Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
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Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#2There will be a lot of cynicism on this post from the HN crowd, but these are unbelievably good recipients. I have interacted with Jose Andres many times, and go to his DC restaurants when I visit, and he is truly a wonderful soul who spends all his effort helping others. I don’t know much about Van Jones beyond what I see on TV, but if he’s of the same character as Jose Andres, that is stellar and they will both do wonderful things for our world with that money.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#3Bezos isn't known for being dumb with his money. So, I am curious about his motivation in this case. What is the deep reptilian part of his tycoon brain telling him? Is he buying positive press after yesterday's show? Does he care about the cause? Or is he buying a 1990 Cutlass Supreme from Jones on the down-low?
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#4Assassinate Bezos
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#5There will be a lot of cynicism on this post from the HN crowd, but these are unbelievably good recipients. I have interacted with Jose Andres many times, and go to his DC restaurants when I visit, and he is truly a wonderful soul who spends all his effort helping others. I don’t know much about Van Jones beyond what I see on TV, but if he’s of the same character as Jose Andres, that is stellar and they will both do…
Another reason to temporarily suspend cynicism is that this is a very interesting method of philanthropy. Allowing the recipients to chose their own destinations for the money could lead to a more diverse and disruptive set of expenditures. I am interested to see this award program's effects in 10-20 years.
Is this an annual event? I never saw a definitive answer on that.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#6There will be a lot of cynicism on this post from the HN crowd, but these are unbelievably good recipients. I have interacted with Jose Andres many times, and go to his DC restaurants when I visit, and he is truly a wonderful soul who spends all his effort helping others. I don’t know much about Van Jones beyond what I see on TV, but if he’s of the same character as Jose Andres, that is stellar and they will both do…
Personally, I'm too confused to be even cynical about it. I don't know anything about Van Jones other than what I see on TV, but that by itself cannot explain why Bezos felt he deserved the "award".
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#7There will be a lot of cynicism on this post from the HN crowd, but these are unbelievably good recipients. I have interacted with Jose Andres many times, and go to his DC restaurants when I visit, and he is truly a wonderful soul who spends all his effort helping others. I don’t know much about Van Jones beyond what I see on TV, but if he’s of the same character as Jose Andres, that is stellar and they will both do…
Agree. They seem like good choices. Maybe he’s making a pivot now that he’s retired from Amazon?
I will caution people to not read too little or too much into this.
Personally I live by the maxim of “I don’t need a reason to do something nice, but I do need a reason to do something mean.” So I suggest we all wait and see what else he does before further analysis.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#8It’s the billionaire race not only did he reach outer space as he said he would, I know he wanted to be the first BILLY to do it. Branson bear him to it.. so he says ok.. I wasn’t the first to do it but I’ll be the first to dig into my bag and give away some life changing money. Which will spread the news of Blue origin even further.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#9All the critics lobbing cynicism against Bezos, Branson, and Musk saying, in essence, that their money is better spent here at home reminds me of a wonderful scene from The West Wing when one character asks why we have to go to Mars:
"'Cause it's next. For we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill, and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean, and we pioneered the West, and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on the timeline of exploration, and this is what's next."
I personally don't care that these billionaires are spending their money on vacations to orbit. It's how we get to the moon and Mars and how we survive as a species. It's what's next.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#10The really interesting thing to me about this announcement is that it's the first time I think I've ever heard about such a large gift being given to individuals, instead of a foundation or non-profit. Curious if Bezos is just testing to see if this type of philanthropy has better results.
I'm also interested in the logistics of a gift this large. I mean, Bezos would have to pay a large gift tax for gifts sent directly to individuals. Obviously he can afford it, but curious if there was some attempt to save on taxes if the end desire is for all of this money to go to charity.