While McKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, is handing out billions to worthy organizations, Jeff Bezos is not so generous, especially to the Amazon workers who made his fortune.
At last look on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos was the richest person in the world, with $189 billion, which is growing rapidly as more consumers rely on Amazon for purchases during the pandemic.
While Bezos has promised nearly billions to combat climate change, Amazon workers continue to complain of low wages and long working hours in a tedious job.
Chuck Collins, director of the Charity Reform Initiative at the Institute for Policy Studies, told The New York Times that Scott is “disrupting” the norms of billionaire philanthropy.
“You think of all these tech fortunes, they’re the great disrupters, but she’s disrupting the norms around billionaire philanthropy by moving quickly, not creating a private foundation for her great-grandchildren to give the money away,” Collins said...
Bezos saw his net worth grow by nearly 60 percent over the course of 2020, or by about $58 billion. Bloomberg estimates Bezos’ current net worth at $183 billion [it is now $189 billion and growing]. Over the year, the nation’s four richest individuals—Bezos, Gates, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerbergand Tesla CEO Elon Musk—saw their combined fortunes grow by nearly $230 billion.
During the same period, Feeding America believes some 50 million Americans—up from about 35 million in 2019—will have experienced food insecurity this year. That number includes some 17 million children. Unemployment has jumped dramatically during the pandemic, as lockdown measures have forced thousands of businesses to close, and millions of Americans are estimated to be on the verge of eviction...
During the pandemic, Amazon workers became vital to providing Americans with necessities, and their working conditions and compensation drew national attention. While Bezos, their boss, grew wealthier and wealthier, they continued to work long hours for low wages in what many described as risky job conditions. Attempts to strike and organize were met with strong pushback and, in some cases, retribution from Amazon’s management.
In March, as the pandemic began to surge and some Amazon workers in New York attempted to organize in protest of their working conditions, the company decided to fire assistant manager Chris Smalls. The organizer learned that he’d been fired as he and dozens of other Amazon employees protested their company’s response to COVID-19. The Amazon workers were demanding what many saw as basic needs—personal protective gear and hazard pay—as they carried out their essential work.
Although Amazon briefly gave temporary wage increases and double overtime pay during the early months of the pandemic, those measures ended in June. The company has also invested heavily in personal protective equipment for workers and other measures in an effort to protect them. In November, Amazon gave front-line workers a one-time $300 holiday bonus, and in June they received $500. Regardless of these measures, employees have continued to express frustration.
In February, Bezos did announce that he would give $10 billion to fight climate change. This money will be transferred through an Earth Fund vehicle he set up. Thus far, that fund has announced doling out $791 million to 16 organizations including the Nature Conservancy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, the World Resources Institute and the World Wildlife Fund.
The Amazon source pointed to an April donation of $100 million from Bezos to Feeding America. Bezos additionally pledged to contribute up to $25 million to All in WA—a coalition of Washington state philanthropic, business and community leaders—back in May. The billionaire also pledged over $1 million to more than 40 homeless organizations this year.
But many believe there is a need for a systematic change at Amazon and in how billionaires like Bezos are allowed to accumulate wealth.
“Bezos has accumulated so much added wealth over the last nine months that he could give every Amazon employee $105,000 and still be as rich as he was before the pandemic,” Robert Reich, who was secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, wrote in a Sunday column for The Guardian.
“So you’d think he’d be able to afford safer workplaces. Yet as of October, more than 20,000 U.S.-based Amazon employees had been infected by the coronavirus,” Reich wrote.
Washington State, where Amazon and the Gates Foundation (and family) are located, has no corporate or personal income taxes. Is that coincidental?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Bezos is not alone in this Silicon Valley category. Zuckerberg would give him a good run for the money! … Corso
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I order from Amazon a lot! It would make me feel better to receive my packages Mon-Fri 8am-5pm. I really hate to see Amazon drivers working late in the evening. I don’t need a package delivered on a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday. It’s a “Catch 22” using Amazon….it’s staying safe from Covid while abusing workers and exposing them to unsafe working conditions and disease. It’s my moral dilemma. It was a much nicer/kinder world when it wasn’t “open for business” 24/7.
To get the same products delivered, try searching for the manufacturer or the brand name of the item and order directly from their web site instead of Amazon. It takes longer.
It seems that the wives of some of the millionaires/billionaires have better wisdom, caring and giving when it comes to using their wealth for the good of others. Gates was not using his wealth for much good until his wife pushed him into opening the Gates Foundation.
Of course, much of what Gates does he does to benefit the Microsoft Corporation. Computers for schools mean the schools will have to purchase the upgrades to his computer.
Reblogged on National Literacy Association site: [aaace-nla@googlegroups.com]
. . . where they are discussing their corporate relationship with Amazon, and how it might conflict with their basic mission as (1) JOB TRAINING and/or (2) CIVICS EDUCATION. CBK
Estimates of how much it would cost to end world hunger range from $7 billion to $265 billion. So even at the high end of that range, Bezos and his ex combined could nearly do it by themselves. Add in Gates, *uckerberg, the Waltons, etc. and it would take only a fraction of each of their fortunes. Imagine having the power to end world hunger and not doing it. https://ffl.org/14869/can-we-end-world-hunger/
I can’t imagine
McKenzie Scott’s philanthropy will have incredible impact, there was no application, she choose colleges w/ economically disadvantaged student bodies and no or slim endowments .. pushing $$ into the economy at this level will resonate for years, Ms Scott deserves kudos …
Peter Goodman Copy that . . . and she is providing an example or “profile” (as in Profiles in Courage) for others who share in her good fortune and to trust people who have a track record of deserving it. It will probably be “verifiable” over and over again, with no strings attached.
Those oh-so-wealthy others CAN’T have missed the obvious comparison. CBK
She’s interesting. She seems to have taken a different approach than the other US billionaires. She’s not trying to control the entities she donates to and she isn’t going into communities, excluding public input and bossing everyone around:
“The gifts are to 384 organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico – all are unrestricted gifts, with no strings attached.”
No strings attached. So it’s a real gift instead of a bribe to get people to turn over control to the billionaire.
Good for her for resisting the temptation to treat us all like serfs.
Chiara Yes, . . . her method sort of flies in the face of the whole idea that providing for others’ basic needs only takes away their initiative. It’s the same with “welfare-mom” thinking. . . . it happens sometimes, but defining EVERYONE by that low bar only serves to cover for greed and the always-MINE-MENTALITY of those who who won’t give without control and often not without increasing their own wealth and power. CBK
Catherine King:
I read a little about it. The difference seems to be that Scott started with the premise of “trust”. She doesn’t attach strings and mandates and directives because she wants the relationship to be built on trust.
Amazing, right? That one could actually trust local people with money? That the billionaire doesn’t have to control every aspect of how the funding is used?
I wonder if she’ll be more successful then the others by taking a less paternal (and patronizing) role.
As long as McKenzie Scott gives the money away, it doesn’t matter how she made it?
These billionaires sure know how to divert everyone’s attention to the squirrels.
Where was McKenzie while this was going on?
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17243026/amazon-warehouse-jobs-worker-conditions-bathroom-breaks
People seem to be letting her off the hook pretty easily.
Right about Washington’s shameful tax system which is the most regressive in the nation. This year the Democrats and the governor will propose a capital gains tax.
[…] Consider this from Diane Ravitch NYU, Research Professor of Education at New York University: […]
Unless Bezos is selling off his Amazon stock and turning it into cash, most of his wealth is on paper (the shares he owns) and what goes up can go down.
Once the pandemic is over, the wild growth of Amazon’s stock may level off and even drop and so will how much he is worth.
$10 billion toward climate change. Hmmmm…. that’s rich. Instantaneous stuff, over packaged, shipped anywhere….. that business model is contributing to ruining our planet. Until we stop ordering… the damage will continue:
https://www.greenamerica.org/blog/sorry-bezos-10-billion-donation-wont-undo-amazons-climate-impact
This infuriates me. Congress members are wealthy so they don’t care…especially the GOP. Repubs are counting on the usage of vaccines to lower the number of infected so they don’t care about helping those who are struggling. How long is a $600 stimulus check supposed to last, if we even get that much?
How unfair. Bezos gets to keep his billions [Amazon paid no taxes last year] while millions of Americans are starving, can’t pay their rent and don’t have medical insurance. The tax code in this country stinks.
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US poverty, hunger and unemployment rise as Congress stalls on aid
Millions of Americans expect to lose wages in the next four weeks.
Millions of Americans don’t have enough to eat, are falling behind on housing payments or have had trouble paying their bills. And millions of Americans are lapsing into poverty.
As the coronavirus surges again across the nation, the fragile economic recovery is showing more cracks. The pace of job growth has slowed and more people are filing for unemployment for the first time.
This instability comes as Congress continues to struggle over extending some of the relief provisionsit approved in March, when the pandemic initially upended the economy. Lawmakers are looking at providing another round of stimulus checks, temporarily boosting jobless payments again and extending two key pandemic unemployment programs.
Here’s how things are getting tougher for Americans.
More people in poverty
Nearly 8 million more Americans have joined the ranks of the poor since June, according to researchers from the University of Chicago and University of Notre Dame.
The poverty rate jumped to 11.7% in November, up from 9.3% in June. That’s nearly double the largest annual increase in poverty since the 1960s.
The rise is most noticeable among Black Americans, whose poverty rate went up by 3.1 percentage points, and among those with a high school education or less, who saw a 5.1 percentage point spike.
The poverty rate is increasing even though the unemployment rate fell by 40% over the same period. This disconnect between the two is not surprising since some government benefits have expired, including a $600 federal boost in jobless payments, the researchers said.
The decline in poverty over the first six months of the year was due to the one-time stimulus checks distributed in the spring and the historic expansion of unemployment benefits, the researchers found in an earlier study.
Going hungry
Just under 27.4 million adults, or 12.7%, were in households where there was sometimes or often not enough to eat in the last seven days, according to the most recent Census Household Pulse Survey, which covers November 25 to December 7.
About a month earlier, the number was 25.8 million, or 12%.
Some 19.4% of Arkansas residents suffered from food scarcity, but only 6.4% of Maine residents did. The unemployment rates in those states were 6.2% and 5.0% in November, respectively…
Among households with children, 17.5% sometimes or often did not have enough to eat in the past weeks, according to the Census data. That compares with 16.1% two weeks prior.
Trouble paying the bills
More than 85.4 million adults, or 35.6%, live in a household where it’s been somewhat or very difficult to pay for usual household expenses during the pandemic, the Census survey found.
That’s up from 80.9 million, or 33.7%, roughly a month earlier…
http://a.msn.com/00/en-us/BB1c2Pkw?ocid=se
A company’s growth largely depends on it’s employee’s well being. When their own employees are not taken care things may turn soon. Let’s wait and watch for the years to come!
Anyone who supports the Republicans has to have rocks in their head…or listen and believe the many lies spouted by the far R media.
Bernis says, “That’s $1 trillion for the wealthiest Americans and one $1,200 check for tens of millions struggling to survive. That is unconscionable and it has got to change.”
……………………………….
Senator Bernie Sanders;
Yesterday afternoon, I asked my colleagues in the Senate to unanimously agree to pass my legislation guaranteeing an emergency payment of $1,200 to every working class American and $500 to each of their children.
Republican Senator Ron Johnson objected, citing the deficit.
It is comical that in this time of crisis, Ron Johnson and my Republican colleagues suddenly discover that we have a deficit.
But I wonder. Where was Ron Johnson and Senate Republican concerns about the deficit when they passed a $1 trillion tax cut for some of the wealthiest people and corporations in this country?
Where was their concern about the deficit when, at a time climate change threatens this entire planet, Congress gives hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare to oil, gas and coal companies that exacerbate the climate crisis?
Where was the concern about the deficit when, just this week, Congress passed legislation that would provide $740 billion to the military — the largest military budget in history and more than the next ten nations combined. Where was their concern for the deficit then?
My Republican colleagues believe that we can provide massive tax breaks to billionaires, give hundreds of billions in corporate welfare, and pass the largest military budget in history — and that’s okay. But, in the midst of the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression, Congress cannot respond effectively to the needs of working families because of the deficit. What hypocrisy!
Here is the truth:
Congress must not leave Washington, D.C. and head back to our families unless we address the pain and anxiety of millions of other families across the country.
And that starts with putting money directly into their pockets with a direct payment of at least $1,200 per working class American, and $500 for each of their children.
Add your name if you agree:
Sign my petition: tell Congress they must provide emergency payments to every working class American of $1,200, no less, and $500 for each of their children before we leave for holiday recess.
This is not a radical idea.
This is an idea that is supported by President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden. It is an idea that, according to a recent poll, is supported by 75 percent of Americans, including 72 percent of Republicans.
This amount in direct payments is exactly what Congress passed unanimously just nine months ago.
It is an amount that was included in legislation proposed in a $1.1 trillion offer by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just a few months ago.
For nine months we have asked tens of millions of working people to survive on one $1,200 check provided in the CARES Act, meanwhile over that same nine-month period there are 651 billionaires in the United States who became $1 trillion richer.
That’s $1 trillion for the wealthiest Americans and one $1,200 check for tens of millions struggling to survive.
That is unconscionable and it has got to change.
So I am asking:
Sign my petition: tell Congress they must provide emergency payments to every working class American of $1,200, no less, and $500 for each of their children before we leave for holiday recess.
If our democracy means anything, if our United States government means anything, then we cannot turn our backs on the suffering of people in Wisconsin, Vermont, Oklahoma, or any other place in this country where people are hurting in an unprecedented way.
Thank you for making your voice heard.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
Diane Here is one of the cultural twists that may help explain why so many people end up voting against their best interests, financially, and every other way; and why both Bernie and Biden cannot ring the bell of the base’s own interests so that they will hear. It has to do with the pervasive presence of elitism and the skillful use of it.
First, Republicans float propaganda charging Democrats with being the elitists of the “Washington Establishment” (“clean the swamp!”). The message is that the Democrats, especially college-educated Democrats, “look down on” Republican voters. (Many people who are not college-educated both admire and hate college-educated people.)
Second, Republicans APPEAL TO THE ELITISM of THEIR BASE VOTERS . . . their racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. . . ., who, themselves, look down on with contempt the increasing mixture of voters who actually make up the democracy . . . THOSE OTHER PEOPLE who are “taking over.”
Third and oh-so hypocritically, the Republican establishment has always had an elitist strain and where, insofar as they ARE elitist, they look down with contempt on BOTH those “other people” from different backgrounds, AND their own base who are, in fact, getting a royal screwing from them . . . by using their own elitism against them; and where so far, they’d rather remain comfortably racist, etc., than to open their eyes to being conned . . . by the greatest con and his supporters that the world has ever seen.
But there’s nothing new really under the sun . . . the planning is really close to the Russian playbook where, in both cases, the Republican base are, to the Russians and to the Republican Establishment, useful idiots. CBK
CBK,
SOUNDS RIGHT. Consider that Trump holds the people who adore him in contempt, his base. He only like those who afford to pay the entry fee to his private clubs. Not his admiring riff-raff.
Where is the “holiday bonus” that Jeff Bezos promised for his associates in November? It’s January 15th and we still haven’t received it. $300 was his great gesture to his employees. It’s disgusting and disheartening. Zero respect for the people who make this machine run.