$20k was just a random number tossed out that would give all the employees an extra $10/hr, and obviously not every Amazon employee is being paid minimum wage so they wouldn't need to give extra money to salaried people already making decent money. Oh well, I guess we better keep subsidizing a gigantic company by paying for its employees' food stamps instead of expecting them to be able to pay their employees.

Walmart stock went up 5% in the weeks after they announced their raised minimum wage, btw.

If Bezos was to sell AMZN stock it would take the stock price down relative to where it would go if he continues to hold. The faster he sold the larger the impact would be so this would also decrease the value of the stock he sells and his net worth relative to the status quo.

The argument against him being able to keep this sort of wealth is an argument against concentrated business ownership. Why should an individual not be able to own a certain portion of a business they founded and still operate? What percentage of a business should an individual be able to control?

For anyone who believes he should be obligated to distribute this wealth, why do you not also ask that small business owners distribute their ownership stakes to charitable causes? Why should someone effectively be punished by having their stake diluted as they are more successful?

Draconian punishment

on unrealized gains? then taxes get super lumpy. If the market goes down in a year then the rich who derive most of their income from investments don't pay taxes. if the housing market is positive then you owe a bill on your housing appreciation at the end of the year which many Americans would not budget for and not be able to pay.

Bezos cashed out a billion last November, so there's that at least, and he paid a lower rate on that than Warren Buffett's secretary pays.

Didn't know it was a joke. But c'mon, it's not a bad idea. The idea of being paid to exercise strikes me as better than paying to exercise, but there are some obvious downsides/complications. Even in the "gig" economy" it's difficult to imagine how an employer could efficiently manage employees working only 2 hours a day, and with a degree of flexibility. Also, moving sucks. The ideal would be like dog walking.

He's planning on cashing out a billion a year to fund his rocket company.

Do you seriously not understand why a small business owner is treated differently than someone owning $150 billions?

Ok let's have an asset tax.

Suppose that you're right and paying a bunch of struggling employees closer to the living wage would tank the company. Isn't the implication that such capitalist enterprises can't provide for their workers? Isn't that just a really really bad thing on the face of it?

Well presumably he would have been treated like the small business owner when he started the company. If you tax assets then essentially you force control away from founders if their company is successful enough. In Bezos' case his entire net worth, including the liquid portions, have been derived from his CEO role and stake in Amazon as the founder and major equity holder.

But separately, why would it be ok to ask that someone who runs a really successful business cede more of that business to outsiders by being forced into taxes when the same people would be unnerved by forcing small business owners to cede stakes in their own companies in order to pay taxes on their assets?

I'm all for taxing income at a higher marginal rate but creating a structure that forces someone to relinquish their stake in the business is too far. Just tax it at a higher rate whenever he does sell.

I don't necessarily disagree with CDL on that. Market cap is not really real. Aside from taxes, whether or not one person or company should be allowed to become that powerful is another matter from a democracy, freedom, or even if you ask Adam Smith, free market point of view.

to answer your questions in order. 1 no.2 no.3 doing whatever he wants with HIS money.4 doing whatever I want with my money 5 no. if i were bezos i think i would tell everybody else to take care of themselves and if they want a handout ask the democratic party for it. the best way to use all of his money for the good of the world is to invest it in more business so he can make more money while providing jobs for the people that do not have them. they used to call this trickle down economics. works pretty good when you don't have an economy that requires handouts for over half of the people. this was posted from my desktop

lol trickle downers

becky i'm sorry to break this to you but trickle down economics is a fraud. literally the point of this thread is one man has 150 billion while the employees that build his wealth aren't paid a living wage.

to prove my point: it could be trickling down at any time! (if that's how it worked). it doesn't trickle down. you were lied to.

Becky88 is a neo-nazi. Seriously.

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becky is the best troll to never get banned, if you look at their entire posting history it's wild.

Amazon pays more than 150 billion dollars every year in employee salaries.

Their engineers who build AWS make a **** ton of money.

Bezos makes the median employee salary every 9 seconds

Wat?

Taxing companies via stock is a good idea. Best to have a sovereign wealth fund to put them in though.

Median Amazon salary is $28,000 a year, which Bezos makes every 9 seconds

Extrapolating from a quarter when Amazon went up 30% seems fine.

The figure is so obscene that it makes the point whether or not it's inflated. Change it to every 30 seconds and it makes exactly the same point.