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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

#81

Post by cassac »

catillac wrote: post #2

There 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…

It deserves cynicism. If he wasn’t a jerk he’d just pay his employees more and maybe pay some taxes. When everyone is fair upfront they don’t need to give us free turkeys on thanksgiving we can buy our own.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#82

Post by havetocharge »

cassac wrote: post #81
catillac wrote: post #2

There 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…

It deserves cynicism. If he wasn’t a jerk he’d just pay his employees more and maybe pay some taxes. When everyone is fair upfront they don’t need to give us free turkeys on thanksgiving we can buy our own.

His employees are free to seek a better paid employment if a jerk they work for underpays them. What's up with this nonstop handout mindset lately?

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#83

Post by chroem- »

slg wrote: post #79
chroem- wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you say the same things about someone who was formerly a nazi, but who still engaged in far right politics? I do not believe you would.

A Nazi is not the opposite of a communist. Someone doesn't become a Nazi post-WWII because they believe in fascism. They do it because they are motivated by the hateful beliefs of Nazis. Therefore there is a higher barrier to prove that the person has truly changed before they can be forgiven. However there is still a path to forgiveness.

> Someone doesn't become a Nazi post-WWII because they believe in fascism. They do it because they are motivated by the hateful beliefs of Nazis.

Thank you, this is precisely my point. How can someone still support communism after the Soviet purges, the holodomor, Chinese cultural revolution, the Cambodian genocide, etc., etc.? Communism has oppressed and killed an order of magnitude more people than fascism, but in your opinion is this somehow more tolerable because those victims were killed out of love?

Just as fascists follow their failed ideology because of hatred, communists follow their failed ideology out of a lust for power.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#84

Post by eli »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #78
Salgat wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who pays for the roads that Amazon depends on for deliveries and employee commutes? Who pays for the k-12 educations and public universities that these employees used to become educated? Who pays for the entire social infrastructure that allows Amazon to even exist? That's what people mean when they say Amazon isn't paying their fair share. They depend on us and taxpayer benefits more than almost any other company in…

Do they not pay payroll taxes for the nearly 100k people they employ?

That's not a proportional share

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#86

Post by mostdataisnice »

alfalfasprout wrote: post #21
minikites wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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. Really? Which billionaires personally funded the Apollo program? The progress of our species shouldn't have to rely on the fickle preferences of one person, their enormous wealth should be taxed and the money should be used for programs like NASA and it…

But the reality is that competition really does drive innovation. In the past few years we've seen SpaceX get reusable boosters working, a mission to the ISS, etc. Though people like to diminish blue origin's accomplishments due to not hitting orbit they were able to land their reusable booster on the first try too. In a short amount of time we've seen tremendous progress in bringing down the costs of launching. It's…

The fundamental problem is that NASA's funding is tied to politics and not a business model. Both Democrats and Republicans gutted NASA over the last 15 years and essentially killed any chance we had at even launching basic rockets. The SLS was the last serious project NASA tackled and it was shuttered.

Private space exploration has brought us innovation at a pace NASA could have never delivered because it always had to be pessimistic and scared of funding cuts if anything ever failed.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#87

Post by pb7 »

cassac wrote: post #81
catillac wrote: post #2

There 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…

It deserves cynicism. If he wasn’t a jerk he’d just pay his employees more and maybe pay some taxes. When everyone is fair upfront they don’t need to give us free turkeys on thanksgiving we can buy our own.

He pays all the taxes he owes.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#88

Post by mtgx »

havetocharge wrote: post #82
cassac wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It deserves cynicism. If he wasn’t a jerk he’d just pay his employees more and maybe pay some taxes. When everyone is fair upfront they don’t need to give us free turkeys on thanksgiving we can buy our own.

His employees are free to seek a better paid employment if a jerk they work for underpays them. What's up with this nonstop handout mindset lately?

Monopolies and corporate consolidations tend to limit one's job opportunities.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#89

Post by whymauri »

balozi wrote: post #3

Bezos 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?

Bezos has been obsessed with space since middle school, he's a huge Star Trek fan and originally wanted to study astrophysics.

Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres

#90

Post by techrat »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #78
Salgat wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who pays for the roads that Amazon depends on for deliveries and employee commutes? Who pays for the k-12 educations and public universities that these employees used to become educated? Who pays for the entire social infrastructure that allows Amazon to even exist? That's what people mean when they say Amazon isn't paying their fair share. They depend on us and taxpayer benefits more than almost any other company in…

Do they not pay payroll taxes for the nearly 100k people they employ?

No. The people they employ pay the payroll taxes out of their salary. No company pays payroll taxes for their employees.
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