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Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

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Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#341

Post by bromuro »

Aron wrote: post #275
_m8fo wrote: post #84

Everytime I see these types of articles I wonder if we're still in feudalism. Should we really be celebrating that a single individual is worth more than hundreds of millions of people[1]? I dunno, it seems dystopian , like we're enslaved to the system. [1] https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/...

Amazon quite frequently makes my life better. On the other hand, I can't remember ever experiencing a difficult situation because Bezos is rich.

> Amazon quite frequently makes my life better

because you can finally buy more things and own more things and consume more things. how does this make your life better?

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#342

Post by max_ »

mjfl wrote: post #100
_m8fo wrote: post #84

Everytime I see these types of articles I wonder if we're still in feudalism. Should we really be celebrating that a single individual is worth more than hundreds of millions of people[1]? I dunno, it seems dystopian , like we're enslaved to the system. [1] https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/...

I think that's a little hyperbolic. In feudalism the balance of power is enforced by violence, whereas Jeff Bezos got rich because you gave him money in exchange for products. Like, "Hey, here's this cool electronic device called the Amazon Echo for $50." is a markedly different from "Farm here or I'll decapitate you." The fact that you harbor a resentment as if the former is anything like the latter is slightly terr…

>The fact that you harbor a resentment as if the former is anything like the latter is slightly terrifying.

[0]The "half poor" rally don't care about the top 2 rich.

[0]https://medium.com/incerto/inequality-and-skin-in-the-game-d...

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#343

Post by [deleted] »

milesrout wrote: post #246
mjfl wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not the important part. The violence is the important part. Feudalism wasn't unjust because the kings had a lot of money, it was unjust because they got a lot of money through force and not through productive economic activity. Also, I think it is extremely problematic to compare any system with large disparities of outcome with an essentially violent system like feudalism (or just defining "inequality = v…

Capitalism is inherently violent whether you like it or not. The police violently repress anyone seeking what they have a natural right to: their fair share of the wealth.

[deleted]

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#344

Post by vixen99 »

logicchains wrote: post #303
milesrout wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism is inherently violent whether you like it or not. The police violently repress anyone seeking what they have a natural right to: their fair share of the wealth.

People have a natural right to the results of others' toils solely by virtue of having been born?

We could remedy that by taking privileged children away from their toiling parents who provide them with advantages not available to other kids.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#345

Post by Nadya »

vixen99 wrote: post #344
logicchains wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have a natural right to the results of others' toils solely by virtue of having been born?

We could remedy that by taking privileged children away from their toiling parents who provide them with advantages not available to other kids.

Ah, the "Don't read to your children" approach [0]. Don't worry, I know you weren't being serious. Sadly some people are.

[0] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417997/professor-if-yo...

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#346

Post by vixen99 »

bromuro wrote: post #341
Aron wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon quite frequently makes my life better. On the other hand, I can't remember ever experiencing a difficult situation because Bezos is rich.

> Amazon quite frequently makes my life better because you can finally buy more things and own more things and consume more things. how does this make your life better?

That is not your call since you're not in a position to assess the profound meaning of the word 'better' in the mind of another individual. In my case 'consuming' a lot of books costs money and definitely makes my life better but someone else's choices are for them to make and not for me to pontificate over.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#347

Post by dragonwriter »

iamnotlarry wrote: post #300
dragonwriter wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also inheritance is ultimately the extension of the will of someone who was economically productive, so I see no problem there. I see a problem with the dead ruling over the living. Your will ends when you do with no extension. That's not to say there might not be legitimate reasons to allow some inheritance, but extending the will of the dead, economically productive in life or not, is not among them.

Good luck with that. The daughter of a wealthy estate might receive the very best in private education, music lessons, etc. She might take her allowance and start a successful business. She might just have a successful business because of all her parents' social connections. Then dad dies. How do you propose to nullify all the advantages she still enjoys because of her father's wealth? Can you take away the child's b…

> If you reject all inheritance, you reject much of the incentives of capitalism.

I reject the idea that inheritance is a matter of right, and particularly that there is any moral right in extending the will of the dead past their death.

I don't, OTOH, disagree that some inheritance may even socially useful and worth permitting, with appropriate conditions and limitations, on that basis. In fact, I said so explicitly in GP.

OTOH, I'm also not a big fan of capitalism as a system, am glad that it has generally been displaced by the modern mixed economy since being described by its critics, and think that the influence it has on the general shape of modern economies needs to be further curtailed, so I'm not particularly worried that limiting inheritance might further undermine the influence of capitalism; that's a benefit, not a cost.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#348

Post by khazhoux »

mjfl wrote: post #100
_m8fo wrote: post #84

Everytime I see these types of articles I wonder if we're still in feudalism. Should we really be celebrating that a single individual is worth more than hundreds of millions of people[1]? I dunno, it seems dystopian , like we're enslaved to the system. [1] https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/...

I think that's a little hyperbolic. In feudalism the balance of power is enforced by violence, whereas Jeff Bezos got rich because you gave him money in exchange for products. Like, "Hey, here's this cool electronic device called the Amazon Echo for $50." is a markedly different from "Farm here or I'll decapitate you." The fact that you harbor a resentment as if the former is anything like the latter is slightly terr…

He didn't acquire it through violence, so there's nothing to see here. Move along, people.

A handful of people control as much wealth as the world's population combined, but there's nothing here to concern any of us, since they didn't do it with sword and cannons like a few hundred years ago.

In fact, since the days of imperial conquest by force are pretty much over (minus the occasional here and there), we really shouldn't worry ever again about the hundred people who own the world.

Not. A. Problem.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#349

Post by nandemo »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #25

Some fun facts: Jeff Bezos owns 80.9 million shares of AMZN (or did in September), which is about 17% of the company. Over 60% of the company is held by institutional shareholders, led by Vanguard. His annual salary is $100K. He appeared in Star Trek Beyond as a Star Fleet official. In his spare time, he runs a spaceship company.[1] I've always admired Amazon and have been a customer of theirs since the late 90s when…

His total compensation is like 2 million.

Re: Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

#350

Post by JCharante »

fanzhang wrote: post #311
_m8fo wrote: post #84

Everytime I see these types of articles I wonder if we're still in feudalism. Should we really be celebrating that a single individual is worth more than hundreds of millions of people[1]? I dunno, it seems dystopian , like we're enslaved to the system. [1] https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/...

Thought experiment: if you could destroy half of Bezo's wealth with the push of a button, would you do it? (Not dollars, but actual wealth -- imagine he has thousands of houses and you are allowed to legally demolish them with the push of a button). It would reduce inequality, and increase everyone else's relative economic standing, and probably make many people feel better in comparison.

But why? He earned it.
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