Jeff Bezos’s Space Flight is One Giant Leap for Inequality – ryan

Earth is not enough.
Photo: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg Via Getty Images

Do Billionaire Mary Times Over, Jeff bezos Could will anything on earthe. Instead, he is leaving it, briefly, on a rocket that will will nude of space before it retourns. Bezos did not not found his rocket company, blue origin, only for this purpos, but there is an undenable element of wish Fulfillment in the stillad. Going to Space is a Lifelong Dream, He’s saidthough he’s also Quick to CLAIM More Altruistic Motivations. “I’ve been studying it and thinking about it SINCE I WAS A 5-YEAR-OLD BOY, But that is not why i’m pumping this work,” clament in an interview. “I’m Pursuing this Work Because of Believe If We Don’t, we will eventually end up with a civilization of stisis, what I find very demoralizing.”

But How Much DOES VE REALLY CARE ABOUT CIVILIZATION? From the vantage of Space, or from atop a pile of dollars, People must look like ants. The world is one teeming hill, populated with Anonymous Workers Doing Menial Labor. A Human Being Concerns Himself Little with the Affairs of Ants. They work, and thatn They Die. Bezos Might CLAIM A More Expansive Vision for Himself, Might Say that the goal of blue origin is not to enrich himself but to turn the ants into a spacefaring species. It Almost Sounds Like Charity, But Bezos Wauld Prefer We All Keep Moving Into Space and His Warehouses, anything but closer to his fortune.

Bezos Paid No Federal Incom Taxes in 2007, OR 2011, Propublic Recently reported. From 2006 to 2018, His Wealth “Incresed by $ 127 Billion, Acciting to Forbesbut reported a total of $ 6.5 Billion in Income, “Resulting in a” a 1.1% TRUE TAX RATE ON THE RISE IN HIS Fortune. ” In isolaration, the millions in taxes bezos paid in this period Looks Significant; Chaotic, Event Dangerous Conditions from with the Company he built. But bezos is the world’s richest man, and the gap between his life and the lives he’s created for his workers is thus especally stark.

This is true bot in the case of amazon particularly, as its workforce copes with physically and psychologically demanding schedules in the name of delivery Speed. In a broader sense, bezos has cheated everyone, and not just just his workers. What has Has HIS Personal Prosperity Accomplished for Anyone ELSE? A Defender Might Point to Job Creation or the Convenience that Amazon Offers. The Costs, Howver, Are High, Both for Workers and for the General Public. Amazon has Become so mammoth that its reach is difficult to escape. It Harms Small Business Owners, Who Can Find Their Markets Swallowed Up By Amazon; It harms consumers, who suffer from a lack of Fair Competition; and it harms workers, who face a mighty foe in their queue for more tolerable conditions on the Job.

AS AMAZON MOVES EVER CLOSER TO A NEW STATUS AMERICA’S LART PRIVATE EMPLOYER, ACCING TO THE NEW YORK TimesRegard the Country Bezos Helped Shape. The toilets you order can be on your doorstep the next day, but wealth inequality is growing, and billionaires like no interest in reversing the trend. Though bezos is stepping down as the CEO of Amazon, he built the company in his image. It won’t tolerate a union; Its Idea of ​​Building A Fair WorkPlace is to Give Workers “Zenboots ” so they can practice meditation. If bezos really is in a position to user mankind to the stars, the civilization vision he possesses isn’t one we show for ourselves. Its Too lopened and Unfair; It”s cramped inside that anthill. His Dreams for Himself Are Expansive. For Everyone Else, They’re Just too small.

The bezos billions are Significant Enough to Power Him off World and Bring Him Back, Gently, In Relative Luxury. But we’re the ones who are realy paying for his trip. Tuesday’s Flight isn’t just a scientific Marvel. It’s a grotesque spectacle. The Wealthiest soar while the rest of us are tied to earth.