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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

#41
post #17

Bill Gates pledged the same and yet his wealth hasn't reduced. Worse, the philanthropy has been targetted ideologically (like encouraging private schools) and somehow keeps ending up favouring companies he has ownership in.

What does that mean his wealth hasn't reduced? Any money that he's given away (and he's given away a lot) has reduced his wealth. He'd be worth more if hadn't given it away.

The commitment was "commitment to give the majority of their wealth".

https://givingpledge.org/about

Re: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

#42

Quoted post unavailable.

I don’t understand how you can possibly think that someone’s contribution to the world is so outsized as to be worth millions of times that of say a teacher or a care worker. Would the world really be that much a worse place without bezos? I actually think there’s a decent argument to be made that it would be better…

Have you just swallowed the idea that the market value of something is equal to its value to society?

I guess I would like to hear your justification that billionaire’s deserve their wealth, bearing in mind that this typically does come at the expense of others.

Re: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

#43
post #19

Quoted post unavailable.

The global income distribution model (farmers in India -> Jeff Bezos) is problematic. But it's such a chaotic system that anyone claiming to have the solution (similar to anyone claiming there is no problem) is likely lying. The only solution (to me) that even starts to make sense is some sort of forced worker ownership, but lord knows what the details of that might look like.

We know pretty well what forced worker ownership looks like. Hundreds of millions of people dead.

Needs to be opt-in.

The next wave of famous business people will likely be the Platform Coop-ists.

Activists building unicorns not for the $$$ but for the Klout of taking on the status quo model.

Re: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

#45
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's cuz saying you want to give it away is not a simple thing, when most people around you only have the skills to accumulate it or spend it on themselves. Not to mention all the pond scum it draws in that has to be constantly filtered out.

The people who have the skills to accumulate wealth at this scale don’t have the skills to give it away. They are extraction minded, and philanthropy is a direct contradiction to this mental model. Keep some to stay comfortable of course, but you have to be comfortable with your status, influence, and wealth substantially declining as a second order effect of the distribution logistics, and that’s just not who these…

MacKenzie Scott can’t give her wealth away fast enough, for example

To be fair, neither can Bill Gates.

So it points to something fundamental about the way in which wealth works that these people can't give money away fast enough. Doesn't mean it's a problem though. Having money flowing up to Gates, Bezos, Scott and then having them give it away is probably the best we can do in the current legal and regulatory environment. Because the reality is that any efforts to change how things currently work would meet with too much resistance from others in power.

Re: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

#46
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who have the skills to accumulate wealth at this scale don’t have the skills to give it away. They are extraction minded, and philanthropy is a direct contradiction to this mental model. Keep some to stay comfortable of course, but you have to be comfortable with your status, influence, and wealth substantially declining as a second order effect of the distribution logistics, and that’s just not who these…

MacKenzie Scott can’t give her wealth away fast enough, for example To be fair, neither can Bill Gates. So it points to something fundamental about the way in which wealth works that these people can't give money away fast enough. Doesn't mean it's a problem though. Having money flowing up to Gates, Bezos, Scott and then having them give it away is probably the best we can do in the current legal and regulatory envir…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

#48

Quoted post unavailable.

There isn't much that is admirable, heroic, or likable about keeping wealth to yourself. Should they be forced to give? No. But I think it is fine for your wife and friends to look down on it. Private beaches, ridiculous mansions, crazy car collections, our culture should criticize that.

Re: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

#49
post #44

Is it a pledge? Or an Amber Heard pledge? I feel like we're seeing the Michael Scott version of declaring bankruptcy here. I'll believe it when I see it.

More like when Michael Scott promised to pay for the scholarships, haha

They're lithium! I forgot about that type of pledge too.

Re: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth

#50

Bill Gates pledged the same and yet his wealth hasn't reduced. Worse, the philanthropy has been targetted ideologically (like encouraging private schools) and somehow keeps ending up favouring companies he has ownership in.

I really don't get the animus against private schools. Surely a one size fits all public school can't possibly best serve the interests of every possible student. Furthermore in a pluralistic society, shouldn't we tolerate people's different preferences in education, especially those who opt for more religious education?
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