hamilyon2 »

psyc wrote: post #164
_m8fo wrote: post #84

Everytime I see these types of articles I wonder if we're still in feudalism. Should we really be celebrating that a single individual is worth more than hundreds of millions of people[1]? I dunno, it seems dystopian , like we're enslaved to the system. [1] https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/...

Funny to find this top comment, since I just had this exact train of thought an hour ago. It went something like this. It's a common unexamined platitude that it takes a huge amount of work, and especially sacrifice to be able to live well. That might well be true under certain conditions of, say, undeveloped agrarian civilizations. It shouldn't still be true of ours, and yet it is. Our infrastructure and supply chai…

The problem is that without those pople up there we lose quote a bit of efficiency as a sosiety. Game theory does not work out without owners.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#303

Post by logicchains »

milesrout wrote: post #246
mjfl wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not the important part. The violence is the important part. Feudalism wasn't unjust because the kings had a lot of money, it was unjust because they got a lot of money through force and not through productive economic activity. Also, I think it is extremely problematic to compare any system with large disparities of outcome with an essentially violent system like feudalism (or just defining "inequality = v…

Capitalism is inherently violent whether you like it or not. The police violently repress anyone seeking what they have a natural right to: their fair share of the wealth.

People have a natural right to the results of others' toils solely by virtue of having been born?

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#304

Post by puranjay »

_m8fo wrote: post #84

Everytime I see these types of articles I wonder if we're still in feudalism. Should we really be celebrating that a single individual is worth more than hundreds of millions of people[1]? I dunno, it seems dystopian , like we're enslaved to the system. [1] https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/...

It boggles my mind to think that a single individual is worth more than entire countries.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#305

Post by carapace »

dredmorbius wrote: post #297
indeed_thetruth wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This argument is trivially inconsistent. The state must protect liberty by interfering with one's liberty? State interfence is a direct transgression against an individual's liberty. Thus far the majority has decided that such interfence is a greater evil than the "inequality" that it could reconcile.

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes! https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/waltwhitma132584...

(You dropped a clause.)

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#306

Post by iamnotlarry »

ruleabidinguser wrote: post #141
DamnYuppie wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throughout human history there has never been a time where those in power, regardless of how obtained, didn't turn to violence and subterfuge to maintain it.

Have you experienced violence from those in power? Its so easy to spread fear when you haven't used your brain. And have you considered how much of your lifestyle, the best parts of your lifestyle, is impossible under any system other than capitalism? I can't think of a better vehicle for diversity and indeed there certainly isn't one. It's almost insulting when people so casually dismiss these things.

You may wish to tone down the condescension. Many people use their brains just fine and have, in fact, experienced violence from those in power.

Perhaps they knew or were related to one of the dozens of people murdered by police. Perhaps they were turned away from a favorite recreational activity by armed BLM agents and snipers violently confiscating cattle. (Why does the BLM have snipers?) Maybe they were affected by government murders at Ruby Ridge, or police peppering of Occupy protesters, or maybe they were attacked by trained dogs near the Dakota pipeline. Maybe their children were threatened when they spoke out about a tax hike to hire more police. Maybe their relative is in lockup for crossing an imaginary line that arbitrarily bounds Arizona. Maybe their property was taken from them because it could generate higher tax revenue if a strip mall were built there instead. Maybe they read about somebody who fled for their life after exposing illegal activity on the part of the government.

Maybe it is possible to use your brain and still be wary of the corrupt use of power in today's society.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#310

Post by jcchen »

_m8fo wrote: post #84

Everytime I see these types of articles I wonder if we're still in feudalism. Should we really be celebrating that a single individual is worth more than hundreds of millions of people[1]? I dunno, it seems dystopian , like we're enslaved to the system. [1] https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/...

Sorry, I couldn't disagree more. While Jeff Bezos' upbringing isn't exact destitute, his rise from a modest background[1] to extreme riches is evidence to me that the American system still works to some degree. No offense but I think going all the way to conflating this with feudalism slightly discredits and damages efforts to fix real problems in our society such as increasing wealth gap.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos#Early_life_and_educ...

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