Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a tax write-off.
What do you imagine that means exactly?
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Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
41–50 of 879 posts
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#42The 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 direc…
I'd suggest that Jeff Bezos is unlikely to pay a meaningful amount in taxes (in this case, meaning "relative to the action" rather than "relative to his overall wealth"), regardless of what he does.
I mean, there's either a legal tax shelter he will take advantage of, or he'll pay the gift tax. People complain about the wealthy and giant corporations "paying no tax" but they are paying the minimal taxes that the law reqires, as we all do (any readers who voluntarily send extra money to the IRS are excepted).
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you imagine that means exactly?
Kramer: It's a write off for them. Jerry: How is it a write off? Kramer: They just write it off. Jerry: Write it off of what? Kramer: They just write it off! Jerry: You don't even know what a write off is, do you? Kramer: No. Do you? Jerry: No I don't!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEL65gywwHQ
Ah so tempted to post the punch line which is the best part of the bit. But I won't be the spoiler.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#44There 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…
I've interacted with José Andrés in the past too, and can attest that he's an amazing human being. He is the kind of person who will try his hardest to use every single one of those dollars to help other people who are desperately in need of that help. It's really great to see Bezos doing this.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#45All 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…
I don't know how to put this in a polite way... Let's just say your brain seems to have gotten too much TV entertainment. These billionaires made many billions on covid, while you got a 1400 dollar check so you could survive. These billionaires pay their workers minimum wage every day. People can't get toilet breaks at amazon warehouse without being harassed. This guy is a world class parasite. There is nothing "we"…
I felt like I entered a wormhole in the GP comment where the ocean wasn't on fire, the Amazon wasn't burning down, a heat wave didn't sweep through the Northwest, and the polar caps aren't melting at an irreversible rate. The largest redistribution of wealth in history is happening right now while the global environment collapses and somehow there are cheerleaders egging it on so rich guys can play around in sub-orbit.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#46All 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…
>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…
Guess what? The government has decided that NASA isn't important. If they're taxed more, that doesn't magically send money to NASA.
The government has had first dibs on space for a very long time, and they've done nothing with it. Talk about taxing billionaires until you're blue in the face - whether you do or not has no effect on NASA. There's plenty of money to put towards it now, and it's not a priority.
I'm glad that billionaires are taking up an important cause for the future of our species when our government is failing to do so.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
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".
Previously he's been known for being openly communist (i.e. not just a regular socialist). As an aside, I still find it odd how we've rightfully shunned other totalitarian and mass murdering political ideologies, but we've completely whitewashed communism. I couldn't imagine another newscaster openly identifying as a nazi.
The difference is that communism is an economic idea, which was used by regimes that did brutal things. Whereas the Nazi ideology drove the violence.
In one case, it was correlated. In another, causative.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you sure you haven't just been taken by a talk radio conspiracy theory? The only thing I could find on this was that Glenn Beck was harping on it ten years ago. That guy is not well known for being a fountain of truth. [0] [0] https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/sep/08/glenn-beck...
It says on his wikipedia page that he's a Leninist. It's not a conspiracy theory if he's open about it.
I ctrl+f'd "Lenin" on Van Jones' Wiki page, and this is literally the only time Lenin is mentioned:
>He became affiliated with many left activists, and co-founded a socialist collective called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM). It protested against police brutality, held study groups on the theories of Marx and Lenin, and aspired to a multi-racial socialist utopia.[13]
I'm not sure how being in a study group that discusses Lenin's theories automatically makes one an actual Leninist.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#49If I had $200 million lying around, I'd be more inclined to give $1 million each to 200 people.
Re: Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you sure you haven't just been taken by a talk radio conspiracy theory? The only thing I could find on this was that Glenn Beck was harping on it ten years ago. That guy is not well known for being a fountain of truth. [0] [0] https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/sep/08/glenn-beck...
It says on his wikipedia page that he's a Leninist. It's not a conspiracy theory if he's open about it.
His wikipedia page does not say that. It seems like this controversy comes from his stance 30 years ago[1]. Van Jones was protesting the Rodney King verdict and was rounded up as part of mass arrests. From there he fell into a crowd that radicalized him as a communist, but a few years later his politics changed. He became more focused on unity and results rather than revolution for the sake of revolution. He also says “One of my big heroes is Malcolm X, not because I agree with Malcolm, but because he wasn’t afraid to change in public,”. I don't see any reference to him still considering himself either a communist or a Leninist. Why don't we allow him to "change in public"?
[1] - https://eastbayexpress.com/the-new-face-of-environmentalism-...