Amazon sucks

[JimmyCarter]

From Bezos's Wikipedia page:

"He accepted an estimated $300,000 from his parents and invested in Amazon"

Bezos was working at DE Shaw before Amazon, and making a shitload of money, most of which he also dumped into Amazon. Even without AMZN he would likely be worth at least 50 million or so by now.

[Dantheman]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/majo...ew-report.html

Did you even read past the headline? "Banking and Finance" is the overwhelmingly dominant industry for the "self-made," which is exactly what I said. There's also no mention of how they defined "self-made." Someone who wasn't given a massive inheritance at 18 but was born wealthy, got into Yale via a substantial donation, and then got a job at BlackRock through their family and Yale connections isn't "self-made" by most people's definition.

From Bezos's Wikipedia page:

"He accepted an estimated $300,000 from his parents and invested in Amazon"

I never said he didn't have investors.

[old_newguy]

I don’t think anyone thinks Bezos is dumb or didn’t work hard. I think most of us are just more than a little tired of the billionaire club shitting on employees, while simultaneously apparently paying little in taxes and spinning fairy tales about how they were one missed payment on their garage lease from living in public housing.

[Dantheman]

No one is self made, this is the biggest myth of “free market capitalism”. Someone has a good idea and it takes a lot of people to realize the goal. Sometimes the idea isn’t even original. Our worship of wealth is perverse.

I agree completely. All I'm saying is I'll take Bezos or Elon over some guy who made a mint selling synthetic CDOs in the early '00s.

[sirbumpsalot]

Did you even read past the headline? "Banking and Finance" is the overwhelmingly dominant industry for the "self-made," which is exactly what I said. There's also no mention of how they defined "self-made." Someone who wasn't given a massive inheritance at 18 but was born wealthy, got into Yale via a substantial donation, and then got a job at BlackRock through their family and Yale connections isn't "self-made" by most people's definition.



I never said he didn't have investors.

I read the whole article pal. I was providing for the threads interest. I didn't provide any commentary for it. Sorry if I upset you.

[XavierD]

So change the tax code…

[dunfree]

I agree completely. All I'm saying is I'll take Bezos or Elon over some guy who made a mint selling synthetic CDOs in the early '00s.

That guy selling synthetic CDOs would be in jail for the kind of pump n’ dump op Elon does. Bezos and Musk just spend a bunch more on PR… like dildo rocket futurism, and green washing.

[Salvelinusconfluentus]

Enough local businesses have online shops now if you Google what you need you can usually get it delivered from a mom and pop. Just might take a little longer and you might have to pay shipping.

Thats what I do a lot of times.

Anywhere's local biz is better than corporate bullshit

[dunfree]

The problem with shopping small isn’t shipping time (often similar) or total cost (often similar when shipping included) it’s the broken nature of web search and product discovery in 2021. GFL trying to find something via a web search now.

[The Reverend Floater]

Also, bitching about anyone having grossly than they need is fucking rich on a ski forum. Sure no one needs $100b. No one needs $1m. No one needs $10k, Arbitrarily drawn lines of what is ‘enough’ and what is excessive, are primarily drawn from envy and set dangerous precedents.

I find this humorous as well. Most of the world would draw the line well before having wealth and time enough to spend money on expensive planks, $200 goggles and $100 lift tickets in order to enjoy gravity.

[Salvelinusconfluentus]

Also, bitching about anyone having grossly than they need is fucking rich on a ski forum. Sure no one needs $100b. No one needs $1m. No one needs $10k, Arbitrarily drawn lines of what is ‘enough’ and what is excessive, are primarily drawn from envy and set dangerous precedents.

For me its not a matter of setting a limit on how much someone is "allowed" to have.

Its more about how much a person jas when their employees cannot meet their families basic needs.

Families are working more and more for less and less while the extreme rich get richer.

Imo nobody should be making anything off a company until the basic needs of all its employees are met.

Food, shelter, medical care, and a retirement plan.

[ötzi]

Every warehouse job sucks balls. All of them. At scale they are all killing themselves for your crappy consumer goods.

and lol at the billionaire defenders upthread, 150 year later this Samuel Clemens description of the commodore still rings true

https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2034788

Thanks for that, hadn't read it before.

Last night I took a taxi from the airport into Baltimore. The driver had spent the pandemic working at an Amazon warehouse, he quit to go back to driving a cab as soon as the business picked up enough to make it possible to make some money and said he was ecstatic he had quit Amazon, he said it was terrible. If driving a beat to shit Baltimore city taxi is better than working in your warehouse, working in your warehouse sucks.

[MontuckyFried]

Yo, Rev. I don't have a problem with Bezos being uber rich. Not saying he should have his wealth confiscated or anything either. Nothing of the sort. HOWEVER, there is nothing wrong with calling the guy out for being a giant douchenozzle for literally being the richest guy on the planet while treating his workers like shit. Judging by other companies that are actually good to work for, there IS room for both treating your employees well AND being goddam rich. Ya know? When an individual runs things as cutthroat as Bezos, they deserve to catch a little flack. Besides, he doesn't give two craps what any of us knuckleheads on a ski forum think as he truly has F U money more than anyone, so flame away! It truly doesn't matter. It's just kind of fun to rip on the ruling class more than anything. ESPECIALLY if they're giant dicks to everyone on the planet.

[XavierD]

For me its not a matter of setting a limit on how much someone is "allowed" to have.

Its more about how much a person jas when their employees cannot meet their families basic needs.

Families are working more and more for less and less while the extreme rich get richer.

Imo nobody should be making anything off a company until the basic needs of all its employees are met.

Food, shelter, medical care, and a retirement plan.

If you’re current employment isn’t meeting your needs, and a retirement plan is a luxury not a need, go get a better job. If you can’t, do better. Yes, that is a gross oversimplification, but so is the statement all employees should have their needs met when each of those employees will likely have very different needs and would each likely define their needs differently. You including a retirement plan in your needs puts you in a very different group than many folks.

[Skidog]

From Bezos's Wikipedia page:

"He accepted an estimated $300,000 from his parents and invested in Amazon"

I couldn't turn 300k into what he has.

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using TGR Forums mobile app

[jackstraw]

I find this humorous as well. Most of the world would draw the line well before having wealth and time enough to spend money on expensive planks, $200 goggles and $100 lift tickets in order to enjoy gravity.

$200 googles? Who the fuck does that?

U high bro?

[dan_pdx]

I couldn't turn 300k into what he has.

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using TGR Forums mobile app

Well, maybe if you were an early angel investor in Amazon.

[jackstraw]

I couldn't turn 300k into what he has.

Nobody is saying the guy didn't have a brilliant idea and he is clearly smart enough to grow the business to what it is, but he is a giant greedy asshole. And if you like supporting giant greedy assholes, then have at it. With that said, I definitely support giant greedy assholes unknowingly (I'm sure) every day, especially when I fill my car full of gas, but If I know and have a choice, I will choose the other side. That's all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM

[Dantheman]

With that said, I definitely support giant greedy assholes unknowingly (I'm sure) every day

Once recent purchase of mine was an item that realistically I was only going to find at Amazon or Hobby Lobby. I'll gladly give Bezos my money instead of the shitbirds that run Hobby Lobby.

[Salvelinusconfluentus]

If you’re current employment isn’t meeting your needs, and a retirement plan is a luxury not a need, go get a better job. If you can’t, do better. Yes, that is a gross oversimplification, but so is the statement all employees should have their needs met when each of those employees will likely have very different needs and would each likely define their needs differently. You including a retirement plan in your needs puts you in a very different group than many folks.

If society needs/wants a human to do a job then that human deserves a decent life.

Food, shelter, medical care and by retirement plan I mean a way not to be homeless when they can no longer work, not a huge pension.

In most cases, the government makes up the gap left by low paying employers with low income housing, subsidized health care, etc, etc.

Do we have to become more socialized as wages get lower for most except the uber rich, do we want to employers to be responsible for their employees basic needs or do we want people going without basic needs?

Pick one.

[dunfree]

If you’re current employment isn’t meeting your needs, and a retirement plan is a luxury not a need, go get a better job. If you can’t, do better. Yes, that is a gross oversimplification, but so is the statement all employees should have their needs met when each of those employees will likely have very different needs and would each likely define their needs differently. You including a retirement plan in your needs puts you in a very different group than many folks.

Ah yes, the libertarian “fuck you” fallacy of aging. At some point everyone who ages ceases to be economically contributive. A lucky few have amassed social capital (say, Stan Lee) that they can be mostly vegetables but still have productive invests. Many more have amassed economic capital that they can have minions deploy their money productively. Still more have enough money to draw what they amassed down while productive. But retirement is a problem for everyone. The luxury of saying “fuck the old” is for the young and callow.

[The Reverend Floater]

Nobody is saying the guy didn't have a brilliant idea and he is clearly smart enough to grow the business to what it is, but he is a giant greedy asshole. And if you like supporting giant greedy assholes, then have at it. With that said, I definitely support giant greedy assholes unknowingly (I'm sure) every day, especially when I fill my car full of gas, but If I know and have a choice, I will choose the other side. That's all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM

Sincere question: what would a guy like Bezzos do that would make you think he's not a greedy asshole? Is it give money away? How much? Quit before he reached the status of absurdly wealthy?

Not being a dick, genuinely asking because I'm curious.

[dunfree]

Sincere question: what would a guy like Bezzos do that would make you think he's not a greedy asshole? Is it give money away? How much? Quit before he reached the status of absurdly wealthy?

Not being a dick, genuinely asking because I'm curious.

jackstraw is fine supporting a giant greedy asshole named Elon musk So the answer is, make upper middle class yuppies feel green about their hyper consumption.


and what’s impressive about that video isn’t the idea, it’s the depth of thought he put into everything behind it.

[PNWbrit]

Sincere question: what would a guy like Bezzos do that would make you think he's not a greedy asshole? Is it give money away? How much? Quit before he reached the status of absurdly wealthy?

Not being a dick, genuinely asking because I'm curious.

This is TGR.

Surely nobody is supposed to have more money that Benny?

[liv2ski]

I saw a post on Reddit and it suggested seeing who the seller is on Amazon, Google for a coupon and order directly from the sellers website so Amazon doesn't get their 25% cut.
I think I will try that going forward.