Progressives make all kinds of noise and virtue signal for people outside our care, but where the rubber meets the road, they fall short on helping fellow Americans—this is a nice start. Let’s see where it goes.
Wonder if he’ll get Bernie to contribute (tongue in cheek)
Which is more economically efficient:
1. Pay workers above-market wages
2. Pay workers market wages, but use taxes and some sort of welfare to bring the workers effective income up to where it would be had you paid them above-market wages.
Presumably the taxes used to fund Option 2 would be something like a wealth tax (including corporate wealth).
My non-economist intuition is that Option 1 could have weird effects on the economy due to paying non-market-based wages.
#2 is an issue because government transfers nearly always have terms attached. people get food stamps for food, housing assistance for housing, etc. so demand gaps can still occur because people still don't have the "right" kind of money. plus, it's less efficient because the government has to be involved.
i'm in favor of a wealth tax, however. implementation issues aside, it's the most realistic chance we have of making businesses pay up.
That's pretty presumptuous of you, isn't it?
For one, it ignores that the system and actions that give Bezos the ability to do this, i.e. accumulation of wealth, are a contributor to problem itself. Second, he'll use this as both a distraction and tax write-off. Third, rubber meeting the road isn't just about money. I spend many, many hours each month doing service within my community - from youth groups, to after-school programs, to community cleanup, etc. As do many of my friends, both conservative and progressive.
Trust me, he isn't special. $2 billion is LESS THAN 2% of his net worth!!
So, yeah, he's still a scourge, but I'll happily encourage him to distribute the wealth he builds off of the exploitation of average people.
A nit, but this is still a little like dominoes fixing pot holes in the city so their drivers can actually deliver. Sure it's great, but it would be better to pay a more fair share of taxes and provide a safety net for our people and the money needed to maintain common infrastructure.
I don't doubt this will be a more efficient endeavor than a government one, but it's also not really accountable to anyone. And bezos can actually just hire two PR people and shut the rest of it down. He has no obligation to homeless people, and no obligation to see this to the end. I'm sure he will, but it's pretty fucked to think that companies will be less self interested in their charity than in their business, or a government.
The idea that we should just make a few mega rich then depend on their kindness to address societies woes is really toxic.
Can you expand on this?