Charity

[Lannister the Rich]

Jeff Bezos donates 98.5 million dollars to “homelessness” and Twitter erupts into two factions. One half saying it’s only 0.09% of his wealth while the other half saying $98.5 million is still a lot of money, more than any person would normally contribute.

Here’s the issue: both are absolutely correct and don’t want to agree with the other side. The thing is, $98.5 million is a lot of money, but it is absolutely a penny to Jeff Bezos. I, personally, am not scolding him for donating the money, I’m scolding the fact that this is just a publicity stunt. The Amazon HQ being moved to Seattle skyrocketed cost of living and increased the number of homeless people there. $98.5 million dollars is less than Jeff Bezos makes in an hour. He is literally the richest man in the entire world, and while he did donate a lot of money, he could have donated 10x that and still not have even felt it. He could literally donate 99% of his wealth and still have plenty of money for himself, his children,his grandchildren to live comfortably.

Now, I’ll wait for the bootlickers to say I’m jealous of Jeff Bezos’ money. And for this, I’ll say that if I had his money, I would 100% donate every penny of it to as many charities as I could in order to help my fellow man.

It’s not a matter of what he has done, it’s a matter of what he could do. Like I said, I agree that it’s a lot of money, more money than I could ever donate. But if I had the opportunity, it would have been a lot more than pennies on the hundred dollar bill.

 

[Lannister the Rich]

I guess the debate is, is this true charity?

 

[Super Catanian]

Le me, a broke-ass who doesn't even have a job...
Hey man, I'll accept it! I cannot criticize Bezos for such actions, because it is, after all, his money. He can choose to do whatever the hell he wants to do with it. I understand that you have to right to feel however you want to feel, and only you can change that. Don't think I am judging you for the way you feel. But, only Bezos can choose what he wants to do with his money, and we cannot change that. So I'll simply take this time to at least be thankful for what he did do; at least it's better than nothing.

 

[Lannister the Rich]

Agreed, it’s better than nothing. If that’s how Jeff would like people to see him, then I guess. But he shouldn’t be praised for this

 

[Super Catanian]

However, this story reminds me of what was happening in the United States during the Industrial Revolution and the Progressive Era that came later. This was when monopolies were legal, and successful entrepreneurs got stupidly rich, quite literally. One example of them was Andrew Carnegie, who was one of the wealthiest people in history. He had more money than he could ever hope to spend in his lifetime, so he donated a very sizable percentage of his wealth to charity. In fact, one still exists.

 

[RazorbackPirate]

The phrases, "Looking a gift horse in the mouth." and, "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." come to mind. What a petty complaint. How much money you been giving away @lannister the rich? You "100% donate every penny of it to as many charities as you can in order to help your fellow man?" You don;t need to be a billionaire to do that. What's your charitable giving look like? What % of your income?

 

[Emberguard]

for this, I’ll say that if I had his money, I would 100% donate every penny of it to as many charities as I could in order to help my fellow man.

It’s not a matter of what he has done, it’s a matter of what he could do.

Same right at ya. What could you do?

It's very easy to say you'd donate 100% every penny if you were in his position without actually being in his position. It's something else entirely to do something with what you have or to keep your word once in a similar position. Which ironically we probably all are in the same position in comparison to someone else.

Are you willing with what you have to do exactly what you're asking of Jeff Bezos? Give everything away? At what point would you say you have enough to be able to give away? Name it. Not some wishy washy estimate. Some concrete way of saying what you can part with. And then tell me if you're willing to go through with it

While I don't expect you to give everything away unless that's something you value doing (which your statement at the moment would suggest you do value that), hopefully it'll show you how easy it is to judge someone without ever doing what you're judging them for not doing.

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

What would be interesting is if instead of straight money people managed to invest it to provide jobs to those without jobs so they have a sustainable income. Money is a great short term solution. There's nothing wrong with just giving money and if you don't have the inventiveness to provide more then cash it's hopefully helping those that need the money to eat. It just doesn't address the need to be actively doing something that exercises the mind and body or the need for social contact. Which there was one blogger I came across a few years back who helped a homeless man set up his own business selling water for $1 and they split the profits (because the person helping was lending the car to transport the bottled water and that paid for petrol). Thought that was a rather interesting experiment

 

[Lannister the Rich]

The phrases, "Looking a gift horse in the mouth." and, "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." come to mind. What a petty complaint. How much money you been giving away @lannister the rich? You "100% donate every penny of it to as many charities as you can in order to help your fellow man?" You don;t need to be a billionaire to do that. What's your charitable giving look like? What % of your income?

I give away much more than %0.09 of my wealth every month, but thanks for playing. How many times do I need to say that I agree it’s a large sum of money? How many times do I have to say that for Jeff Bezos to donate $98.5 million would also be like me donating a few pennies? Again, my argument is that he does not deserve praise for this charity. Now, if you don’t actually read what’s written here, why respond?

Same right at ya. What could you do?

It's very easy to say you'd donate 100% every penny if you were in his position without actually being in his position. It's something else entirely to do something with what you have or to keep your word once in a similar position. Which ironically we probably all are in the same position in comparison to someone else.

Are you willing with what you have to do exactly what you're asking of Jeff Bezos? Give everything away? At what point would you say you have enough to be able to give away? Name it. Not some wishy washy estimate. Some concrete way of saying what you can part with. And then tell me if you're willing to go through with it

While I don't expect you to give everything away unless that's something you value doing (which your statement at the moment would suggest you do value that), hopefully it'll show you how easy it is to judge someone without ever doing what you're judging them for not doing.

What would be interesting is if instead of straight money people managed to invest it to provide jobs to those without jobs so they have a sustainable income. Money is a great short term solution. There's nothing wrong with just giving money and if you don't have the inventiveness to provide more then cash it's hopefully helping those that need the money to eat. It just doesn't address the need to be actively doing something that exercises the mind and body or the need for social contact.

Allow me to clarify that if I had Jeff Bezos’ money while maintaining my current employment, which pay allows me to meet my city’s standards of living but not enough to save any, I would (again) 100% DONATE ALL OF BEZOS’ MONEY. Did I stutter? You can say “you say that now”, and yes, I do, and I mean it now and will then. No one, not a soul, needs that much money. If he were charitable as you quoted in the Bible, he would do the same. I’m not saying he should impoverish himself, and I never said I would do the same. I’m not saying that it is not a lot of money, I’m saying that he could do so much more. So, praising him does nothing good for the community.

 

[Emberguard]

Allow me to clarify that if I had Jeff Bezos’ money while maintaining my current employment, which pay allows me to meet my city’s standards of living but not enough to save any, I would (again) 100% DONATE ALL OF BEZOS’ MONEY.

Just to clarify, are you saying if you had their money while it’s still owned by Jeff? Or if you had invented Amazon and became the richest man in the world by putting in the work to get there?

 

[Lannister the Rich]

Just to clarify, are you saying if you had their money while it’s still owned by Jeff? Or if you had invented Amazon and became the richest man in the world by putting in the work to get there?

Neither. Jeff Bezos does not own it in this scenario, I do. Neither have I founded Amazon, that was Jeff. Poof, our bank account numbers were switched and I had his money, he had mine. He would continue to make hundreds of millions per hour, and I would continue just getting by.

 

[Emberguard]

So what I originally said was correct then. It's very easy to say you'd donate all of something you've never had. It's a meaningless statement until you put it into practice. Sure I agree it's nothing to go crazy over but at least he's actually done something and not just saying if he had more he'd do more

You're criticising that Jeff did a publicity stunt while doing the exact same thing when you say you would donate more then him if you had the same amount of money

 

[Lannister the Rich]

So what I originally said was correct then. It's very easy to say you'd donate all of something you've never had. It's a meaningless statement until you put it into practice. Sure I agree it's nothing to go crazy over but at least he's actually done something and not just saying if he had more he'd do more

Yes, it is. However, that isn’t the takeaway from the argument. I have nothing to do with this. This is about Jeff Bezos getting praise for doing something anyone could do and does on a regular basis: rounding up to the nearest dollar at the grocery store.

It’s unfathomable how much people will go to bat for a person they’ve never met for a dream they’ll never achieve. What exactly upsets you about my saying Jeff should donate more money? I’m honestly asking. Stop making this about me.

 

[Lannister the Rich]

You're criticising that Jeff did a publicity stunt while doing the exact same thing when you say you would donate more then him if you had the same amount of money

When did I say I want publicity for it? I believe I said it would be to actually help people. I couldn’t give a damn if my neighbor knew my name, in fact, I prefer it that way. Maybe look inward on that last comment.

 

[Emberguard]

You introduced yourself to the convo when you mentioned yourself in the OP.

But ok. Some guy that I had no knowledge of contributing to charity and whose name I was unfamiliar with I now have been made aware of contributing to charity. whooptydoo,

 

[RazorbackPirate]

What would be interesting is if instead of straight money people managed to invest it to provide jobs to those without jobs so they have a sustainable income

You mean like build and run a company? Give jobs directly to over half a million people? That kind of investment? I agree that building a company and giving people employment has a far greater impact than any charity or government program can have. Jeff's impact on the world should not be judged by his charity, but by his success. That Amazon provides employment for millions of people has far more impact than Jeff's 'rounding error'. Jeff Bezos - Curing homelessness one job at a time.

It’s unfathomable how much people will go to bat for a person they’ve never met for a dream they’ll never achieve. What exactly upsets you about my saying Jeff should donate more money? I’m honestly asking. Stop making this about me.

No one is going to bat for Jeff Bezos. It's his money. He can do with it whatever he wants. Give all away, part away, or none away. His money, his call.

Why is it about you? Because you're the one who made the post signaling your virtue to the world. Having done nothing yourself, you indict a man who has built a great company that employs hundreds of thousands of people, and who personally just gave away almost 100 million dollars for homelessness.

Did that inspire you to good works? No. It inspired a forum post to complain about him doing something you'll never have the ability to do yourself. What's your reaction to his good works? Nothing but complaint.

Instead, you want to take another man's hard earned money away from him, having done nothing to earn any of it yourself. You want to give it away to others who you, in your infinite wisdom, deem more deserving than the man who did the work, built the company, and employed the people. You want to give it to people who, like you, also didn't work to earn any of it, like Jeff or his employees did. Nope. You're just deciding to take what's not yours and give it away to others, simply because he has more than you.

Let's penalize the guy who worked morning, noon, and night, to provide for himself, his family, and his employees. Let's take all his stuff and give it to the guy sleeping on the sidewalk panhandling people for his next fix. Why not? It's not your money. You didn't do anything to earn it. You'll never do what he does to have what he has, so you'll just take it. Why not? Let him take all the risk, do all the work, then you'll just swoop in to take it all away. Simply take it away and give it to those who, like you, won't work for it. Sure, that makes sense.

Covetous, greedy, envious, jealous, petty, vindictive. Lot's of virtues signaled in the OP. Charity? Not so much.

 

[Lannister the Rich]

Ok, boomer. Get some reading glasses, you’re eyes aren’t as good as they used to be.

 

[Lannister the Rich]

If you think people can’t have jobs and also be homeless, I have some bad news for you. It happens a lot more than you think.

Jeff Bezos’ company forced thousands out of their homes due to rising costs in Seattle. Hardly curing homelessness.

You seem to think that everyone who is homeless is that way because they made bad choices and are also addicted to drugs and alcohol. How virtuous of you to assume the worst in misfortuned people @RazorbackPirate. Are you saying they don’t deserve help because they didn’t work for it? What if they have done all they could possibly do and it isn’t enough? It happens a lot more than you think...clearly...

I guess you can’t even sympathize with the poor let alone empathize, a pity you think yourself so righteous.

 

[RazorbackPirate]

If you think people can’t have jobs and also be homeless, I have some bad news for you. It happens a lot more than you think.

Jeff Bezos’ company forced thousands out of their homes due to rising costs in Seattle. Hardly curing homelessness.

You seem to think that everyone who is homeless is that way because they made bad choices and are also addicted to drugs and alcohol. How virtuous of you to assume the worst in misfortuned people @RazorbackPirate. Are you saying they don’t deserve help because they didn’t work for it? What if they have done all they could possibly do and it isn’t enough? It happens a lot more than you think...clearly...

I guess you can’t even sympathize with the poor let alone empathize, a pity you think yourself so righteous.

I am in no way implying that homeless people should not be helped, or that all are unemployed, or that all have mental health or drug addiction problems. However, that is the norm more than the exception. Once again, you miss my point.

Jeff Bezos just gave $98 million to homelessness. What did you do? Nothing. Just complain how evil that man who can give away 100 million without thinking is. That evil man who hired so many people and paid them so well, that they overpaid for real estate to live close to their jobs. Poor neighborhoods revitalized by working families, which forced those with less to move elsewhere.

It would have been so much better had he never opened Amazon, never employed all those people, and they never would have moved to Seattle and cause the economy to boom. Evil, evil man.

All those poor displaced people. Why didn't they just go to work for Amazon? Then they could have stayed where they were and had a great job. Jeff gave them an opportunity. They didn't take it, so now you want to take his money and give it to those who didn't take his opportunity? No one has any right to Jeff's money other than Jeff. You want to sit in judgement about Jeff and what he does with his money, but what are you willing to do? Nothing but complain.

How many jobs did you create this week? How many people are you currently offering employment to? How many new employees will you hire this week? How many of your existing employees will get a raise? None? Why don't you contribute something yourself before you advocate confiscating other people's wealth to pay for your desires.

 

[Lannister the Rich]

Whoosh...that was my point...flying right over your head. As always, you’re too dense to consider another opinion. Lashing out at me saying I think Jeff is an evil man for donating $98.5 million to homelessness he and his company made worse.

Does your brain literally refuse to comprehend things that were actually written and only look for between the lines? No wonder you’re so in to all your conspiracy theories. Do you literally make it up as you go? Because of all what you have just written, I have counterpoints to that you conveniently ignored. Go back and read, boomer.

 

[RazorbackPirate]

No, the conspiracy theory is that building a successful company exacerbates homelessness. That employing people puts them on the street. That generosity should be demonized by someone who ain't doing squat.

The topic of homelessness is a side issue. He's doing something in the world and with his money, you're doing nothing but complaining about it. When you build a great company, make a billion dollars and give it all away to the homeless, then you can criticize Jeff having lead by example. Until then ... blah, blah, blah. You're so much better in your poverty opining about what others should do while doing nothing yourself. Well smell you.