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by PragmaticPulp 1948 days ago
I’ve responded to some of your other comments with corrections. You’ve been stating falsehoods as facts throughout this thread. If you really believe that we could “take all of Bezo’s wealth” or that it would improve the situation rather than worsen it (seizing private assets to punish business owners is the fastest way to ensure no business owners want to operate in your country) then it’s clear that you don’t understand how basic economics works.

We’re not going to get anywhere productive as long as the goal is to punish the rich no matter the cost. The economy isn’t a zero-sum game where every dollar of Bezos’ net worth is a dollar subtracted from the poor. Amazon had created value across the economy, far beyond Bezos’ net worth. Likewise, arbitrarily destroying Amazon or Bezos would likewise destroy value across the economy, as well as destroy the institutional trust that enables the economy in the first place.

1 comments

> I’ve responded to some of your other comments with corrections. You’ve been stating falsehoods as facts throughout this thread. If you really believe that we could “take all of Bezo’s wealth” or that it would improve the situation rather than worsen it (seizing private assets to punish business owners is the fastest way to ensure no business owners want to operate in your country) then it’s clear that you don’t understand how basic economics works.

Your imagination is limited. I don't care about business or business owners. I'm exploited by every business I interact with, either as a consumer or an employee. They don't have my loyalty.

> We’re not going to get anywhere productive as long as the goal is to punish the rich no matter the cost. The economy isn’t a zero-sum game where every dollar of Bezos’ net worth is a dollar subtracted from the poor.

Yes, it literally is. Amazon makes money by selling whatever product at a cost higher than it cost them to complete the logistics to get that product to a consumer. That means their profits are whatever they can scrape off of paying people to shuffle boxes through their warehouses, drive their trucks, and write their code. That is exploitation by definition: those employees are not paid what their labor has generated in terms of wealth. Every employee is paid less than they are worth, because otherwise profits would not exist.

> Amazon had created value across the economy, far beyond Bezos’ net worth.

Amazon has also decimated numerous other businesses, and used the resulting holes in the market to grow.

> Likewise, arbitrarily destroying Amazon or Bezos would likewise destroy value across the economy, as well as destroy the institutional trust that enables the economy in the first place.

I don't want to destroy Amazon, necessarily. I want them to pay their workers enough to live. The problem is every time people suggest that, people like you come in and say "well if we paid them a living wage the business would die, do you want that?" To which I say, yes. If your business must pay poverty wages and force people onto Government welfare, that is literally the Government subsidizing your workforce and why the hell should we do that? If we're going to pay, by proxy, for people to work at Amazon, then let's just fucking own Amazon as a public utility and cut out fucking Bezos. We don't need Bezos. He is doing nothing essential at Amazon, he just had the capital to start it, and he certainly doesn't do fucking anything worthy of earning what he does. No human being can EARN 4.5 million dollars an hour.

We saw in the pandemic what happens when the workers can't go to work, but the finance guys, and the CEOs and everyone else can. The economy ground to a fucking halt. Bezos was able to do everything he does at Amazon just fine, just like every other CEO, because what they do is functionally nothing. Their workers, on the other hand, were essential! They were heroes! So they had to go to work, and get sick, and die to avoid this entire ponzi scheme coming crashing down. And still huge sectors of it are on the verge of collapse precisely because the people actually generating wealth are having a hell of a time doing it.

> I don't care about business or business owners.

That much is clear. You also said:

> Fuck no, I want no one to use money.

I’m afraid your ideology is preventing any actual discussion of economics.