Who the hell needs 140 billion dollars?
First, a quick primer: Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, is currently the richest man in the world — and by a wide margin. As of the latest…
First, a quick primer: Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, is currently the richest man in the world — and by a wide margin. As of the latest Google search, his net worth exceeds $140 billion dollars. That’s billion with a ‘B’.
I was chatting with my neighbour Esther the other day about her upcoming move to Portland. Turns out the hot housing market in Seattle created irresistible conditions for a post-retirement, single woman to move to a cheaper cost of living area. As a side benefit, she will also be much closer to her kids. While I’m sad to see her go, I can’t help but feel excited about what that means for the value of my own house across the street. That feeling really makes up for her loss.
If you live in Seattle, and you’re not talking about the housing market, the next natural topic to bring up is the homeless situation which we turned to next. We both noticed a significant uptick in homelessness around the neighbourhood. We both agreed that it is being mishandled and something must be done. She even suggested Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, should do something about it. After all, “He’s got $100 billion dollars. Who needs that kind of money?”.
Wait a second …
“Who needs that kind of money?”
Now I have a problem with that. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t disagree that $100 (now $140) billion dollars is an absurd amount of money to have. I don’t disagree that he is probably financially independent; that he could retire early; that he doesn’t need to worry about skyrocketing health care costs and a single day fluctuation in his net worth is more money than I’ll see in a life time.
What I do disagree with is the following: Since when are we in the business of deciding who’s had enough?
There is a multitude of reasons why the statement above is wrong — both politically, economically and morally. Many of which are out of scope for this article. I do want to focus on one in particular though.
Jeff Bezos started a company. He created a great product. Millions of people are using it everyday. He revolutionized many industries. He created thousands of jobs. The money is his reward. Is the reward large? yes. But so is his impact. We are talking about an $800 billion dollar company.
Was there any coercion? Did anyone force us to hand over our hard earned money to him? Did he do anything illegal? Did you truly love Barnes & Noble?
No. In fact, we did it all out of our own free will.
Would it be great if Jeff decided to shower the city of Seattle with hundred dollar bills until the entire homeless population and all our city representatives are living in luxury?
Yes, that would be great. If so he chooses.
One of the great things about living in a free society is the freedom to choose. Jeff can decide to spend his money any way he wants to. You may have even seen the following tweet:
A path towards a free society must be a path that let’s the individual direct their own destiny. The opposite leads down a very dark road.