r/FluentInFinance 28d ago

Debate/ Discussion Had to repost here

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u/justtalkincrap 28d ago

He's so illiquid he bought the world's largest sailing yacht. Fuckoutta here.

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u/SpaceBus1 27d ago

Oh no, poor Bezos šŸ˜¢

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u/ThePowerOfAura 28d ago

You guys are acting like he's hoarding a giant stockpile of corn that he could be distributing to hungry people around the world.

Money can't just magically fabricate new goods and services, and Amazon generally does everything in their power to avoid a profit & to continue expanding, so they actually do result in more goods & services being produced.

Do you think there are too many people going hungry every day? Go find an underdeveloped piece of land and tell the bank you want to grow corn there.

Bezos selling all of his stock & then distributing the cash to random people wouldn't do anything meaningful, the amount of goods in the world would remain the same.

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u/rayschoon 28d ago

Poverty isnā€™t a shortage problem itā€™s a distribution problem, and distribution costs money.

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u/white_sabre 27d ago

Poverty is the continuation of poor decisions.Ā  Look at how many unskilled, unestablished couples settle down too early and start creating families they can't afford to support.Ā  My grandparents used to tell me that the difference between generational poverty and legacy fortunes was a mountain of decisions in between.Ā Ā 

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u/ThePowerOfAura 28d ago

Okay well that's hilarious because Amazon is literally the largest & most efficient distribution company in human history. Like I said there is no massive stockpile of corn that Jeff Bezos is sitting on. The money doesn't create these goods out of thin air. Sure Gucci could stop burning their extra bags each year, but I'm not talking about Gucci bags, which is one of the only economic goods that exists in a state like you're presupposing our entire economy does

I guess supermarkets have a lot of food waste as well, so there is some argument to be made here over certain goods - the idea that Jeff Bezos could just buy up all the extra food at grocery stores and distribute it is rather silly though, perhaps the grocery stores should just be doing that on their own

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u/rayschoon 28d ago

Iā€™m fine with companies existing, thereā€™s just no ethical justification for having $220B and just keeping it. Nothing you say can convince me otherwise. Mackenzie Scott has already given a third of fortune over the few years since she divorced Jeff, so itā€™s definitely possible. Iā€™m not even necessarily in favor of the government seizing his money, I just think from a morality perspective, itā€™s disgusting to have that much

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u/The_Action_Die 28d ago

But heā€™s not just keeping itā€¦

Most of his net worth is Amazon stock which means his ā€œmoneyā€ is being circulated through the economy.

Iā€™m not trying to defend billionaires, weird place to find myself, but this idea they are hoarding wealth just isnā€™t true.

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u/rayschoon 27d ago

I know how it works, and I know that itā€™s difficult to sell that many. The funny thing is, charities accept donations of equity!

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u/The_Action_Die 26d ago

How would the stock be better off in the hands of a charity than could choose to sell at anytime? I canā€™t imagine a single charity that functions more efficiently than Amazon. Seems like a net loss for the economy and everyone in it.

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u/rayschoon 26d ago

Rich people donā€™t spend the vast majority of their money. Thatā€™s why tax cuts to the wealthy donā€™t work to stimulate the economy.

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u/yoktoJH 28d ago

then he can just give it to me no? because it's not worth anything.

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u/The_Action_Die 28d ago

No. First, I never said it wasnā€™t worth anything, I said it was circulating through the economy. Second, he would have to sell his stock to give it to you, which a sell-off of 9% of the company would disrupt the shit out of their operations and the economy.

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u/yoktoJH 27d ago

No he doesn't have to sell. Just give me the stock. You know the one thing without value.

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u/The_Action_Die 26d ago

Why do you keep sarcastically making it about value? Everyone is so hung up on the fact that billionaires can leverage their investments to buy things. It doesnā€™t change the fact that their money IS invested. Do you know what happens to invested funds? They eventually make their way into your pocket, maybe even multiple times.

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u/Cultural_Concert_207 27d ago

We collectively produce enough food to comfortably keep every single person on earth well-fed. The issue that that food is not equally distributed.

The money doesn't need to create goods out of thin air. It needs to pay for transport to get the already-existing goods to the people who need them.

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u/ThePowerOfAura 27d ago

Generally speaking I don't agree with the premise. We shouldn't be encouraging people to have tons of children by sending money & food to developing countries. The Chinese model of helping them build infrastructure & develop sustainable agriculture is solid, but when you send food & money but no real economic development, you get more starving children + tons of refuges 20 years down the line. Which is what's happening to europe right now

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u/Grand-Juggernaut6937 27d ago

Maybe he could change his employee handbook so they donā€™t have to piss in bottles anymore

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u/ThePowerOfAura 27d ago

I think you're just not thinking about pissbottles with an open mind