Dear Jeff Bezos:
Surprisingly, we have some things in common:
You are believed to be the richest person in the world.
I am believed to be the richest person on the 26th floor.
You run Amazon. I run this website.
You have an estimated $112 billion and you make $215 million a day. I have not made 215 million pennies in my 60 years of employment.
You own a newspaper (Washington Post) and I used to work for newspapers (N.Y. World-Telegram & Sun, Philadelphia Daily News).
You were graduated from Princeton with a 4.2 GPA. My GPA when I graduated from Brooklyn College’s Evening Division also had a 4 and a 2, but arranged differently from yours.
Speaking of different, you were born in Albuquerque, N.M., me in Bronx, N.Y.; you have four children, I have two; I kept my original surname, you changed yours (from Jorgensen).
You have been Time magazine’s Person of the Year, I am in the City Paper’s Hall of Fame. Contrary to rumor, my induction did not cause the publication to fail.
Our twinship diverges when it comes to business.
I have been pro-union my entire life. In 2014, the International Trade Union Confederation named you the “World’s Worst Boss.” TUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said, “Jeff Bezos represents the inhumanity of employers who are promoting the North American corporate model.”
Your fifth child, Amazon, was born in 1994 and in 25 years it has torched American retailing. Everything you touch seems to turn to gold — except the lives of those who labor in your warehouses, which have been accused of being 21st century sweatshops.
Contrasted with some of your billionaire cohorts — such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who have pledged to give away their fortunes to charity — what you do, Jeff, is to try to extort cities to give you tax breaks in exchange for setting up shop within their city limits. (In fairness, last year you led the billionaire pack in philanthropy.)
Bit also in 2018, Amazon paid no federal tax. WTF?
It was legal, Jeff, but how does it look to those of us who live here in the mud?
Hint: Awful, giving capitalism a label of toxic, self-serving greed that is turning our young people into Socialists. That is political trans.
How do your tactics look to your 650,000 employees? That’s a pretty big army, which someday might turn on you.
Compared with the guys I named above, you are pretty stingy. Their pledged philanthropy is not unique. In earlier eras, after accumulating astonishing wealth, maybe motivated by noblesse oblige (or by guilt), they started paying it back.
Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, John Rockefeller and other 1 percenters did a lot of good.
Jeff, pardon my french, but how much fucking money do you need? You can’t spend it all on yourself and your family and friends no matter how hard you try. It’s like trying to empty Lake Erie with a spoon.
No question the money is yours, and you can do with it what you like.
Why not do some more good?
Wouldn’t it be better to be remembered for endowing free colleges or eradicating a disease or building homes for the homeless rather than just as the guy who drew an arrow from A to Z?
I hear you Stu! Loud and clear. Bezos will be served his just desserts I’m certain. But the blame for his outrageous tax exemptions must go to the politicians in the Amazon firmament. One wonders what gold lined their pockets….
Thanks Stu! Maybe Jeff will consider scriptures” What shall it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul”
“Judge not, lest ye be judged.”
Stu, judging Bezos in the one-dimensional prism of ”how much he hasn’t given away” misses an important perspective. While purchasing the Washington Post might benefit Amazon’s political agenda, operating a newspaper can’t be a smart financial investment.
Perhaps the Washington Post will repeat history by being a catalyst for bringing down a flawed administration.
The President recognizes the danger Bezos poses to his agenda, as evidenced by Amazon not being awarded the multi-billion dollar defense contract, which it deserved if technical merit was the criteria.
Bezos might have given us something beyond measure; hope for our country and a path to get there. Without his financial support, the Washington Post might not be around to bring light to a dark place.
Please splain? Dark place???!!!
Washington Post Light!!!???
This “deplorable cult” member
needs enlightenment, please!
Good one Stu. I ate some grape leaves in Whole Foods owned by Amazon before I paid. Guilt free I told the checker, “I just had appetizers with Jeff.”
Wasn’t going to comment but everything today veers into Trump (see below) or wherever.
Bezos is rich, I’m not. I don’t give a FIREHOUSE fuck.
Stu your points are valid. You’re right. But I am so tired of piling on the rich. My opinion; just another part of Obama’s compartmentalization from a
53 + year member Local 22 and IAFF.
Thank you Stu
Just thinking Stu,
How much revenue does 650,000 Amazon jobs create for the US Treasury? Isn’t that doing something good for the economy?
I don’t care how rich he is.
BTW -I don’t run anything except my life. My GPA is 0. I’m happy with myself even if, as you say, living in the mud. And I don’t need a legacy. They tend to be self serving. I hope to take to the grave as few regrets as possible and no grudges. Now that would be legacy!
Again, I do not care how rich Jeff is.
Now if these are sweat jobs I see your point. I hope he reads your letter and takes some of your advice.
Thank you
HAPPY FRIDAY !!!
glad to here from some new readers.
Tom, you are on a tear. Sit down, relax, suck on some oxygen. Then do it all over again. BTW. With all that you saw in life, you are allowed to go on a tear.
Pallie,
I know very little about Mr. Bezos. I think of him as a 21st century Sam Walton. I would suggest to all of the blogers ( is that right) to do a little research on WalMart, Kresges, and a few of the other so called greats. All of the power brokers made their moneys off of the back of the working man. Does “company town”or “company store” ring a bell ?
The point of my speal is that these men pushed the law to the limits. When challenged in court, change came about. Bezos is probably no different. Supposedly, he was a real dreamer and a real geek. He proved himself by founding various businesses. He also donates to organizations of his choosing. Yea, he is a bit to the left. Oh well, Could be worse.
I forget the worth of Carnegie, Rockefeller, Mellon or Ford to name a few. In todays’ dollars, I’m sure that they would all be Billionaires.
Tony
All good comments from all of you. This latest muse from Stu is certainly thought provoking, but obviously, as has been pointed out by all, is a very double-edged sword.
BTW – what’s missing here?? Stu’s response comments? Kinda unusual after 3 days…
Stu does not respond to every comment and he has a life away from the keyboard, so he may be gone for a while.
Now that’s a fake news item – Stu having a life away from the keyboard! LoL
Ha, ha. It is true.