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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

#841

Post by 3wayMerger »

pb7 wrote: post #837
3wayMerger wrote: post #835

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if instead of paying Bezos paying more taxes, he has to pay his workers more? I think it's wrong to just force Bezos to give away his wealth. However, I also think that some Amazon workers should be payed more. I don't think Bezos would have had the same amount of success with Amazon, if he had to do everything himself without hiring any other people. I believe most successful achievements were achieved through…

>What if instead of paying Bezos paying more taxes, he has to pay his workers more? I think it's wrong to just force Bezos to give away his wealth. However, I also think that some Amazon workers should be payed more. Amazon already pays the most for this type of work. So how much should they pay? >We call these workers "essential" but their pay doesn't reflect that title. The work is essential but the workers are eas…

As mentioned before, I don't know what a "fair" pay would be. Maybe it could be based on a percentage of the total revenue? But one man being paid 266,666 apples while others get paid 1 apple doesn't seem "fair". Especially, if the 266,666 produced apples were only possible with the combined work of others.

And yes, the work is essential and workers are easily replaceable because the work is something practically anybody could do. My point is that because the work is essential, the easily replaceable workers should be payed more. Regardless of who does the work, whether it is some random civilian off the street or Bezos, somebody has to do the work. That's why it's essential. The work itself is valuable so I believe whoever does the work should be payed based on the value of the work.

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

#842

Post by yupper32 »

lasc4r wrote: post #748
yupper32 wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sounds like making the wrong investment. It's not the wrong investment. It's a different investment. Other billionaires are working on some of the problems on your list, too, if that makes you feel better. The most prominent one being Bill Gates. He's working on the "we lose millions a year to disease" portion of your list. Do you hate on Bill Gates because he isn't solving world peace ("fighting wars" on your list…

>Other billionaires are working on some of the problems on your list, too, if that makes you feel better. The most prominent one being Bill Gates. He's working on the "we lose millions a year to disease" portion of your list. Do you hate on Bill Gates because he isn't solving world peace ("fighting wars" on your list)? Relying on the goodwill of billionaires is a problem. >We need to push forward now to have a chance…

> Relying on the goodwill of billionaires is a problem.

Isn't that part of my point? You're expecting billionaires to spend their money on what you think is most important. I'm not.

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

#843

Post by birksherty »

jamesgreenleaf wrote: post #259
sofixa wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's how we get to the moon and Mars and how we survive as a species. It's what's next. I find it extremely weird that people are banking on a (almost literal) moonshot for the survival of our species. Isn't trying to stop/lessen the damage we're doing to the place we currently live and which can sustain us better and more optimistic proposition than hoping a metric shitton of things go perfectly after probably mil…

The Earth is going to die one day. The Sun will die too. There is no guarantee that intelligent life will survive on this single planet, even if we do a perfect job of taking care of it. Catastrophic, species-killing events can happen at any time. If we wish to ensure the long-term survival of the only intelligent life in the universe that we know about (as well as the survival of all the other creatures on Earth, wh…

> The Earth is going to die one day

This is different than humans polluting and crushing the whole ecosystem for it's greed. It will be better for other species if it try to reverse at least what it can instead as we are the cause. Humans are the literally the worst thing in universe. It will also be better for all species if humans die out asap.

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

#844

Post by birksherty »

Zelphyr wrote: post #9

All 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…

This is different than humans polluting and crushing the whole ecosystem for it's greed. It will be better for other species if it try to reverse at least what it can instead as we are the cause. Humans are the literally the worst thing in universe. It will also be better for all species if humans die out asap.

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

#845

Post by dumbfoundded »

Justin_K wrote: post #739
dumbfoundded wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a classic conservative strategy. Take over a government program, run it into the ground, use it as evidence that governments don't work, and then run for office on a platform of dismantling the broken government. The essential problem with the idea of government is that it requires people to cooperate in good faith. People who say government doesn't work are essentially arguing that people cannot cooperate with…

Take the CA DMV, long run into the ground by liberal officials. Should it just remain that way?

So all DMVs suck and CA actually has one of the top 5 customer satisfaction ratings in the USA (1). If you're wondering why DMVs suck in general, it's most likely due to the chronic understaffing & number of people that use the service (2). If you live in CA, you can actually do most things DMV online and quickly. There is that super annoying Real ID law though and you have to visit a DMV for that. That law was passed under a Republican administration (congress & presidential) (3) in 2005, is creating a massive burden for the DMV, and has few if any benefits for national security.

I'd suggest thinking about ways we can improve the service or reduce the reliance on it. California is the most diverse state in the USA (4) and accommodation for many languages for an in-person service is really difficult. California certainly has significant unique issues but you picked an astounding poor example with little research or thought.

A bigger problem we should look at is why liberals fund this whole country and conservatives are so dependent on welfare (5 - look in particular at the state dependency map based on political leaning). Democratic congressional districts represent 70% of GDP (6) despite representing 50% of the US senate. Isn't that crazy?

(1) https://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/04/prweb11796238.htm

(2) https://www.dmvcalifornia.us/why-dmv-so-slow/

(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_ID_Act

(4) https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-09-10/...

(5) https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the...

(6) https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/10/election-2020-democrats-repu...

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

#846

Post by dumbfoundded »

Nimitz14 wrote: post #802
dumbfoundded wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a classic conservative strategy. Take over a government program, run it into the ground, use it as evidence that governments don't work, and then run for office on a platform of dismantling the broken government. The essential problem with the idea of government is that it requires people to cooperate in good faith. People who say government doesn't work are essentially arguing that people cannot cooperate with…

You're wrong.

No, you're wrong.

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

#847

Post by dumbfoundded »

gameman144 wrote: post #659
dumbfoundded wrote: post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Democratic governments make the largest and riskiest investments. I've provided quite a few examples in the last century. Do you have any evidence or theory as to the contrary?

Democratic government could very well make the largest and riskiest investments, but I find it hard to believe that they make the most efficient investments. Government need to get a job done, but they also need to appease voters and play politics to be able to achieve long-term goals. Businesses self-select for efficiency in the long-term, because those that aren't efficient go bankrupt or get overtaken by a more ef…

Actually the opposite. Just look at fundamental science research. The LHC cost $9B. Why didn't Bezos make his own instead of funding his 3rd rate rocket ride?

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

#848

Post by robotresearcher »

d110af5ccf wrote: post #708
robotresearcher wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You die without ever selling your stocks. Your heirs can pay off your loans by selling some of the stocks they inherit. Their cost basis for those stocks is their value at the time of inheritance. This way no capital gains tax is ever due on the stock gains made in your lifetime.

> Their cost basis for those stocks is their value at the time of inheritance. This way no capital gains tax is ever due on the stock gains Are you sure that's the way it works in the US? If so that seems somewhat absurd. In Canada there's no inheritance tax but capital gains are realized on death and the cost basis resets. So your heirs inherit the assets and an associated tax bill which honestly makes perfect sense…

yep.

https://taxfoundation.org/tax-basics/step-up-in-basis/

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/073115/how-cost-bas...

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

#849

Post by cowgoesmoo »

3wayMerger wrote: post #841
pb7 wrote: post #837

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What if instead of paying Bezos paying more taxes, he has to pay his workers more? I think it's wrong to just force Bezos to give away his wealth. However, I also think that some Amazon workers should be payed more. Amazon already pays the most for this type of work. So how much should they pay? >We call these workers "essential" but their pay doesn't reflect that title. The work is essential but the workers are eas…

As mentioned before, I don't know what a "fair" pay would be. Maybe it could be based on a percentage of the total revenue? But one man being paid 266,666 apples while others get paid 1 apple doesn't seem "fair". Especially, if the 266,666 produced apples were only possible with the combined work of others. And yes, the work is essential and workers are easily replaceable because the work is something practically any…

Bezos isn't "paid" his net worth. His compensation was actually very low compared to his net worth, only $1.6 million in stock compensation in 2019 (and $82k cash). His net worth comes from his 10% stake in Amazon that he's pretty much had since he founded the company. So, he isn't paid 266,666 apples, he owns 10% of a giant apple farm that he founded.

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

#850

Post by pb7 »

coliveira wrote: post #669
pb7 wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well then if it's so easy, then why doesn't everyone just start their own businesses? There's no risk after all. Get a loan from a bank and start a small business -- millions of people do this around the world! Easy. Guaranteed wealth, right? >If a business fails and closes down its employees will be out on the dole, and that's the best case scenario. They lose their health care, possibly their homes and other posses…

> Get a loan from a bank and start a small business That's the point: Bezos didn't get a loan from a bank, he just raised money from other rich people. He never had even the risk of repaying a bank loan, for Christ's sake! Most people who want to start small business are a much more precarious situation, and that's why they don't start businesses as easily as you want.

His risk was the opportunity cost of not working a safe, guaranteed high paying job which he already held.
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