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Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

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Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#361

Post by RugnirViking »

jacques_chester wrote: post #316
jtolmar wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He has $150 bn in stock that he could just distribute to his employees.

It would not remain worth $150 billion if he did. It would crash quite spectacularly.

You realise that right now he has personally the money to give each and every one of his employees $256 000 in cash or stock options. Thats more than many of his employees make in 5 years.

Most of these people don't own their own house. Many of them have probably never travelled outside of the country.

That's not his entire company, thats just his own personal wealth. Imagine if his c-suite and upper management all pitched in too.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#362

Post by gytdev »

gutnor wrote: post #313
sidlls wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"About to?" It already is brutal for the bottom half. And the 90th percentile is too low: people in that range are paupers by comparison even to the top 5. I think the 95th to the 99th percentile is the region to look at. There are some seriously deluded individuals in that group who think they won't be on the outside with the rest of us when the top pull the gates closed behind them.

If it take income in the UK as an example. • 50th percentile is 21900, • 90th is "only" 50600, • 95th is 70400, that's the salary required for the 220K average UK house. • 96th is 78800 • 97th is 91300 • 98th is 11000 • 99th is 159000, that's the salary required for the 500K average London house. It really only takes off from 97th percents. Wealth diagram is probably going to look like that too.

You mean per year? Also I think you miss one zero in the 9th. Can You please also provide a source?

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#363

Post by gutnor »

gytdev wrote: post #362
gutnor wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it take income in the UK as an example. • 50th percentile is 21900, • 90th is "only" 50600, • 95th is 70400, that's the salary required for the 220K average UK house. • 96th is 78800 • 97th is 91300 • 98th is 11000 • 99th is 159000, that's the salary required for the 500K average London house. It really only takes off from 97th percents. Wealth diagram is probably going to look like that too.

You mean per year? Also I think you miss one zero in the 9th. Can You please also provide a source?

That is indeed per year in GBP. That is published by the UK Government directly: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/percentile-points-f...

I noticed that I used an older version, so the number have increased a little. The trend is the same though, with

50th: 23200

90th: 53100

95th: 75000

and taking off after that.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#364

Post by CamTin »

throwaway37585 wrote: post #311
ambicapter wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. To make (something burdensome or painful) less intense or severe: assuage her grief. See Synonyms at relieve. > 2. To satisfy or appease (hunger or thirst, for example). > 3. To appease or calm: assuaged his critics. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/assuage

I was asking why the GP thinks assuaging guilt is a motivation here.

It's pretty well documented that a lot of the lavish philanthropy of gilded age barons like Carnegie and Rockefeller was motivated by their guilt and concern about not being able to thread a camel through a needle. I don't know about the religious motivations of our current crop of billionaires, but presumably a lot of the same motivations are at play, since human nature hasn't changed substantially in the past 100 years.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#365

Post by CamTin »

sjg007 wrote: post #196
CamTin wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But a Monopoly on "stuff" and "moving stuff around" is a much more valuable Monopoly (pretty much by definition) than one in "eyeballs to advertise stuff to". Ultimately, the majority of Google's and Facebooks profits are from the advertisement of retail, services, and digital goods, which Amazon is trying (and doing very well) to monopolize. Sure, it may be harder to get there but the rewards are much better if you…

Transportation is going to be uberized. And in the worst case you just ship USPS.

I wonder if the USPS would or has considered running an FBA competitor (ship your items in bulk to a USPS facility, pay for the space, and then to have them packed and shipped via an API). Even operating at a loss, it might make sense from a tax receipt perspective if it spurs economic activity far enough above the subsidy.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#366

Post by Symmetry »

RugnirViking wrote: post #358
Symmetry wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't just sum up the huge variety of programs that was the New Deal like that. Yes, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) probably did halt the existing recovery but it was a recovery that FDR had started by reversing the hard money policies of his predecessors. And you can certainly argue all day about whether stuff like FDIC was a net improvement if you want to but that didn't really affect the length of…

Don't tease us! We aren't all familliar with economic theory - what is the consensus on what worked during the great depression?

Really I'd recommend reading chapter 1 of The Wages of Destruction. The book is really on the economics of WWII but it summarizes the modern consensus on the Great Depression as a starting point and since it fits everything into one chapter ends up being very readable. Mostly it was contagious deflation mediated by the gold standard with gold hording causing deflation causing more hoarding. Countries on the silver standard like China were essentially unaffected. Countries that went off the gold standard early like the UK or Japan recovered early. The Wikipedia article is mostly a history of how economists' understanding of the Great Depression has changed over the decades rather than a description of where it stands now but it works pretty well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#Mainstream_ex...

EDIT: A while ago Krugman had a very good piece trying to explain how deflation can cause problems. Different sorts of economists often disagree about whether its interest rates or aggregate quantities or expectation traps or whatever that's the most important aspect of tight or loose money but they all agree that these things are real and meaningful and generally explain depressions. http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/19...

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#367

Post by frockington »

adamnemecek wrote: post #264
frockington wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that scary? Good for him, he has really changed the world, specifically the way retail has evolved in recent years.

Concentration of power is never good.

Either is jealousy, but its rampant on hacker news and far more destructive

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#368

Post by vlunkr »

alecco wrote: post #350
fullshark wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goods are cheaper, Rent + College Education + Healthcare is much more expensive.

Just for the sake of argument: Rent can be fixed by moving. A lot of people move out of California and NY for a better life. Companies will follow. College and education are being disrupted. Hopefully online courses and independent certification can fix the problem soon. Healthcare is expensive because people in US are obese and unhealthy. And there is a lot more treatment for previously untreated problems but at a v…

I mostly agree with you until the healthcare part. It's more about regulation problems than actual health care. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/08061...

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#369

Post by gremlinsinc »

dragonwriter wrote: post #347
gremlinsinc wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not illegal for corporations to donate to political campaigns. It's also not illegal for corporations and lobbyists to offer jobs, to politicians after they retire from congress. Howard dean once a politician is now a lobbyist. See: https://act.represent.us/sign/the-problem/ Corruption in America is perfectly legal, and the 1% carry a much larger voice than the bottom 90%, if politicians did what voters wanted…

> It is not illegal for corporations to donate to political campaigns The FEC, who actually enforced election law, disagrees: https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/candidate... “Campaigns may not accept contributions from the treasury funds of corporations, labor organizations or national banks. This prohibition applies to any incorporated organization, including a nonstock corporation, a trade associati…

Except there are plenty of 'loopholes'.

1. Superpacs.

2. DNC Fund. (Automatically went to clinton in many cases, so it was another bucket of cash for her campaign. It should've been split evenly in the primary between her and other primary runners.

3. Promises. 'Hey larry, when you're out of congress, let us know if you want to work for our Posh lobby firm. Comfy pay and benefits'.

4. There own interests. Cheney / Haliburton. Anything about Trump.

5. Hillary Victory fund raised: $523.6M -- how many did state parties get of that?

6. There's a lot of ways to hide money. What about speaking engagements.. or other ways to 'pay' the candidate, so they can use their 'own' (but recently acquired) cash on hand? How much do the Clintons or Trumps receive to do a speaking engagement?

I don't know the answer to get rid of all corruption, but how is it that ISP's were able to give money to politicians who voted against net neutrality? INAL but here's a list:

https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15100620/congress-fcc-isp...

Example: Grassley, Chuck : $135,125.

Obviously they can give money, and do to move their political aims. To say they don't means you're living under a box. Maybe if they give it outside an election term when they're not running for office? That money from ISP's should be illegal, but it isn't.

Re: Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B

#370

Post by sandworm101 »

Engineering-MD wrote: post #87
sandworm101 wrote: post #6

Putin tops him. At these levels the dollar value is not a good measure. Bezos owns shares. If he started selling them their value would quickly drop. Monarchs (Putin) are different. They own things outright, or have such influence that they effectively own things that are legally in other people's names. The Saudi royal house has more wealth under their king's control, although not all in his name. What is scary is t…

Interesting idea for a measurement! That amount of money can certainly buy an army, but doesn’t account for equipment, logistics etc. Comparing it directly to military expenditure by states is interesting [1,2]: If spent over a single year it would be 3rd highest expenditure (second is China with 150-228 billion) Could fund a military the same as France or Britain for 3 years Equals the combined spend of Britain Fran…

In many places soldiers can be had for far far less than 80k. In Africa or Iraq, $5k can buy you a man with a gun to follow you around for a year.
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