The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
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Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#2"Matt Kilcoyne, of the free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, disagrees.
"Quite frankly Bezos's greatest act of philanthropy is Amazon itself," he argues.
"Lower prices, more choice and competition have delivered billions for Bezos and billions worth for the hundreds of millions of customers he serves." "
I do think feel strong about Bezos plans, but it's a bit of a stretch to claim Amazon is a public good.
Pretty sure all the people who worked in book shops don't think so.
Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#3"Matt Kilcoyne, of the free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, disagrees. "Quite frankly Bezos's greatest act of philanthropy is Amazon itself," he argues. "Lower prices, more choice and competition have delivered billions for Bezos and billions worth for the hundreds of millions of customers he serves." " I do think feel strong about Bezos plans, but it's a bit of a stretch to claim Amazon is a public good.…
Way more people benefited from Amazon. It's cheaper. It set a new standard in delivery times and customer support. Its existence improved life of millions of people by significant margin. That old industry got killed is natural when progress happens.
Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#4Bill Gates didn’t get going with his philanthropy till later.
Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#5I'm always suspicious of someone that has "philanthropist" at the beginning of their wikipedia page.
Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#6I don't believe in charity. It's not that useful for poor people as it may seem.
How has Bezos helped society: - By taking risks and innovating. - By paying taxes.
How he could help even more society? - By taking even more risks. - By paying much more taxes. - By improving his employees salary.
Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#7"Matt Kilcoyne, of the free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, disagrees. "Quite frankly Bezos's greatest act of philanthropy is Amazon itself," he argues. "Lower prices, more choice and competition have delivered billions for Bezos and billions worth for the hundreds of millions of customers he serves." " I do think feel strong about Bezos plans, but it's a bit of a stretch to claim Amazon is a public good.…
Way more people benefited from Amazon. It's cheaper. It set a new standard in delivery times and customer support. Its existence improved life of millions of people by significant margin. That old industry got killed is natural when progress happens.
Amazon also set new lows for how to pay and treat employees, and how little it is possible to care about selling counterfeit products.
Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#8"Matt Kilcoyne, of the free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, disagrees. "Quite frankly Bezos's greatest act of philanthropy is Amazon itself," he argues. "Lower prices, more choice and competition have delivered billions for Bezos and billions worth for the hundreds of millions of customers he serves." " I do think feel strong about Bezos plans, but it's a bit of a stretch to claim Amazon is a public good.…
I'm sure the people that manufactured buggy whips didn't think cars or mass transit was a public good either. Sadly, stuff like this happens as the world advances.
I have a lot of sympathy for people in this situation and think they should be re-trained, but I wouldn't hold back progress.
Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#9It seems you can't be charitable without someone telling you you should have given more or given to someone else. It's not a great way of encouraging charity.
If it is not doing harm and making some lives better, the correct response is 'thank you for making the world a better place'. Even if you think it is self serving, we should encourage such self serving behavior.
Re: The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?
#10"Matt Kilcoyne, of the free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, disagrees. "Quite frankly Bezos's greatest act of philanthropy is Amazon itself," he argues. "Lower prices, more choice and competition have delivered billions for Bezos and billions worth for the hundreds of millions of customers he serves." " I do think feel strong about Bezos plans, but it's a bit of a stretch to claim Amazon is a public good.…
I dont quite understand this reoccurring sentiment about the poor book shops.
Here in Germany the bookshops mainly feature fear mongering books and are mostly in German. Then there is a tiny section of english books (which often happen to be better then the German books displayed).
Maybe this dos not apply to all German book shops but I feel like they haven't gotten with the times yet.