Exposing the Real Politics of Jeff Bezos: Privatization, Big Business, Lower Taxes on the Rich—

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http://www.alternet.org/media/what-will-washington-post-be-under-jeff-bezos


Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the new Kindle Fire HD at a press conference in Santa Monica, California in September 2012.

News broke on Monday that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would be purchasing the Washington Post. ( Previous owner Donald Graham is now free to focus on Kaplan, the for-profit education empire specializing in gobbling up taxpayer dollars.)

For many, Bezos is an enigmatic businessman and a gifted entrepreneur who represents all that is great about American industry. In some ways, this description does have merit. While he studied to be a physicist and had a brief stint on Wall Street, his passion was was Amazon.com, which he set up in the garage of his two-bedroom home using tables he made out of doors purchased at Home Depot for around $60 each. As Amazon grew to the titan it is today, so did Bezos’s fame and fortune. By 2011, he was the 13th richest person in the United States, with a net worth of $19.1 billion.

But as Bezos’ wealth has growth, so has his ability to impact politics. While his spending on shaping society has been relatively modest compared to, say, Walmart heirs the Waltons, or New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, he has poured a sizeable amount of money into promoting his views.

What are those views? Like so many tech billionaires, Bezos has been attracted to right-libertarian politics—meaning socially liberal, but in favor of business and privatization. “ He's a libertarian,” Nick Hanauer, a colleague who was an early Amazon investor, told the Seattle Times.

[mucifer]

1. Problem is he donates to dems and expects something in return.

[TBF]

2. All these tech leaders are libertarians -

it is in their financial interest. They are also attracting young followers (especially males) who work in this arena and have dreams of being these types of leaders themselves. By and large they are socially liberal (anyone under 40 with the internet is probably more socially liberal than the past generation) but don't let that fool you. Great article.

[KoKo]

3. Recommend!