Jeff Bezos is an asshole. "The only way that I can see to deploy this much financial resource is...

[tenderfoot]

....by converting my @amazon winnings into space travel. That is basically it."

SFW about WaPo - he's as fucked up as Trump/Theil/Koch/etc...



Jeff Bezos is worth $131 billion, according to Forbes, and the Amazon founder and CEO is clear about the primary way he plans to spend that much money: getting to space.

"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," Bezos says in an interview with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, published by Business Insider on Saturday.

Bezos says his work on Blue Origin, his space company, "is the most important work that I'm doing."

"Blue Origin is expensive enough to be able to use that fortune," he says. "I am currently liquidating about $1 billion a year of Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin. And I plan to continue to do that for a long time. Because you're right, you're not going to spend it on a second dinner out."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/jeff-bezos-says-this-is-how-he-plans-to-spend-the-bulk-of-his-fortune.html

[elfin]

1. Elon Musk envy EOM

[Adrahil]

4. Some competition here is not bad....

Commercial aerospace race could employ a lot of engineers and technicians, and employ them in some other pursuit than supporting the military.

I wish I was in a position to go to work for one of them. Commercially viable space travel would be awesome.

[tenderfoot]

5. Don't engineers and technicians need good schools to become engineers and technicians?

If he's so up on space travel then why doesn't he invest in education?

JEFF BEZOS: I have so much money I can’t conceive what to do with it

ACCOUNTANT: You could save all of humanity from want and need and despera-

JEFF BEZOS: I‘m going to jack it on the moon

[dumbcat]

10. I'm an engineer and I went to a good school and

I didn't need Jeff Bezos' money to do it.

[tenderfoot]

12. I'm glad you got to grow up in a time before cuts to public education

eom

[democratisphere]

2. Smart. Once this planet is destroyed, the wealthiest will need another planet

to call home.

[hlthe2b]

3. As much as I wish these billionaires would spend $$ making things better for billions on earth...

I'm not sure I follow how/why spending his fortune on supporting space exploration necessarily makes him an asshole? Granted I may be missing something...

Or, because his ownership has supported WaPO in a way that has left them largely alone, maybe I give him more benefit-of-the doubt than deserved? (and please, I don't defend the worker-exploitative and small business destroying practices of Amazon--I think that is a 'given' as a problem). My question is specific to his funding of space exploration.

[mythology]

6. NASA's return on investment is 7 to 14 dollars for every dollar spent

So it's a boost (pun intended) to our economy.

Then there's the enormous technology benefits. Solar panels, smaller/faster processors, implantable heart monitors, cancer treatments, newer lighter weight materials used in jet engines and a long list of other real world benefits.

[lame54]

7. How about clean water for Flint?

[Blue_Adept]

8. Considering the generally strong ROI with space, it's a win/win

But there's always this group that goes on about how spending anything toward space exploration is wrong when we should just focus on the here and now.

By that thinking we shouldn't be doing 90+% of our recreational activities and pastimes.

[IronLionZion]

9. Spinoffs from scientific research find its way into lots of consumer products

but it would be nice if he put some more money into philanthropy. He did give money to scholarships for dreamers but part of that motivation was to piss off Trump.

[stevenleser]

11. I can't get upset about this. I don't understand why anyone would.

This is not a horrible way for a wealthy person to spend their money. You compared him to people who spend their money to intentionally deny other people healthcare and good air and water to breathe.

[tenderfoot]

13. You mean like the people employed by Amazon that have to apply for public assistance...

because they're paid so poorly?

[JI7]

14. Other jobs pay the same. You need to change laws because businesses

Aren't usually going to do much out of the goodness of their hearts.

[Initech]

15. Except Jeff Bezos does do these things.

Just do a quick Google search for "Amazon warehouse working conditions". And then search for "Jeff Bezos net worth".Both of these things are horrifying.

[aidbo]

16. Apropos

Link to tweet