There are a lot of people out there who'd like to fire Jeff Bezos into space – but he's doing the honours himself Jeff Bezos has confirmed he will buckle up with his brother, Mark, next month and head into space as part of the first human flight on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. In a short announcement on Instagram, the Amazon multibillionaire said: "Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of travelling to space. On July 20th, I …
Jeff Bezos: "The only way that I can see to deploy this much financial resource is by converting my Amazon winnings into space travel. That is basically it.
"I am very lucky that I feel like I have a mission-driven purpose with Blue Origin that is, I think, incredibly important for civilization long term. And I am going to use my financial lottery winnings from Amazon to fund that."
Or maybe something useful like, oh, sanitation and clean drinking water for billions of poor people, decent homes, drug rehabilitation for addicts, investing in greening and re-wilding to save endangered species and reduce global warming. Helping to eradicate nasty diseases like Polio, or improving levels of literacy amongst deprived children and adults. Health clinics in deprived areas, or maybe train people to provide counselling for extremists who would like to feel better about themselves (research described in New Scientist magazine shows that most right wing extremists experienced or witnessed serious violence as children and once this is dealt with they are much less prone to become racist. Also research shows that people who experience or witness serious violence as children are 3 times more likely to experience a psychotic episode as the people who didn't.)
He could sponsor deprived people to train in top or even middling universities or sponsor apprenticeships for genuinely useful trades.
He wouldn't even have to set up his own foundation as there are existing charities already doing these things which could use the money (Medicine sans Frontiere, Voluntary Service Overseas, The Peace Corps, UNICEF, Etc. Etc.)
Over to you, Jeff.
>He wouldn't even have to set up his own foundation as there are existing charities already doing these things which could use the money (Medicine sans Frontiere, Voluntary Service Overseas, The Peace Corps, UNICEF, Etc. Etc.)
There could even be some sort of system where a percentage of earnings/ profits could be automatically directed to these public goods by some sort of central national authority
There could even be some sort of system where a percentage of earnings/ profits could be automatically directed to these public goods by some sort of central national authority
One could but hope that when he looks out of the window and sees the Earth below, he realises the error in his ways and once back instigates the disposal of his assets to the betterment of the planet and it's inhabitants, and renounces all wealth and goes off to live as a hermit monk
"disposal of his assets to the betterment of the planet and it's inhabitants, and renounces all wealth and goes off to live as a hermit monk"
Well, apart from the fact that the lions share of his assets is Amazon itself, that ain't going to happen. But his disposable wealth, on the other hand, is still vast enough that he could easily spend the rest of his life distributing it to worthy causes or new projects. It's actually quite difficult to give away that amount of money while making sure it gets to the right people/projects and isn't wasted or skimmed from. (Not speaking from experience here, mind you!)
"There could even be some sort of system where a percentage of earnings/ profits could be automatically directed to these public goods by some sort of central national authority"
That is an interesting concept, your 'central national authority' could maybe do things like set priorities, monitor progress and report back on success, and sort of co-ordinate effort to make sure it is not wasted?
Nahh, it'll never catch on.
(BTW - all these downvotes suggest that Mr Bezos reads the Register - Hi Jeff! How ya doin?)
I'm not especially a fan of Bezos. And it wouldn't bother me much if he didn't make it back from space intact. But I do feel compelled to point out that if you set up an Amazon Smile account Amazon diverts 0.5% of your order price to the charity of your choice. It's not a lot, but it's 0.5% more than most of the alternatives divert to charity.
If Amazon were really committed to giving to charities they would just do it and maybe offer the customer the option of choosing which charity they'd like to be on the receiving end. The way they do it means just a very few people will even know about the option, much less bother to sign into the scheme....
Two reasons why not
1. That would require that that he saw other people as both important and real.
2. How would he personally and directly benefit from others having a better life?
And don't come with silly things like everyone benefits from a better world: he can afford to make his litlte bubble better for *him*, for his lifetime. I strongly suspect that nothing else matters to him.
Good to see him putting his money where his mouth is and eating his own dog food. I think that’s why AWS is extremely reliable when compared to Azure/IBM etc.
But what a waist of resources and energy, why not try to solve some of the worlds more pressing issues rather than blow millions on an 11 min joy ride.
...and only a few minutes micro-gravity? That's the ultimate roller-coaster ride and the price is out of this world too. I do hope the plans for these jollies by Bezos and Branson are just the beginning and they are planning to go higher and further.
I know both have plans for orbital launches, but I don't really see these barely-to-space jollies being profitable enough to fund future expansion. They'd need to be significantly profitable to be worthwhile. The further and longer ventures are already funded from other sources, like NASA grants, advance sales of satellite launches and so on.
Don’t forget that governments have created the the environment for many businesses to be successful, with many billionaires created all who shield their money through legal means. And also don’t forget those same governments should be providing resources to their populations… if you really want change vote for higher taxation govts that take their social responsibilities seriously, don’t expect a single person who has successfully leveraged legal means to accumulate huge piles of cash to fix the world.
and bring it back. (or perhaps don't come back)
If you did then that would wipe the smirk off of Elon 'The saviour of the world' Musk's face.
Two obnoxious people fighting about who rules the world. May both of them lose.
The real saviour is naturally, Flash Gordon.
RUD? I'm not hoping for that. He'll have insured himself through Amazon Insurance Inc for a squillion dollars (little finger in corner of mouth moment) underwritten but big insurers across the globe so if there is a kaaboom, an emormous kaboom his estate will suck the economic life from Amazon to be replaced by funds from the underwriters and in turn they will recoup their losses from the ordinary people by increasing all our insurance premiums ... The one thing to look out for is whether a cryogenic unit is fitted to the capsule - there are many similarities to what I think was a documentary I saw once ...
Who says you can't take it with you ... ha ha .... woo ha ha ha ... woo haa haa haaa!
I don't believe that any insurance company at this point would offer coverage that includes a "space flight". Those companies do love their exclusions like "auto racing", "acts of war/terrorism", flying in "experimental aircraft". Maybe aircraft is close enough to "spacecraft"?
I take that back a bit... Lloyds of London would for a very heavy premium.
You literally write the tax laws and make the tax rules. Unless you are accusing Amazon of breaking those laws or rules then everything they are doing is legal and exactly in accordance with the laws and rules that you wrote.
If you want corporations to pay more (or any) tax, then change the laws and rules. You can do that you know! It is literally your job.
If you don't want to change the laws and rules then I guess you are actually happy with the amount of tax that these corporations are paying? If so, then stop the performative whining and go do something else. Ideally something useful.
But to argue that they should just "pay more" (without being made to) is ridiculous. How many of us (and especially how many politicians) have got to the "how much you owe" bit at the end of our Tax Return and said: "Oh, what the heck, I'll give them some extra" ? Anyone? Anyone? So, why would you expect a corporation to do this? They almost certainly are not actually allowed to. At the very least the shareholders might complain a bit about just giving money to the government when they don't have to.(Yes, I know corporations give to charity but that is usually a Public Relations expense - "look how wonderful we are" - so isn't the same thing)
And, yes, I know there is the "but they are using complex corporate structures to help avoid the tax" argument. Well, OK, but these "complex corporate structures" are all perfectly legal and set up using the laws and rules that the politicians created. And which the politicians can change. If they want to.
And, yes, I know there is an international element to this so you may not have complete control over the laws of the other countries but, you know, you still control your own laws and yes, we do expect politicians to talk to other countries about things they are concerned about. Many countries seem to have politicians whining about Amazon and Tax but, mysteriously, none of them actually seem to want to change their laws and rules to do anything about it.
Odd that.
Warning - CYNIC ATTACK
Umm, a lot of the politicians are 'friends' of the super-wealthy, get massive party donations from them either directly or from their companies, and if they tried to tax them more on their own, they know that at the next election those campaign funds would go to a candidate who would reverse the tax changes.
For example, here in the UK, the former Prime Minister, David Cameron, publicly denounced the comedian Jimmy Carr for using a tax avoidance scheme (advised to him by his accountant) which meant Carr paid very little tax on his earnings as a stand-up comedian and TV show personality and host. Cameron claimed it was bad that Carr avoided paying tax in this way (using a Channel Islands company to avoid paying tax). The same David Cameron inherited £2million (£2,000,000) from his father tax free as it was held in an offshore tax avoiding account.
In addition, the UK government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson is borrowing hundreds of billions of pounds to pay for the aftermath of the Covid-19 epidemic / pandemic, but instead of any hint of actually taxing rich people a bit more for a while, they are about to reduce the amount of money the UK pays in overseas aid. This despite UK museums and galleries being stuffed full of art and valuable items 'acquired' by the British Empire, British towns and cities having a great many buildings and institutions funded by initially the slave trade and other trades which relied on slave labour. And the fact that the richest people have made a lot more money over the Covid-19 pandemic period.
And don't even get me started on 'austerity' (the idea that taking money away from poor people is the best way to deal with an economic depression).
We have the political institutions (and in same cases politicians - there are still hereditary peers in the House of Lords) which we inherited from the rich and powerful people of hundreds of years ago. They are very effective at making sure that money and power retains political influence.
OK, RANT OVER
/END CYNIC ATTACK
I honestly hope he enjoys it. Good on him for working hard, taking the risk, making a success of himself and enjoying the fruits he has earned. After providing so much good to so many on this globe he hopefully has pride in what he has achieved. There will always be the envious and green eyed but they dont provide much good to the rest of us.
Safe travels.
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