the DON JONES INDEX… |
|
|||
|
GAINS
POSTED in GREEN LOSSES
POSTED in RED |
|
||
|
7/30/21… 14,281.79 7/23/21… 14,307.39 6/27/13… 15,000.00 |
|||
(THE
DOW JONES INDEX: 7/30/21…35,084.53;
7/23/21…34,823.35; 6/27/13… 15,000.00) |
||||
LESSON for July 30, 2021 – SPACE
FARCE!
In assessing reports on the Bezos and Branson space flights last week, we
encountered numerous pertinent public comments attached to those accounts from several
of the publications reporting on matters Earthbound and higher – particularly
on Jeff Bezos, Amazon and its treatment of employees, his relationship with
Donald Trump and such. So we are going
to pull a few from a variety of these print and online journals… some on the
left, some right, some allegedly independent.
Post-flight, things have not been going so well for either of the
astronauts – in fact, their very status as astronauts is being called into
question by reputable authorities such as NASA, as well as by the usual gang of
idiots.
The New York Times (July 26th, see Attachment Two) cited the
FAA in declaring Bezos an un-astronaut while crediting Branson with at least
having a qualified pilot aboard for his voyage.
Instead, the bicentibillionaire was sloughed
off as a “participant” as in the feel-good trophies awarded juvenile athletic
also-rans:
“To qualify for the F.A.A.’s distinction,” they noted, “a
person had to reach an altitude of 50 miles — reflecting the earlier United States
Air Force practice — and one had to be considered as part of “the flight crew,”
which the federal agency defines as:
any employee or independent
contractor of a licensee, transferee, or permittee, or of a contractor or
subcontractor of a licensee, transferee, or permittee, who performs activities
in the course of that employment or contract directly relating to the launch,
re-entry, or other operation of or in a launch vehicle or re-entry vehicle that
carries human beings.
“Everyone else who goes to space is, in the F.A.A.’s view,
just a “spaceflight participant,” not an astronaut.”
·
Ego bruised, Bezos would suffer more
damage – this time to his pocketbook, as reported by CNBC. Beyond the potential de-astronautification, Jeffy’s week
was of the sort that made him want to stay up in space. Aside from the resuscitation of his Tayloristic employee policies in the printed, Internet,
social media and smoke signal press, his short (but potentially pioneering)
jaunt drew wide distaste from the usual subjects. More painfully, the much-pilloried government
struck back today when NASA “ranked and yanked” Blue Origen’s lucrative astronaut lunar lander contract –
redirecting the swag to competitor Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The U.S. Government Accountability Office then
denied Bezos’ protest. (See more at CNBC, Attachment Three)
Maybe he should
treat his lawyers to some of the same treatment doled out to fulfillment center
proles.
MSNBC, another
satellite of media hostility towards King Jeff (See Attachment Four), aimed
their claws at Jeffy’s eyeballs by accusing him of
that which is beyond despicable in the eyes of liberal progressives… a
man! A straight… white… man!
“In 1970, one year after the moon landing, the poet and
musician Gil Scott-Heron released one of his best-known spoken word
compositions. The piece, “Whitey on the Moon,” memorialized, in sardonic
fashion, the saccharine patriotism that had arisen around Apollo 11, with its
Cold War triumphalism and sensation of the imminent conquest of space.
“Scott-Heron’s oration, against the backdrop of a hypnotic
drumbeat, lamented that a rat had bitten his sister, the rent was going up, and
far away on a rock in airless space a man had planted an American flag.
Scott-Heron later explained that the poem had been inspired by Eldridge
Cleaver, an exiled leader of the Black Panther Party, describing the space race
as a “flying circus” meant to suppress both revolutionary sentiment and more
conventional efforts at social betterment in the United States.
“Fifty-one years later, Scott-Heron’s words are no less
damning — doctor bills and rent remain unalleviated, and the racial disparities
inherent in the refrain seem ever starker, enshrined in new voter-suppression
legislation around the country and in the disproportionate death toll of the
pandemic on communities of color. But a new “flying circus” has arisen
nonetheless — another race to space, even more ludicrous than before, with a
rarefied circle of lily-white billionaires serving as well-heeled ringmasters.
The paean to Eldridge Cleaver may have worn a little thin by
now among wokesters… the author of “Soul on Ice”
returned from exile in Algeria, then signed on with Reverend Moon’s
conservative cult; he would end up a passionate defender of Richard Nixon. One wonders what might have transpired had he
lived into the Age of Trump… Roger Stone may have had his back tattooed with
Tricky Dick’s portrait, but maybe El could have hired those dancing needles to
inscribe a vision of The Djonald on his back, or in
another place.
Speaking of Dicks, even the conspiracists at Info Wars piled on
poor Jeffy.
(See Attachment Five) And, though a right-wing tough guy capitalist, his
feud with The Djonald probably sunk his submarine
with the Alex Jones brigade: “The Internet was quick to
point out that the rocket is shaped like a dildo,” they snarked.
Branson, after all, launched
his career as a rather pathetic billionaire (only five or so) as a rock and
roll suit and, so, slithered through the grasp of the progressive haters. Bezos, the disciple of capitalist/communist
hybrid Frederick Taylor, took his lumps from the New York Times… first in 2015
after imposing wristwatch monitors on his serfs, then last month as conditions
in his Amazon “fulfillment centers” came to light. (See last week’s DJI.)
Not only the government, but private agglomerations, even lone citizens
with grudges… earned or gratuitous, trained their sights on the “egonauts”.
The cruel pop marketing guru Professor Scott Galloway
unloaded an infomercial’s worth of sarcasm on the spaceboy
in his syndicated marketing blog (see Attachment One I) as more Amazonians
dared to speak of their legacy of abuse – and were promptly silenced. Even Bezos critics within his formerly
influential Washington Post were fired
once Jeff heard their discouraging words.
Still, some persisted.
A few anonymous traitors to Team Bezos even spilled the kombuchua to HuffPost…
Here’s what some of those anonymous Washington Post
employees actually think about Amazon. We’ll be updating with additional
responses as they come in.
“Please give away more of your money instead of sending it
to space.
“Amazon is a great company, from the consumer side. It’s
Product Google, type in the thing and get what you’re looking for. From an
employment side, I get that it’s a lot murkier and that its scale makes
often-normal, ugly employment practices stand out more.
“Amazon workers absolutely need a union, their workers
should be allowed to organize peacefully, and I’m just thankful we were already
a union shop when we were bought.
“I’m boring, I have no strong Amazon opinions.
“I’m grateful Bezos bought the Post, because I probably
wouldn’t have a job here without it. With that said, I’m both concerned and
hopeful about the Amazon real estate deal in Virginia. On one hand, a win is a
win for the area when it comes to new jobs. On the other, how Amazon builds out
their new facility needs scrutiny, and it will be especially complicated for
The Post to cover it, both in terms of perceptions and reality. We need to dig
in on it. Separately, I think the conflation of the “Amazon Washington Post” in
pop culture and politics is difficult for the paper. I cringed when I watched
Steve Carell’s recent SNL skit where he posed as Bezos and implied he has a
role in the newsroom to troll Trump. From what I’ve seen, he really doesn’t,
and it’s a challenge when it keeps getting portrayed otherwise.
“My answer isn’t that fun, but I feel like I can say
whatever I want about Amazon. Haven’t felt any pressure to censor (but I did
just cancel my Prime account to save $$$).
“The treatment of Amazon workers is atrocious. It’s the 21st
century version of old-school 19th century style labor violations. People ought
to be able to use the restroom on the job, folks; that’s not really up for
debate. And then there are the hideously subpar wages. I appreciate Bezos’
sponsorship of the Post, but our values are wildly out of sync with his shitty
treatment of his own workers.
“The Post has the standard newspaper culture where any
public display of opinion on any of the 1,000 subjects we cover is strongly
discouraged, and I think that’s as much a driver of self-censorship as any
specific concerns related to Bezos owning us. (I think a lot of employees would
also avoid expressing a strong online opinion about Google or Facebook, for
example.) That being said! Amazon clearly hates unions. As far as I know the
Post is the only thing that Bezos owns that’s unionized, and the last round of
contract negotiations were absolutely brutal because of it, despite 2016 and
2017 being huge successes for the paper by any measure. I’m glad that the HQ2
sweepstakes and its conclusion was so transparently gross that the company
actually got some blowback for it. Working conditions in fulfillment centers
sound terrible. Amazon Fire tablets suck.
“Are we not allowed to say anything about Amazon...?
“I don’t really know what I’d say. I mean, I work for the
Post and it’s a pretty glorious thing. I don’t really deal with anything
involving Amazon. The boss seems to give us a budget to do good work, and we
try our best. Damn, that’s a boring response.
“[Amazon] is kinda the perfect, terrifying example of what
people are willing to ignore for the sake of convenience.
“I’d say, “Please return our phone calls.” But I guess every
reporter would say that.
“Okay, so I’m not sure if this is exactly what you’re looking
for, but I would say that i tend to do less critical
thinking about Amazon than I do, say, about Facebook or Google or Walmart, and
the reason is fairly obvious: because I am thankful for the opportunity I have,
which wouldn’t exist without Jess Bezos. Absent a deep, more thoughtful
analysis, do I have concerns about Amazon’s impact on the world―labor
practices, antitrust law and the future of small businesses? Yes. And would I
say that out loud at work? No. Oh, I would also say that when you have a $1
trillion market cap, you ought to be able to afford health insurance for your
warehouse employees. [Ed. note: This employee was later eager to clarify that
they meant “Jeff,” not “Jess.”]
“I hope Amazon employees aren’t fooled by that hyped up pay
raise from [October], I get excited every time I hear news of union talk at
Amazon sites.
“Like everyone who thinks about it for more than a minute, I
wish Amazon paid warehouse workers better, had better labor conditions, weren’t
part of a monopoly-inclined tech culture, and didn’t put cities and states
through the ridiculous torture of throwing tax incentives at one of the most
valuable companies in the history of the world for a second headquarters they
apparently had decided they needed to open anyway for business reasons.
Nevertheless, like everyone who spends too much time on their phone and
computer, I buy a lot of stuff there. As a Post employee specifically, though,
one of my biggest frustrations with Amazon is that the story you’re writing is
such an obvious one to do: The immense wealth and power that Jeff Bezos amassed
there let him pour resources into our work, but also gives people reason to
wonder whether Amazon is off-limits for us. My colleagues who cover the company
do a good job navigating the many potential conflicts of interest inherent in
writing critically about a massive corporation run by your boss. But those
conflicts of interest are there no matter how well we do our jobs.
“It is the ugliest site on the Internet. It’s as if some
designer was directed to generate as many images, words and numbers as
possible, and then arrange them in the most confusing and least attractive
fashion they could muster. The only thing uglier than this site’s design is the
selection of women’s clothing, which all come from brands you have never heard
of with names like “Snowfoller” and “Yyear.” I once made the mistake of paying for gift wrap
from Amazon for a baby shower gift. “Gift wrap” at Amazon means it comes in a
blue box with a mustard ribbon (no bow) and a piece of computer paper folded
into a tag with the Amazon logo on it. It looks like something you would be
handed on your way out of a regional corporate conference in the Philly
suburbs, and they charge money for this. Bezos has so much money, he is publicly
mulling throwing it into a trash can in outer space while his employees have to
donate vacation time to each other when they get cancer. Literally he would
rather launch money into space for no purpose than give it to the people who
work for him. I love working at the Post, but Amazon sucks.”
So up went Richard, down went Richard, and then up went
Jeff. This week, we’re taking a look at
some of the reactions of the little people… commentators to the big and small,
left and right, thriving and failing media as were profiled last week and whom
we dub our Peanut Galleries.
(Attachments One A through H).
They have quite a bit to say (or, rather, post). There are even a few surprises… Bezos
defenders in a lefty and neo-liberal institution like the NY Times, union
advocates as said so in conservative journals and lived to post another day.
Beyond the heat, some light was shed. It is palpable that… the egos of Bezos and
Trump aside… one of the significant dividing lines that resonates across
America – geographically, culturally, racially and philosophically – is whether
private enterprise or gumment intervention can best
meet the challenges of the future; whether they be returning a man to the moon
or dealing with earthbound problems like the plague and climate change.
And, on the scientific and economic fronts, are these little
ten minute Chautauquas by billionaires just a blast
of empty ego, or a first wobbly step into the privatization of space (for good
or for ill) whether space tourism, exploiting the resources on moons and
asteroids and planets as Earth’s resources run out… even as a last-ditch ploy
to save a human race that has destroyed its habitat.
Which brings us round to the old question of liberty versus
security and… not surprisingly… Benjamin Franklin’s admonition that those who
would sacrifice the one would not add to the other.
(Of course, Mister F. was an old white male capitalist and,
if not filthy rich, had plenty of acquaintances who were and who would
subsidize his outsized wants and needs for the privilege of his company.)
While the spacemen spaced, back on Earth…
|
JULY 23 – JULY
29 |
|
Friday, July 23, 2021 Infected: 34,400,655 Dead:
610,720 Dow:
35,061.55 |
The Tokyo Olympics begin – with festivities
(Eddie Alvarez, MLB and Sue Bird WNBA are the American torchbearers; Naomi
Osaka lights the cauldron), but in an unfestive
mood. Test kits fail to arrive at the
Olympic Village, where 110 athletes and others get it. Only 1,500 attend the opening ceremonies
(as opposed to 65,000 in Brazil 2016, and 100 members of TeamAmerica
refuses vaxxes.
Heat dome rebuilds in West, Oregon’s Bootleg Fire now scorching
400,000 acres and nine of the state’s firefighters get it.
CDC says de-masking and social undistancing
is spurring returns of the common cold.
Doctors now say the Delta Variant will get worse and worse until at
least October. |
|
Saturday, July 24, 2021 Infected:
34,428,050 Dead:
610,835 |
Wildfire smoke casts coughing, sneezing
cloud coast to coast. Nice sunsets,
though. Killer floods ravage India.
U.S. buys 200M cases of the Pfizer vaccine, but shots won’t be
available until April. Despite
pleadings and firings, 25% of hospital workers remain vaxx
refuseniks while gumment bungling keeps children
unprotected with school days looming closer and closer. Tough talking NYC officials say the time
for voluntary masking is over while some NFL players say they’d rather quit
than comply with mandates. Olympic
village cases rise to 127 – the Czech volleyball team gets it; so does Rami,
the snow leopard at the San Diego zoo.
Funeral for assassinated Haitian President ends in gas and
gunfire. US racks up 709 shootings and
309 dead in a week; 777 gun violence incidents altogether. 77 year old Mick Jagger he’s taking the
Stones out for another round of touring starting October. |
|
Sunday, July 25, 2021 Infected:
34,443,761
Dead: 610,891 |
President
Joe pivots to foreign affairs – meets with Iraqi President, says the troops
will advise, but not withdraw. More
sanctions imposed on Cuban officials, which concern them not at all. Saturday shootings in Chicago - a National
Guardsman among 77 shot (7 killed)…
other incidents include a Sheriff’s Deputy in Vancouver, WA and a 12 year old
in North Carolina. President Joe blame
violence on ending of the plague, promises to crack down on gun dealers. 13 year old “playing with a lighter”
arrested for starting another wildfire. RIP comedian Jackie Mason, civil rights
leader Bob Moses. ROH (rot in hell)
“dating game killer” cheats execution by dying in jail. |
|
Monday, July 26, 2021 Infected: 34,533,179 Dead: 610,952 Dow:
35,144.31 |
Partisan squabbles erupt as Speaker Nancy appoints RINO Kinzinger to her One Six Capitol Riot Commission. Hearings open with four policemen claiming
the insurrection was real; even though some of those Congressmen evacuated
say it was a hoax and Ol’ 45 says it was full of “love”. “We have to ignore the antics of those who
do not want the truth,” Pelosi says; Minority leader Kevin McCarthy calls it
politics, not patriotism. More Olympians get it
including golfer Byron deChambeau. Olympic Village plague-ees
start the day at 137, end it at 153.
Humiliating day for Team America… women’s soccer team fails and men’s
basketballers’ 25 game win streak ends against… France! Bennifer
reunites for J. Lo’s 52nd birthday. |
|
Tuesday, July 27, 2021 Infected: 34,603,919 Dead: 611,414 Dow: 35,058.52 |
Olympics stunner – tennis star and
cauldron lighter Naomi Osaka loses to some unranked someone, top US gymnast Simone
Biles withdraws for mental health reasons.
And the Norwegian handball team is fined for refusing to wear bikini
bottoms. The scene is just too freakin’ weird
in Tokyo; singer Pink, by the way, paid the fines.
Stateside, the Capitol Riots star chamber begins shining with videos
and testimony from four of the policemen charged with defending the
politicians… some of whom now pretended that nothing ever happened. "He himself helped create this
monstrosity," Capitol Police Officer Aquilino Gonell said of Trump and, of the mob: “I did not
recognize my fellow citizens.” Ofc. Michael Fanone
slammed his fist on the table in anger at the Congressional denialists. Ofc. Daniel Hodges described hand-to-hand
fighting in “a long hallway of smoke and screams.” Ofc. Harry Dunn, who is black, cited
repeated racial slurs.
“This is not the time for name calling,” said an angry RINO Rep. Liz
Cheney (RWy).
House minority leader McCarthy ramps up mask and vax denialism;
Speaker Pelosi calls him a “moron”.
Across the Capitol hall, partisans squabbled over infrastructure and
what it means – experts alleging that it was crunch time on any infrastructure deal. Crunch! |
|
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 Infected: 34,672,690 Dead: 611,801 Dow:
34,930.43 |
More
experts now say infrastructure wrangling should be termed “salvage” as the
last Surfside victim is retrieved and identified and a swastika is painted on
the State Dept. elevator. Then, Senate
Majority Leader Mitchy pivots, says he’ll support
more wheeling and dealing. Felons grand and petit are tried,
sentenced and jailed… Atlanta spa killer cuts a deal for life without in four
of the eight murders, also guilty are the South Carolina Uber killer and
Democratic druggie/donor Ed Buck.
Electric truck billionaire Trevor Milton indicted for fraud. Indiana FedEx shooter on trial says he
wanted to “demonstrate his masculinity”.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Al) straps on body armour
while an “Iron Man” Jetpack Jerry buzzes LAX.
And Floyd redux: two cops beat and choke a black man in Aurora,
Colorado (but this one lives). Quarantined skateboarder calls Tokyo
Olympics brass “inhumane” as the government prohibits alcohol sales, driving
many bars and restaurants into bankruptcy.
Dr. Fauci receives death threats, says Delta
Variant is 1,000 times more infectious… ClimSec
Kerry praises young people, asks adults to “act like adults” on climate
change in advance of another UN pre-summit summit in London. |
|
Thursday, July 29, 2021 Infected:
34,750,860
Dead: 612,122 Dow: 35,084.53 |
Pfizer says its efficiency drops from 98
to 84% after six months, raising questions about booster shots every… uh…
until, like, forever? Not so, says Dr. Jah, only for the frail
elderly. Vaxxes
(now 66.9%) and infections both up; 100,000 capacity Chicagopalooza
concert deemed a Super Spreader (and it hasn’t even started yet).
Senate votes to send infrastructure bill back to Congress as 17
Republicans defect, then the politicians flee on an early weekend, allowing
the eviction moratorium to expire.
Western heat dome, which had retreated, advances all across the
country, ensuring death and misery to the new homeless except in cooler
Alaska, where an 8.2 EQ rattles Kodiak (but generates no tsunami).
Biles understudy Sunisa Lee wins Olympic
gold as does U.S. swimmer Caeleb Dressel. 24 more athletes get it – the toll is now
198. NBA draft begins: first pick,
Cade Cunningham, goes to Detroit where locals are already calling him
“motorcade”. |
|
|
|
The Space Farce, despite trolling, has to be given a positive push to the
Don on the basis that it does constitute a first step in well… other… things,
space tourism and inter-solar system hauling.
Enemies of capitalism will be disappointed. They may or may not be gratified by the surge
in unemployment… bad for the unemployed (especially with the eviction
moratorium ending) but good in that it brings us closer to The Revolution. Or, as Djonald Unimpeachable
told a mediot… those people (the Capitol rioters he
was already disassociating himself from) “looked like Democrats.” He was perhaps more prescient than he… or we…
knew.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CATEGORY |
VALUE |
BASE |
RESULTS |
SCORE |
SCORE |
OUR SOURCES and COMENTS |
||
INCOME |
24% |
6/17/13 |
LAST |
CHANGE |
NEXT |
7/23/21 |
7/30/21 |
SOURCE
|
Wages
(hourly, per capita) |
9% |
1350 points |
7/23/21 |
+0.31% |
8/6/21 |
1,453.83 |
1,453.83 |
|
Median
Income (yearly) |
4% |
600 |
7/23/21 |
+0.03% |
8/6/21 |
671.61 |
671.80 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 35,562 572 |
*Unempl. (BLS – in millions |
4% |
600 |
7/23/21 |
-1.70% |
8/6/21 |
339.87 |
339.87 |
|
*Official (DC – in millions) |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+7.20% |
8/6/21 |
444.03 |
412.08 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 8.796
9,478 |
*Unofficl. (DC – in millions) |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.07% |
8/6/21 |
354.75 |
354.49 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 16,356
368 |
Workforce Participtn.
Number
Percent |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.022% +0.015% |
8/6/21 |
316.45 |
316.50 |
In 151,708
741 Out 100,243 240 Total: 251,981 |
WP % (ycharts)* |
1% |
150 |
7/23/21 |
+0.16% |
8/6/21 |
152.23 |
152.23 |
https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate
61.60 nc |
OUTGO |
(15%) |
|||||||
Total
Inflation |
7% |
1050 |
7/23/21 |
+0.9% |
8/6/21 |
985.14 |
985.14 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.9
nc |
Food |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.8% |
8/6/21 |
278.09 |
278.09 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.8 |
Gasoline |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+2.5% |
8/6/21 |
268.80 |
268.80 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
-2.5 |
Medical Costs |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
nc |
8/6/21 |
287.06 |
287.06 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm 0 |
Shelter |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.5% |
8/6/21 |
289.93 |
289.93 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.5 |
WEALTH |
(6%) |
|
||||||
Dow Jones Index |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.75% |
8/6/21 |
375.50 |
378.32 |
|
Home (Sales)
(Valuation) |
1% 1% |
150 150 |
5/21/21 |
+1.03% +3.71% |
8/6/21 |
170.29 182.84 |
170.29 182.84 |
https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics Sales (M): 5.86 Valuations (K): 363.3 nc |
Debt
(Personal) |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.27% |
8/6/21 |
273.43 |
272,70 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 64,608 |
|
||||||||
AMERICAN
ECONOMIC INDEX (15% of TOTAL INDEX POINTS)
|
||||||||
NATIONAL |
(10%) |
|
||||||
Revenue (trilns.) |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.14% |
8/6/21 |
310.42 |
310.85 |
debtclock.org/ 3,635 |
Expenditures
(tr.) |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.09% |
8/6/21 |
219.50 |
219.31 |
debtclock.org/ 6,823 |
National Debt
tr.) |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
+0.095% |
8/6/21 |
322.23 |
321.93 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 28,579 |
Aggregate Debt
(tr.) |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
+0.11% |
8/6/21 |
370.56 |
370.15 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 85,424 |
GLOBAL |
(5%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign Debt
(tr.) |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
+0.06% |
8/6/21 |
292.46 |
292.30 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,098 |
Exports (in
billions) |
1% |
150 |
7/23/21 |
+0.49% |
8/6/21 |
182.97 |
182.97 |
|
Imports (bl.) |
1% |
150 |
7/23/21 |
- 1.23% |
8/6/21 |
119.13 |
119.13 |
|
Trade Deficit
(bl.) |
1% |
150 |
7/23/21 |
- 3.23% |
8/6/21 |
97.15 |
97.15 |
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/index.html
71.2 |
SOCIAL INDICES
(40%) |
||||||||
ACTS
of MAN |
(12%) |
|
||||||
World
Affairs |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
-0.2% |
8/6/21 |
393.02 |
392.21 |
Floods
continue to drench Europe, India and (of course) the U.S. China rejects probe of plague origins. Tokyo anti-Oly
riots wane after Japan starts racking up medals. France churns out “Covid
licenses” good for travel and dining (with money, of course). |
Terrorism |
2% |
300 |
7/23/21 |
-0.3% |
8/6/21 |
235.48 |
234.77 |
Israelis
and Gaziacs trade missiles for arson balloons. Terrorists in Nigeria kidnap 80-some
schoolgirls. Civilian casualties in
Afghanistan hit record high as Taliban settle scores – US plans to admit
18,000 former collaborators. |
Politics |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
nc |
8/6/21 |
440.37 |
440.37 |
State
Dept. passport backlog engenders scammers.
Trump holds rally in Arizona, says… surprise!... he really, really won the election. On again, off again infrastructure bill on
again. |
Economics |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
+0.5% |
8/6/21 |
403.79 |
405.81 |
Inflation
& shortages hit school supplies, Mattel to raise holiday toy prices. WalMart to
finance employee higher education (Amazone drones
get another banana). US economy grows
6.5% for 2nd quarter, Dow cracks the 35,000 ceiling; Tesla reports
record profits, other big winners are Google, Apple… who, with Netflix and
the WashPost impose employee vaxx
mandates. |
Crime |
1% |
150 |
7/23/21 |
-0.2% |
8/6/21 |
246.03 |
245.54 |
Dating app rats out Capitol rioter/dominatrix accused of
whipping police. 13 year old “playing
with a lighter” arrested for starting wildfires. Arson (unrelated) destroys Beyonce/Jay Z. home.
Five die in Bakersfield standoff include suspect and deputy. |
ACTS
of GOD |
(6%) |
|
||||||
Environment/Weather |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
+0.1% |
8/6/21 |
406.10 |
406.51 |
West cools
off, then heats up again as heat dome shrinks, then expands and wildfires
blaze on. East cools off, then heats
up again. Oceanic warming coaxes Caribbean
sharks to come north and compete with the locals for swimmers and surfers and
seals. |
Natural/Unnatural
Disaster |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
+0.3% |
8/6/21 |
404.48 |
405.69 |
Surfside
rescue & recover teams end their mission and go home. 97 bodies were recovered. Hero cops Rocco Fusco and Paul Samoyedny lift crashed car off of baby in Yonkers,
NY. Utah sandstorm causes traffic
pileup that kills 8. 8.2EQ off Alaska
coast harms nobody. |
LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX (15%) |
||||||||
Science, Tech,
Education |
4% |
600 |
7/23/21 |
+1.0% |
8/6/21 |
671.95 |
678.67 |
Bezos/Branson
defenders tout all of the scientific progress that their flights will
generate. President Joe plots to
increase “domestic content” provisions on stuff from 55% to 75%. Back to School Day closer and closer amidst
chaotic mask and vaxx protocols. |
Equality
(econ/social) |
4% |
600 |
7/23/21 |
-0.2% |
8/6/21 |
563.28 |
562.15 |
Covid long haulers get ADA protection (and speeches from
Joe and Kamalala).
Impoverished renters get no protection as eviction ban ends
Saturday. Cleveland Indians change
name to Guardians. DepDef
ponders bill requiring women to register for the draft. |
Health Plague |
4% |
600 |
7/23/21 |
-0.3% -0.3% |
8/6/21 |
501.73 - 101.89 |
500.22 - 102.30 |
CDC says de-masking revives common cold. Monkeypox cases in and around Houston up to
200. Exploding batteries provoke
second Bolt recall. Tainted McCormick
Italian Seasoning spices recalled. Mask/vaxx and anti-Vaxx/Maskers battle in the streets, on airplanes and in
the courts where SCOTUS cites a 1905 case legalizing mandatory smallpox vaxx mandate.
California diner serves only the unvaxxed.
Former CDC head Tom Friedman says school sports are the real danger
upcoming. Current chief Walensky says Delta variant justifies return to lockdown,
mask & vaxx mandates. Weepy, wimpy vaxx
fighter gets it, sobs: “I was used to being strong.” |
Freedom and
Justice |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
-0.1% |
8/6/21 |
461.87 |
461.41 |
Miss. petitions
SCOTUS to overturn Roe v. Wade, Trump fixer and secret UAE agent Thomas
Barrack freed on $250M bail. |
MISCELLANEOUS and TRANSIENT INDEX (7%) |
||||||||
Cultural
incidents |
3% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
+0.2% |
8/6/21 |
522.10 |
523.14 |
Olympics oopsies – women’s soccer team and men’s hoops
team lose… the latter to the French! US leads in medals, tho’. Minor League baseball teams folding as
plague recurs. Freshman Cade
Cunningham is NBA first draftee.
Rolling Loud hip hop fest in Miami features loud music, happy virii. Kelly
Clarkson ordered to pay $200,000/mo. to deadbeat ex. RIP former Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mi) and Mike
Enzi (R-Wy), pitchman Ron Popeil, comedian Jackie
Mason, civil rights leader Robert Moses, bearded ZZ Topper Dusty Baker,
meringue singer Johnny Ventura and PBS Kids’ “Arthur the Aardvark”
(succumbing after 25 seasons). ROH
(rot in Hell): dating game killer Rodney Alcala. |
Miscellaneous
incidents |
4% |
450 |
7/23/21 |
-0.2% |
8/6/21 |
485.50 |
484.53 |
IPSOS poll
says American poll on optimism finds optimism cratering… 64% in May to 49%
now. Disneyland reimposes mask
mandate. So does the Pentagon. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The
Don Jones Index for the week of July 23rd through July 29th, 2021 was DOWN 25.60 points.
The Don Jones Index is
sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and
Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian
Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies,
emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers
(including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin
Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works,
“Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best,
mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective
legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.
Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC
donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com
ATTACHMENT ONE –
From Various, as listed…
In researching a cross-section of
effectively nonpartisan publications (they aren’t) as well as samples from
blogs and journals of the left and right, we repeatedly encountered their
attached Peanut Galleries (mostly tending to derive from sections called:
Comments, but with the occasional “Reply”.
We started with the two New York
Time scrutinies of Amazon employee-relations
problems… one from 2015 after the introduction of the controversy at the
“fulfillment centers”, the other more recently (June 15, 2021). (Attachments 1A and 1B) In all cases, we first reproduced the
inciting article, then followed up with some (or all) of the readers’
statements. (Where there were too many
to list, we deleted sections ranging from individual responses that were
obscene, off-topic or just irrelevant… we also cut off the latter NYT comments
for reasons of space and time.)
Next, we listed a few of the
responses to the voyages from the Left… specifically Slate (One C), the
Guardian UK (one D) and the Huffington Post (which, in addition to its usual
comments… One E… published a roster of comedic comments from professional and
amateur wags… One F). To balance the
scales, we then included Fox News (One G) and Breitbart (which latter… One H…
proved disappointing).
Finally, we reproduced an essay
(Attachment One H) by one Professor Scott Galloway, identified as an academic
and pitchman for unusual investment strategies… one of those guys in a rented
ballroom who promises to double your money in 23 hours, just trust him (and
watch the money drop from the clouds).
His take on the Branson/Bezo voyages was
unflattering, but largely from the financial point of view.
In most (but not all) cases, the
attitudes of the Peanuts tended to reflect the views of their patron, but a few
contrary examples popped up. As did
short dialogues between Peanuts with differing takes on Professor Galloway’s
views.
(DJI note #1: The names, or initials, of contributors to
the PG have been shuffled to protect the guilty. News media customarily cuts off comments
after a few days or week, but if you are inspired to hunt down a peanut whose
opinions you particularly care to prize or purge or to pitch in your two cents
on any related topic, news explications and comment solicitations are perennial
as the weeds of summer, so have at it.)
(DJI note #2: While we wish to limit editorial comment on
editorial comments from the public (which we sometimes can’t resist doing,
noted in RED, certain posts or portions of
thereof are notable for an abundance of wisdom or foolishness… you
determine. As befits yellow journalism,
these are highlighted in yellow. We have also left grammatical and spelling
errors as the posters posted them, except in the few cases that same rendered
the content un-intelligible.)
ATTACHMENT ONE (A) –
From the New York Times (2015)
INSIDE AMAZON – WRESTLING BIG IDEAS IN A
BRUISINGWORKPLACE
SEATTLE — On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an
orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular way of working.
They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learned at
previous jobs, one employee recalled. When they “hit the wall” from the
unrelenting pace, there is only one solution: “Climb the wall,” others
reported. To be the best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by the leadership principles,
14 rules inscribed on handy laminated cards. When quizzed days later, those
with perfect scores earn a virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the
company’s proud phrase for overturning workplace conventions.
At Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one
another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight,
followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to
standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.” The internal phone
directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s
bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool
offers sample texts, including this: “I felt concerned about his inflexibility
and openly complaining about minor tasks.”)
Many of the newcomers filing in on Mondays may not be there
in a few years. The company’s winners dream up innovations that they roll out
to a quarter-billion customers and accrue small fortunes in soaring stock.
Losers leave or are fired in annual cullings of the
staff — “purposeful Darwinism,” one former Amazon human resources director
said. Some workers who suffered from cancer, miscarriages and other personal
crises said they had been evaluated unfairly or edged out rather than given
time to recover.
(Read the remainder of the article here.)
THE NEW
YORK TIMES (2015) PEANUT GALLERY
FROM WP: Amazon was a lifesaver for my elderly
parents during the pandemic and kept millions of people working with far less
exposure to COVID-19 than what front-line retail workers faced. Amazon provides
much lower prices and selection than the medical supply store 20 mi away.
Amazon can pay more more for workers than retail
employees because their jobs are more productive. We still shop at other online
retailers so there is competition. Its a free country. NYT readers, I'm not
sure what problem are you trying to solve here.
FROM WA: I was thrilled to hear Bezos was going
to outer space and then very disappointed to find that he intends to return. For the past year and a half
we have been working hard towards weaning from the Amazon habit. Bezos may not
miss us, but it has to start somewhere. Excellent reporting, thank you NY
Times.
FROM GN: Yet
another reason not to shop with them. This article confirmed many of my
suspicions about how Amazon treats its workforce.
FROM RG: Perhaps
Amazon has discovered the limits of how large a private organization can get,
without the use of harsher disciplines used for government militaries. Only rarely
are paradigms appreciated before they unravel. Bigger isn’t always better.
FROM DS: As
a shopper for The Dark Side (aka Amazon) I agree whole-heartedly with many
valid and worthy comments in response to this article. Where LL Bean had a
blowout year financially in 2020 and gave all its employees huge end of year
profit sharing bonuses, Amazon instead continues to enrich it's
founder and blow through employees. All of the metrics used for shoppers and warehouse workers are just
fodder for the inevitable replacement of these 'human fulfillment jobs' with
robots in the next few years. Robots are already being tested for such jobs in
Europe and surely Amazon is already eyeing them for their own operations as
soon as it is viable. In the US, for those with financial means, convenience is
taking precedence over concern for the workers fulfilling our orders, the
impact our choices have on the planet (environmentally & economically), and
how it is creating a monster that swoops in and kills local small businsesses, etc... Kudos to all who are boycotting
purchasing through Amazon and it's affiliated
channels. If enough people 'woke up' and 'committed to changing choices/habits'
maybe we could save our world from the evils of Amazon and the like.
FROM IL: I shopped at a Wal-Mart in the 1980s
because in the small town I lived in, it was "the store." It was
depressing - the employees looked miserable, the managers harried and the store
itself a disorganized mess. I never shop there. It's a viscerally bad experience.
But, shopping at Amazon is great, in theory. I don't see the workers pack the
boxes and get them on the trucks. I don't even see the delivery person, who may
be a contracted worker making less than minimum wage. I order it, it shows up.
So, it's easy to not feel anything for the people doing the actual work at
Amazon. Stories like this change that
feeling, at least for me. Names and faces bring their plight to life. For an
extended take on this issue, I the Amazon chapters in the book (not
the movie) "Nomadland."
FROM SJ: Unions are needed for all workers both
skilled and unskilled, college educated or not. If workers want a voice at the
table and feel valued as a human being then laws need to be changed. The onus
needs to be shifted onto the employer. For every company, unions are mandatory
unless voted out by the employees. Workers that elect not to vote get tallied
as a "yes"- I'm for the union.
FROM WE: Between their penchant for taking a loss
on certain items in order to stifle competition with mom and pop businesses,
charging others who sell on their platform fees, and the abuse in their
warehouses, it s hard to justify continuing
patronizing Amazon, in spite of the convenience. A friend who lives in Palm
Springs took a job with Amazon. He lasted nearly a month before quitting out of
exhaustion. His hours kept being changed and he couldn't deal with either the
pressure or the inconsistencies. He also said he had close calls with some of the
robots on the floor. It is widely reported
that neither Jeff Bezos personally, or Amazon, as a company pay taxes. Can
someone explain this to me?
FROM CM: Amazon appears to pay a decent wage and
give good health benefits compared to similar jobs in the USA
. If they tone down the employee micromanagement, promote from the
inside, and especially, get rid of bots automatically firing employees, it
could be a O.K job.
FROM MP: As a retired VP of HR at a Silicon
Valley telecom company, I'm painfully aware of the hazards of hearing one side
of a story from disgruntled employees. And this paper's political inclinations has almost certainly presented JUST one side. Amazon is a
legendary success and its founder has displayed exemplary concern for ethical
and caring treatment of its workers. There are plenty of balanced stories that
provide a more complete picture but it's obvious from the readers' comments
that they're more than willing to accept just the employees' perspectives.
FROM PF: I
stopped shopping at Amazon when I first heard how impossible the schedule of
their contract delivery drivers were. Workers get
injured on the road, just like at the warehouses.
FROM NJ: I'm deeply troubled after reading this
article. Mr. Bezos is treating human beings like robots. I felt like I was
reading a dystopian novel. I will be selling my 2 Amazon stock s DJI – BAD MOVE! and will be
cancelling my Prime membership. Bezos should be ashamed of himself. He's so out
of touch.
FROM BM: Jeff Bezos built a better mouse trap,
plane and simple, and that’s why he’s so rich. He’s also anti-union, but maybe
not as anti-union as Henry Ford was. If you expect the ultra rich to be fair
you haven’t lived long enough. It’s up to workers to demand fair representation,
but the last time they had a vote 70% rejected it. What’s left to say?
FROM RS: Nothing new here, the whole of our
economic system is geared towards high profits for the few, at the expense of a
cheap labor force, the large majority. In terms of hiring and firing, Bezos is
following Daniel Kahneman who won the Nobel Prize for his decision
making theories. Kahneman found out that interviews and the human
element were actually the weak part of human resources, while
"objective" hiring ( computers) proved more
accurate and less biased.
FROM PS: Amid
the vast implications of this article, one stands out for me as an example of
the human struggle for dignity and worth: Please tell us the outcome of Mr.
Castillo's struggle for life.
FROM DP: It
really is like that old line that knowing how sausages are made will turn you
right off eating them. Apart from the obvious (richest man in the world - Jeff
Bezos, still in the top 2 or 3 richest after his divorce, vs. how much or
little Amazon's frontline workers make), the thing that I find really hard to
swallow is that a company that prides itself on its ability to make data-driven
decisions has such a dysfunctional HR setup. I don't think I am alone here
wondering how much of that inefficiency and ineptitude is purposefully planned,
rather than accidental. After all, Jeff Bezos believes that his employees are naturally lazy, so keeping
them in a constant state of anxiety or downright fear is a convenient mental
whip that keeps them in line and plugging away. Of course, that management by
fear has severe consequences, including the ones reported here, and also
provides the high employee turnover rates that Amazon's leadership wants to
see.
FROM KR: My dad worked at a gas station for
minimum wage and zero benefits. Not even a day off. It was outside even in rain
in snow. His bosses were ruthless who literally ran after pennies. When he
became disabled they even refused to fill paperwork for disability. He would
have loved to work for Amazon without any complaints.
FROM SS: I
worked for Amazon for a few years. It was great considering how easy it was. Most complainers are lazy and
entitled ones and they either quit or get fired eventually. The worst
part is working with the managers who are either recent college graduate or
ex-military, most of them are clueless what is actually happening on the floor,
so absorbed they are watching the metrics on their laptops.
FROM DJ: I
worked at Amazon. We can do better as human than to treat another human like
this.
FROM JO: Please, nearly $18 an hour, with
current housing prices, inflation, etc, that is the new poverty level. Do not
be fooled that it is anything more. And we wonder why the middle class has been
disappearing and the poor get poorer. Look no further than Bezos and his ilk
from Uber and Airbnb, who get richer and richer on the backs of low paying
folks. These would have been good jobs in the 70's for college and high school
students.
FROM MD: These work practices are mediaeval in
their treatment of workers. Bezos sees himself as king, his managers his dukes
and the rest are serfs to be disposed of without so much as a care. All the
fancy technology can't change the fact that this is pre-Renaissance serfdom
writ large.
FROM CM: But
if Amazon workers are treated
as human beings instead of disposable cogs in a machine, Jeff Bezos might not
be able to play astronaut on his very own private spacecraft. Think of how
damaging that would be to him. These employees need to stop complaining and get
to work!
FROM BB: Regarding the statement quoted from an
employee’s post: “We are not tools used to make their daily/weekly goals and
rates.” You certainly are. That to me is the very definition of an employee.
What’s the problem?
FROM CA: Amazon is an amazingly innovative and
well-run company, that offers some of the best customer service anywhere in
American business. Its detractors tend to be butt-hurt bureaucrats and those
who trade on its platform but would prefer not to pay the required toll. As for
employees, the complaints seem to come from unskilled hourly workers who are at
Amazon for its above-market pay and benefits, but would just as soon not be
driven quite so hard to perform. And I'm certain you could find a cadre of such
workers among an group of workers with limited
prospects and few attractive alternatives. More recently, however, the American
left is painting this picture of Amazon as some Orwellian nightmare, as though
we are marching people into its warehouses at gun point. Jeff Bezos built an
amazing company but his success is being perverted into a general meme of class
warfare, supporting the left's class envy demands for all-powerful labor
unions, wealth redistribution, confiscatory taxation, etc. Indeed,Ezra Klein has a piece in today's edition advocating
expanding the federal budget by 20 percent to provide a basic minimum income to
spare people of cruelty and indignity of having to work at places like Amazon.
OK, under emergency conditions, some of Amazon's employee relations systems did
not work so well. Does that really merit the type of Draconian reproach that is
at the heart of this article? No, but it supports the broader class warfare
agenda.
FROM HH: I
would disagree with Bezos that all people are inherently lazy. After decades in
the workplace, there are some people who are lazy but they are less than 10% in
my opinion. I wish the NYT had sought out people in other locations. I'm
familiar with Staten Island and it is not representative of workers in other
areas.
FROM PJ: Cogs
in a machine. And disposable cogs at that.
FROM NJ: It
is hilarious because Amazon provides the best pay and benefits these workers
can get almost anywhere, period. If you feel otherwise feel free to switch jobs
or let us know right here. Doesn’t matter how hard NYT try to blame Amazon none
of these authors could even suggest another place that could pay $18 and
provide very cheap health insurance and full array of benefits for an entry
level position. Go and find me one PLEASE.
FROM LJ: Maybe
MacKenzie Scott can donate some of the billions she
is giving away to the Amazon workers her ex is so clearly abusing. Or better
yet, maybe she could help fund union drives at these warehouses. After all,
revenge is a dish best served cold.
FROM LS: Frederick Winslow Taylor is alive and
well. He would be so proud of Jeff.
FROM ME: This
is why I don't shop at Amazon. We let our Prime membership expire in 2018 and
I've had no regrets. Prior to that, I was becoming increasingly skeptical and
frustrated by the quality and genuine-ness of their third
party merchandise but the horror stories I was hearing about how they
treated their employees was the final straw. We can all make more conscioua, thoughtful choices on where we spend our money
and I hope stories like this make more people reconsider spending with Amazon.
FROM BM: While human capital has been touted to
be a company's most valuable asset, Mr. Bezos seems to have been asleep when
the topic came up for discussion in his business classes. His management style
is reminiscent of the old time-motion experiments conducted in the 1920s by
psychologist-Frederick W. Taylor who placed industrial workers in the category
of efficiency machines who could be manipulated to achieve maximum output in
increasingly shorter periods of time. It's unfortunate for those who labor in
Mr. Bezo's sprawling empire that his visionary genius
has far outpaced his humanity and concern for his employees.
FROM MD: Read Alec MacGillis'
book, "Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America" for an
excellent review of how Amazon is destroying American communities and peoples'
lives - playing off one city against another and receiving multiyear tax
concessions, while Bezos himself is opposed to paying any taxes himself and is
successful. Let the little people provide roads and infrastructure to enable
Amazon to deliver, in many cases, the junk that Americans buy. Local emergency
responders treat accident victims in Amazon warehouses while Amazon does not
pay the local communities with taxes with which to support local responders.
Bezos is laughing all the way to the bank.
FROM SJ: The
same is true for all companies and all people who are not carrying their fair of the tax burden.
Both receive the benefits of infrastructure and services provided by municipal
government. We have the power to easily shake the power structure and get their
immediate attention. We all make a pact with one another: Until all loopholes
for tax evasion enjoyed by the priviledged are
closed, we change our withholding to the minimum allowed and do not mail in our
1040's. We encourage all those owed a refund to please file your return.
FROM JN: Americans
need to decide want they want: fast, cheap goods delivered to their door or
amazing workplaces, US-based manufacturing and an improved climate. Amazon is
fulfilling a market desire/need. People now want and expect good delivered
almost instantaneously. There is a human cost to that on the other end. Amazon's
culture has always been ruthless, but we allow it by how and where we spend our
money. We can't continue to have an endless stream of fast, cheap goods w/o at
some point understanding the human and global impact of cheap, imported goods
and the subsequent delivery systems.
FROM LT: Amazing
how some things never change. And technology can worsen things if the thinking
behind it (especially HR programs that can’t capture the totality of human
beings as opposed to robots) is flawed. “Modern Times” a century later. On the
other hand, I applaud Amazon’s mostly solid pay scales and benefits. It took a
page from Starbucks’s handbook. Both pioneered in Seattle, the city that has
produced so many companies stressing customer service as the holy grail (others:
Costco, Nordstrom, yes, even Microsoft).
FROM CR: This
is awful for the workers and the process people. Hard to see how the logistics
system could cope with the Covid demand shift. But
part of the problem appears to be what Chandler wrote about in Strategy and
Structure - new Growth strategy is misaligned with the organizations structure,
where the solution was to follow the empire builder (Bezos) with a organizational designer type personality who ensured the
structure aligned with the additional growth. Since Amazon has gained
customers, revenue and profit, executives like Clark are probably concluding
they are over the hump and solved the problems. Good Eggs may have a chance to create a better model and
show workers there is a better way than Malthus & Taylor.
FROM GM: As much as I'd like to not buy
from Amazon I'm sorry to say I'm still very much 'dependent' on this method of
shopping.
FROM
EM: Bezos developing any sort of empathy is likely
never going to happen...he's moved on with his pie in the sky space dreams. If
he'd been made to pay taxes like his workers, scaled to the size of his wealth,
he might have built a better system for them. Right now
they are treated like Heidegger's 'standing reserve', cogs in Bezos' flywheel;
disposable.
FROM BS: This
is 21st-Century America.
ATTACHMENT ONE (B) –
From the New York Times (2021)
THE AMAZON
THAT CUSTOMERS DON’T SEE
LAST SEPTEMBER, Ann Castillo saw an email from Amazon that made no sense. Her
husband had worked for the company for five years, most recently at the
supersize warehouse on Staten Island that served as the retailer’s critical
pipeline to New York City. Now it wanted him back on the night shift.
“We notified your manager and H.R. about your return to work
on Oct. 1, 2020,” the message said.
Ms. Castillo was incredulous. While working mandatory
overtime in the spring, her 42-year-old husband, Alberto, had been among the
first wave of employees at the site to test positive for the coronavirus.
Ravaged by fevers and infections, he suffered extensive brain damage. On tests
of responsiveness, Ms. Castillo said, “his score was almost nothing.”
For months, Ms. Castillo, a polite, get-it-done physical
therapist, had been alerting the company that her husband, who had been proud
to work for the retail giant, was severely ill. The responses were disjointed
and confusing. Emails and calls to Amazon’s automated systems often dead-ended.
The company’s benefits were generous, but she had been left panicking as
disability payments mysteriously halted. She managed to speak to several human
resources workers, one of whom reinstated the payments, but after that, the
dialogue mostly reverted to phone trees, auto-replies and voice mail messages
on her husband’s phone asking if he was coming back.
The return-to-work summons deepened her suspicion that
Amazon didn’t fully register his situation. “Haven’t they kept track of what
happened to him?” she said. She wanted to ask the company: “Are your workers disposable?
Can you just replace them?”
Mr. Castillo’s workplace, the only Amazon fulfillment center
in America’s largest city, was achieving the impossible during the pandemic.
With New York’s classic industries suffering mass collapse, the warehouse,
called JFK8, absorbed hotel workers, actors, bartenders and dancers, paying
nearly $18 an hour. Driven by a new sense of mission to serve customers afraid
to shop in person, JFK8 helped Amazon smash shipping records, reach
stratospheric sales and book the equivalent of the previous three years’
profits rolled into one.
That success, speed and agility were possible because Amazon
and its founder, Jeff Bezos, had pioneered new ways of mass-managing people
through technology, relying on a maze of systems that minimized human contact
to grow unconstrained.
But the company was faltering in ways outsiders could not
see, according to a New York Times examination of JFK8 over the last year.
In contrast to its precise, sophisticated processing of
packages, Amazon’s model for managing people — heavily reliant on metrics, apps
and chatbots — was uneven and strained even before the coronavirus arrived,
with employees often having to act as their own caseworkers, interviews and
records show. Amid the pandemic, Amazon’s system burned through workers,
resulted in inadvertent firings and stalled benefits, and impeded
communication, casting a shadow over a business success story for the ages.
(Read the remainder of the article here.)
THE NEW
YORK TIMES (2021) PEANUT GALLERY
FROM
NL: This is HILARIOUS. Bezos develops an almost totally automated “customer
support” system (annoying and useless unto itself) and then turns around and
tries to do the same stupid thing to his own company! The results are no
surprise. People do not matter to him.
No
wonder he’s heading into space!
FROM
VD: One of the reasons I avoid Amazon if possible when buying online. Seems
like Bezos may be too rich for his employees good.
The
turnover rate rivals that in the fast food industry which will fire employees
for questioning wage discrepancies. The Times needs to do a study on that
industry. Franchise owner know most employees haven't the time or money to
contest wage discrepancies.
FROM
HT: "The system was designed to identify impediments a worker may face,
but some executives, including the early architect of Amazon’s warehouse human
relations, worry that the metrics now cast an outsize shadow on the work force,
creating an anxious, negative environment."
Workers
in big tech other than Amazon face similar dilemmas. My son gives his employers
100% (they've told him so) yet can be given a bad review if a client offers a
negative feedback, the result of company policy on his/her issue and not how
their case has been handled by the individual in tech support.
So the skills
employed by the individual employee are irrelevant if a client is unhappy with
the company rules being applied by the person who is doing their damnedest to
help resolve their issue.
Big tech does not equate to big smarts.
FROM
SP: I cannot understand
why everyone in America needs things like, yesterday. We don’t have Amazon
here, and we don’t miss it. There is an understanding here of the social
contract that we have with one another and society. We want adults to have jobs
with as little stress as possible. We want people to have family time as well
as time to walk in the forest and collect their thoughts.
Perhaps it’s time for Americans to stop
buying so many things. Also, stop listening to all the
advertisements for medicines that constantly run on television in the US. Some
people are seriously ill, but many people are likely ill due to too much
sitting and too much food. Over- consumption is never attractive.
FROM
PC: There are times when overnight is necessary, but I'd rather patronize other
on-line retailers. Plus, it seems that with every Amazon delivery, my wife and
I comment at how absolutely wasteful and inefficient - and often ineffective -
their packaging is. And then there all their delivery trucks which
"park" even more rantly than UPS drivers.
Still, I offer thanks to all the Amazon workers who put up with all the
"stuff" to make life more convenient for those of us lucky enough to
afford it.
FROM
HJ: It’s a zero sum game. The well to do didn’t suffer during the
pandemic at all. If anything, they thrived. They thrived because they could
comfortably order stuff from Amazon with their cards connected to bank accounts
flush with money.
The people who paid the price were the
ones who lost their jobs because of covid
restrictions, because of govt.’s dragging of feet in helping them and the
rampant immoralist capitalism that took root during this time. Inequity has
only increased further.
This article (and the other one)
doesn’t surprise me one bit :(
FROM
JG: Ah yes poor Jeff Bezos is he a trazillionaire
already? Just a thought but why can’t workers enjoy the fruits of their labor
also or not pay taxes also or get paid a decent wage also? Perhaps the answer
is they vote republican.
FROM
FB: In other words, this
is a trial run for replacing humans with robots
FROM
NA: nothing is for free/cheap for no reason.
unless willing to pay more for better quality of material and life,
nothing will likely change. these work conditions have always been in
place in other countries- thus political instability. everything has a cost.
FROM
DJ: Nomadland (the book by Jessica Bruder) has chapter on the van-lifers and RVers who join Amazon’s CamperForce
program. These folks are retirees and others who work in fulfillment centers
during seasonal demand periods, while living in their vehicles at participating
campgrounds, often miles from work. The hours are grueling and the conditions
much as depicted in this article. Bruder quit after
one shift. Nomadic temporary workers don’t ask for much (or get much). Older
workers often have few alternatives. Some view this a a
way to quickly make some money to finance their nomadic lifestyle, but it’s
also a way for Amazon to avoid responsibility for a more permanent workforce.
Ironically, I bought the book in Kindle format on the Amazon website.
FROM
MS: My main concern is how
this makes it so easy to buy China merchandise. It's an impediment to buying
local and buying American made. Amazon has made it impossible to find American
made categories of products.
FROM
SS: As an HR Professional,
I have been approached numerous times by recruiters trying to fill Amazon HR
positions. No thank you. It is well known that Amazon is a toxic environment
with very little opportunity for real change.
Nobody with an ounce of integrity in HR lasts long - that to me is
telling of how they treat their line workers.
Again, no thank you. This article
has really made me question my patronage of Amazon as well - we all need to
assess our contributions to this type of organization.
FROM
FD: America wants quick delivery and we want cheap prices. The consequence is a
labor force that is pushed to the limit and paid next to nothing. Jeff Bezos is
not the problem alone. He does everything to give us what we want. He does not
posse magic but before he leaves Amazon he can slow things down, lessen the
stress and all of us recognize that three day delivery
is much better than one day delivery. At the same time all of us must
understand that no one has yet created a warehouse processing system that will
be free of tedium and strain.
FROM
BG: What if we were to
have a Don't Buy on Amazon Day? Just to
let the company know how many of its customers disagree with the way they treat
their workers?
(Or… what if the workers had a Conform to the Bathroom Breaks as
Dictated By Your Betters; Don’t Use the Coke Bottles
and Just Let the Urine Flow into the Clothes You Wear Day After Day Day? Would the FC
boss (or the machine) fire and replace the entire FC crew when the smell became
unbearable… or have they acquired a sort of moral coronavirus that has
eradicated their sense of smell? - DJI)
FROM
NA: Cannot trillion-dollar ventures profit without reducing their workers to
degraded drones forced to sell their lives for miserable pittances? America needs some good
old-fashioned labor unrest.
FROM
CH: "...our nature as
humans is to expend as little energy as possible to get what we want or need,”
This is a core value for efficiency
expert Frank Bunker Gilbreth (1868 – 1924) (of 'Cheaper by the Dozen' fame)
who, on visiting a factory for the first time, is reputed to have asked to
observe the laziest workers since that laziness will compel the worker to adopt
the most efficient behaviors and practices.
FROM
HP: Forty years ago, I was
an IBM employee working on a project at a catalog mail order company. That business was similar to Amazon except
orders were received by mail.
The attitude of management toward the
workers was much the same as the Times article describes at Amazon. Fortunately for the workers, it was a union
shop. Otherwise, it would have been a
sweat shop!
The Director of Human Resources had
signs posted throughout the company's buildings stating: "Employees are
obligated to be loyal to the company."
When I asked the HR Director if the
opposite was also true, that the company had to be loyal to the employees, his quick was, "Of
course not!" … I wonder if the Southern Plantation slave owners had the
same productivity metrics for their workers?
Like the Amazon workers, the slaves could either be punished (whipped)
or fired (sold off) or both. An apt
analogy.
FROM
RW: I wish someone would explain why the Union movement was voted down by
Amazon workers if things are so universally wretched?
FROM NM: As a former employee of Amazon, they
terminated me for "violating company policy" which is a lie because when I
asked which one I violated they weren't able to give me a straight answer.
While I did appeal, the person on the phone didn't want to be on it. In fact,
they already had made their mind up about the decision.... They need to be
unionized or they will continue taking advantage of their workers..
10 hours of physical labor is inhumane with only 2 15 min breaks. Also, the
system tracks your every move. If you aren't working for even a second, the
system records it and you get a warning....
Thankfully,
there's benefits (not much) but I read this article and it is on point... It's
basically a slave labor camp where they think you're a robot 🤖. You can't listen to music, talk to the person next to you,
have your phone and masks, masks, masks because of you don't, they will fine
you and possibly fire you.
Bottom
line : If you want to work here thinking you'll get
free Amazon stuff, think again. All you get is an employee discount and that's
it. I was purged from the system /network as if I never existed with nary a
thank you. Just a check from my 401K.
FROM
OJ: Amazon seems to treat
is employees like worker bees. They have to do better, this isn’t China and
it’s not 1905.
FROM
MW:
I
don't know why it's so important to get stuff in two days. Let alone one day. 3-5 days is fine for "free"
shipping. Right? I'd rather have that
than these horrible workers' conditions.
FROM
AC: "Inherently lazy
workers"...a quote from Bezo's who tracks every
second it takes for a task. What kind of person does such things?
Answer: A throwback to the greed of
early American sweat shops that locked doors of work areas and employed
underage children to work in dangerous environments for long hours for low
wages. This sad present
day technological spin on the age old practice of exploiting workers
needs some long overdue intervention, ASAP.
FROM
MK: He believed that an entrenched work force created a “march to mediocrity,”
I
have worked in a warehouse for over 40 years. Length of service has no
correlation to the enthusiasm or productivity of my co-workers.
Higher
turnover just pads the training department, makes working safely more
difficult, and ignores the benefits of institutional knowledge. It does make any sort of retirement benefits
illusory and a highly likely the next employer will be paying the price for the
repetitive motion injuries that occurred while working for Amazon.
FROM
UA: My spouse works in HR/Recruiting for a non-Amazon facility. His employees
are treated like this as well; as an associate, he can't really help the
employees, so it's driven him to look elsewhere.
Long
story short: sadly this treatment is not uncommon for
blue collar workers.
FROM
HR: This is the result of
4 decades of union busting in the US.
FROM
YA: Ive never worked for Amazon which is how I know,
NONE of this is unique to Amazon. The
issues in this article are common to every employer ive
had in the last 15 years - except - most of the time - health insurance wasnt even a benefit
FROM
JN: I order and buy my stuff from local shops but so many times I cannot find
the items I need. I end up having to go through Amazon simply because it is the
only place where I can find many items I use. For example
Trader Joes and Publix stopped offering Soy Milk, a staple in my home. So it depends of where you live! As it is I am going to
about 5 stores regularly because non one of them has
all the items I use. Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Publix, Walmart, Target and a
local fruit and vegetable store ...... I try to order only when needed and not
next day delivery. All in all I wish Amazon would not
exist.
FROM
BR: There is nothing
inherent in Amazon’s business vision that makes the company cringeworthy. (I
like to order things online that I wouldn’t otherwise find and have them
delivered to my door.) What is poisonous about Amazon comes from a management
mindset emanating from Bezos himself: the notion that people are inherently
lazy and need to be whipped to be productive for a short while before being
discarded. Amazon’s exercise of “market power” is anti-competitive. The company
should be broken up.
FROM
TJ: My understanding is that Amazon has an abysmal health and safety record
compared to its peers.
A
poor safety culture across the board - JFK8's injury rate is almost 4x more
than the industry average.
Typical
metric for emphasizing production over safety - that is the real Amazon
culture.
FROM
SG: As a white collar worker at Amazon, this same
culture exists even when you’re paid in six figures. It’s brutal, taxing and
there’s no end to it.
And
yet the machine chugs along, because we all can’t stop buying things quickly.
When the employees are too busy working and don’t have time to shop around,
guess who wins? The everything online store.
FROM
BM: One of the unfortunate
consequences of the pandemic is that people came to depend upon Amazon for many
of their their goods. As society opens up, it’s a
habit that will be hard to break.
FROM
GC: If the workers understood that without them Jeff Bezos wouldn't be worth a nickle, then maybe they'd form a union and put an end to
the usury. And until they do, they should expect more of the same and worse.
Ever
heard of the Wobblies? Now that's a word that will strike fear into the leadership
of any exploitative organization. The Wobblies were the members of the IWW, an
international labor movement founded in Chicago in 1905.They had only one rule
for membership: you had to work with your hands. Which meant that women, and
people of color, etc, etc, were all treated equally. Which was a pretty radical
and progressive idea in 1905. In fact, in many places, 116 years later, it
still is.If workers aren't being treated fairly and
with respect then the only way they're going to get it is to organize, because
negotiating power is the only thing callous business leaders understand.Without a union, Bezos is free to fire anyone he
choose, anytime he chooses, for any reason he chooses, because each individual
worker acts alone - and by default only has the power of one individual.With a union, the power of every worker is
multiplied by every other worker. And that means if they wanted to, they could
put Bezos out of business overnight.
That's
the difference.
The only people who are truly
anti-union are people who's massive fortunes are made
off the usury of other people, their sweat, their labor, and their toil.
Remember that the next time you hear ANYONE denouncing them. (THAT AND THE MOB -
DJI)
FROM
EP: Amazon may be an awful employer, but why doesn't this doesn't
their article cite reputable surveys of Amazon employees?
I've
asked a few Amazon employees about work conditions at Amzzon.
They said that the conditions are satisfactory.
Does that mean that the the conditions are
satisfactory? Nope. Netiher
my anecdote nor the anecdotal evidence in this article are sufficient to
evaluate how well Amazon treats its work force.
FROM
SS: "Outsiders see a business success story for the ages. Many insiders
see an employment system under strain."
Before
the piece even starts, we get a preemptive dose of NYT
professional-managerial-bubble conventional wisdom. I think I qualify as an
"outsider," as I have never worked for Amazon, and don't even use
Amazon. And yet, because I can use my brain and read books/articles by, and/or
heard podcasts with, authors like Alec MacGillis and
Emily Guendelsberger, I'm well aware of Amazon's many
glaring faults. I don't have a copy of the style guide in front of me, and I
know journalists write for a specific audience, but at this point I think it's
fair to say many people know about Amazon's many problematic business practices
-- including some that are not only unethical and inhuman but probably illegal
-- as well as the degree to which our representatives in DC are in thrall to
(or simply outright captured by) them.
And
regarding "Time Off Task,"
I suppose it's good that the company is "reconsidering" the draconian
sci-fi surveillance apparatus that dings people simply for having flesh and
blood bodies with flesh and blood needs, but the fact that it took years and
multiple high-profile stories before it occurred to management that their
practices were inhumane really doesn't say anything good about our elite
management class.
FROM
NV: Bezos is the modern day slave owner, only he does it through owning a
corporation that pays "little to no taxes".
We
as a society are guilty for how corporations work, because we continually
purchase products from those companies. Our purchases rewards bad
behavior. If you were truly upset in how
Bezos treats his employees, you wouldn't buy product from Amazon.
FROM
VD: I joined Amazon last fall for COVID Xmas practical reasons. I was shocked, annoyed and stunned as to how
much the Amazon business model had deviated from the first 6-10 years. Now they are simply a portal for third party
vendors from far flung countries to have the means to sell their mostly junk
wares - never seen anywhere before so many complaints across the board. Meanwhile, both small online and shop
business owners gets extinguished.
My
pet peeve: doing a search on an item / brand name and getting PAGES of items
that have nothing to do with my search.
It is bad enough to get the same when I do get just a handful of related
results that are mixed within the numerous pages. So rare to get the correct results show up on
page 1 no matter how many attempts done in the wording in the search field.
The
reporting about Amazon with these two excellent NYT articles and the equally
excellent comments here just cements what we all already knew: the zenith of
corporate greed of one man at the expense of people and all things.
FROM
LS: (I)t seems like lots
of reputable companies have mostly abandoned Amazon, selling their newest and
best items on their own sites. And there
are lots of counterfeit items as well.
FROM
PR: "Company data showed that most employees became less eager over time,
he said, and Mr. Bezos believed that people were inherently lazy."
Interesting—the
combination of "Company data showed" and "Mr. Bezos
believed" in the same sentence but in different independent clauses. How
are we supposed to interpret that?
Did
Ms Kantor get the Pulitzer for writing things like that?
FROM
SZ: What folks don't see is that, from a business standpoint, it makes sense to
have EVERYTHING under one umbrella, just like the proverbial "company
store." This way employers can do as they please and the workers can take
it or leave it.
And the wheels of the bus go round and round, Bezos and his ilk enjoying the finest of
foods, the finest of homes, the finest medical care, instant travel anywhere on
the planet, while the unwashed hordes have to work 2-3 jobs and still decide
whether to pay the rent, the lights, the phone or the car this month.
My friends, this is a big reason I did
not have children. I know kids who still live at home at 30 because, really ,what's waiting for them out there? Any future?
Besides "YouTube star?" Or, for women and gay dudes, OnlyFans and PornHub?
FROM
CG: Did Kafka write this? "[they]...worked hard to contact employees
before they were fired to see if they wanted to keep their jobs."
FROM
JJ: Being a business owner, this strategy of Amazon treats humans like animals.
Where is the social responsibility?
I
can’t image having to work like that every day.
FROM
BM: Amazon is vile. I miss
my local hardware store.
FROM
WN: Watch the movie
Metropolis from 1927. Nothing has
changed in the 100 years since this cautionary silent classic was made
FROM
VK: How different a direction the employees could be headed in if union efforts
in Alabama had not failed. I am 60 and I have never seen a sector NEED
unionization more. It would've created the leverage they needed in the US.
"He
believed that an entrenched work force created a “march to mediocrity,” said
David Niekerk, a former long-serving vice president who built the company’s
original human resources operations in the warehouses."
Obviously
he had/has an "entrenched" belief in a never-ending supply of
workers!!!
I,
for one, put my money and business where my mouth is. I order from AMZ maybe 3
times a year when I have exhausted ALL other efforts to find a particular item.
I buy from other entities because I believe in supporting brick-n-mortar
stores/businesses lest we lose them all to AMZ and I don't believe in
supporting those who treat their workers so inhumanely. How great it would be
if everyone did that and decreased Amazon's monopoly.
I'm
just sayin"
FROM
BJ: Amazon represents the
current state of 50 years of effort to delegitimize, weaken, and dismantle
unions in the US. Since Reagan, this effort has accelerated, and while
primarily it has been Republican led states and Congress doing it, there has
been only weak efforts by Democrats to restore the access and equality of
unions and workers with the management and capital that have emerged on top.
There is a huge imbalance between workers and management/capital in our
economy. We see it's outcomes in the great wealth and
income inequality in our country, the effects of which are everywhere, tearing
our country apart. Putting profits and "holder value" above
everything else will, eventually, lead to the whole system collapsing.
FROM
VA: Because the job
consists of such repetitive movement, and because management, due to the nature
of the job, cannot rotate workers who report pain, I often thought that if the
turn-over rate was not high, then the carpal tunnel rate would be high.
Amazon was not the worst job I've had.
But it is a bad job, and the fact that they are one of largest employers is bad
news for labor.
FROM
JT: As a former restaurant industry executive I can assure you that restaurants
are carefully studying Amazon and eager to try to import/improve its
model.
The problem is not really Bezos and his
crew. Their sin is they excellent at
capitalism. The problem is the sea they
swim in.
The
labor movement 1019-1970 gave us the 8 hour workday,
the 5 day workweek, overtime, and other things.
But it is faded and nothing has adequately replaced it.
FROM
DC: Nonsense JT. The easy way is to fire
people. The right way and the most cost effective way is to fix
them (ITALICS ADDED- DJI).
FROM
VB: “The
problem is not really Bezos and his crew (JT).
Their sin is they excellent at capitalism. The problem is the sea they swim in.”
No.
Bezos and his crew are indeed the problem. Excellence at capitalism does not
require Amazon’s deplorable treatment of the employees whose sweat and labor
have swollen Bezos’ personal fortune to a level greater than the GDP of some
nations. A little bit of humanity seems to be beyond Bezos’ capacity to
institute; his empty declarations just don’t cut it. But then, who on Earth
would be satisfied with $100 billion when he could be worth twice that much?
FROM
CB: NO, JT, The labor movement has not
"faded". The labor movement, and unions, have been systematically
attacked and dismantled, weakened and eroded both politically and privately at
the local, state, and federal level for 50 years. The labor movement has not
"faded" -- it has been assaulted in an attempted murder.
FROM
HJ: A couple years ago, my son spent a Christmas season working at an Amazon
warehouse near Seattle.
His description of his work day brought
to mind the wrench-wielding Charlie Chaplin in 'Modern Times'. The production
goals (each "picker" was expected to find 180 items for delivery per
hour - one item every 30 seconds) were nearly impossible to achieve throughout
an eight-hour day, and a constant drumbeat of threat of termination and
fearfulness was the tenor of the warehouse.
One of my son's co-workers was a young
Black man who, because he was short - just over five feet tall - had to carry a
small step stool to reach the higher shelves in the warehouse. A new father, he
was desperate for work to support his young family, but carrying the stool
around reduced his efficiency, although he would quite literally run from shelf
to shelf. After a week of warnings, he was fired.
This
ongoing dehumanization of workers whose labors have created the richest human
on earth will end badly. There may be no "good billionaires", as an
op/ed writer opined several days ago, but the bad ones are truly horrid.
FROM
AJ: You can tell that Amazon is a rotten place to work by the haphazard way
purchases are shipped. Fragile items are placed in boxes with scant cushioning
and arrive broken. A $1 item is packaged better than a $250 item. The workers
don’t care because the company doesn’t care about them. But even a corporation
as large and vital as Amazon will ultimately fail if it cannot maintain a
healthy work environment and pay workers what they deserve to be paid. Sears was the biggest thing in
retail for well over 100 years. Now, gone. Could happen to Amazon. Should
happen to Amazon. Will happen to Amazon.
FROM
FR: Shipping is throw the item in the box along with
some bubble wrap and send it out. The several things I received from Amazon
were photographed before and during opening as I was worried about damaged
goods inside.
All
was fine but my impression of Amazon, despite all the robots and technology is
that of a 3 ring circus.
FROM
WB: For a
boots-on-the-ground perspective, read Emily Guendelsberger's
book "On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America
Insane." Amazon "fulfillment
centers" (warehouses) have vending machines scattered throughout. Swipe your badge and you can get as much
generic Tylenol and Advil as you want for free.
Guendelsberger ended up having to "pop
them like candy" to quell the pain of the physical labor. Even worse perhaps was simply being treated
like a robot. Every single thing to do
is instructed by an LCD screen on a scan gun.
Once an assigned task is completed a clock starts counting down the
seconds remaining to complete the next one.
The warehouse and tasking is designed to
minimize distraction (no windows, no music and neither time nor colocation to
interact with other workers). In warmer
summer locations, ambulances wait outside to take away people who pass out from
the heat.
FROM
JN: High schools students (maybe even Junior High School) should work here for
one summer and the earlier in life the better.
This
way they can see what jobs are available to low skilled and poorly educated
people now and likely in the future.
These
jobs are mind numbing at best are not really the foundation for a career.
Bezos
is very smart and knows that he can have an endless supply of low skilled
people to support his business model and work peoples are until they quit which
is probably no more than a year. I have seen some of the robots and automation
in their warehouses and they are very efficient. What they will be like in 5-10
years will probably obviate the need for many of these people.
FROM
PE: Automation may arrive even sooner. Some employers would rather not hire
people at all than be subject to articles like this one. I wonder what all the
people who don't qualify for better work are going to do then.
The
business is what it is, and so is the work. In a system so vast, screwups and
unintended injustices are inevitable.
I
can't wait for the day when all work will be nice and cushy, even for people
who don't have any particular knowledge and skill. That day is just around the
corner. Right?
FROM
MR: Amazon’s business is clearly aimed to take advantage of the next generation
of mobile and non-mobile robots, who will never complain about their work
requirements, or need for occasional absence.
My guess is 80-90% of current Amazon employees are doomed if they lack
the skills to supervise the robots who will replace them.
FROM
BL: Nobody expects low skill jobs to be cushy.
But if you had read the article and some of the comments here you would
know the standards are barely attainable on the best days. Injuries and even deaths are relatively
common due to the quotas and also skimping on training and safety
standards.
I've
had professional actuarial jobs, and lower skill jobs as a phone rep and a data
transcriber. All those lower skill jobs
had virtually unattainable standards, and one phone rep job had many ridiculous
rules, as well as many ways to get a failing grade on a call.
FROM
FM: I find this outlook
and assumptions about workers to be easily separated by political parties.
Republicans believe people are lazy,
dishonest, cheats.
Democrats believe people generally are
NOT.
This
colors all discussions and actions, and is the reason the American worker has
seen minimum wage go down in adjusted dollars (used to be 22/hour in the 60s).
SS: Big Brother Bezos and Amazon are
the model of laziness, they produce nothing and are merely a private mailing/
delivery service. Their profits are built on the backs of actual producers of
goods. I don't know what Kelly Nantel's background is
or education but a first year econ student could tell
her that a150% employee turnover rate comes with a very high financial as well
as emotional cost. Contrary to emperor Bezos' contention, most people are
reasonably ambitious and want to take pride in their work and hold on to the
possibility of advancement in a large organization. Just speak to any Costco
employee and you will get a different perspective.
FROM
BL: Amazon is well known
to be a demanding employer, but also a consistent one. You can either pack x
packages per minute or your can't. Keep your job or don't. One has to ask just how long Amazon will need
people in warehouses at all. Hopefully
not long and all these warehouse employees can go onto better, higher paying
jobs.
FROM
PR: Who is going to give
those warehouse employees "better, higher paying jobs"? Why aren't
they giving them those jobs now? If those jobs don't exist, who is going to
create them? Why should they?
FROM
EJ: What will Amazon do after it has fired an entire city's worth of
workers? Hopefully it will go away.
FROM
BF: Man, oh man, this
article depicts 'fordism' on steroids. It's a real
pity that the people who work there really need these jobs because they have
not alternatives. And it's a scandal that the American public puts up with this
abuse of workers for cheaper products, quick service, and high stock price. It
all looks so 'victorian'...like the 'dark, satanic
mills' of yore.
I am soooooo glad
that I don't need to work any more. Work stinks.
FROM
FR: We have had
"sweat shops" since the beginning of time. The slaves on the Roman
galleys, the slaves who built the pyramids or picked cotton on the plantations.
The garment industry, shoes, auto manufacturing and textile mills are just a
few examples. Those surviving...automated as new developments came forth.
Amazon will be fully automated within
the next 5 - 10 years.
The young need to understand that not
taking advantage of education will lead to their becoming wards of "the
state" or ending up in the military which has its own set of risks.
FROM
MF: YOU are right on the money! If these people had taken advantage of any
education offered to them their situation MIGHT be different. The scandal does
not start at Amazon though, it started long ago, with a company in Arkansas
known as WALMART..buying cheap goods and working its
workers at $7.25 an hour with insufficient hours to claim health care..why
doesn't the TIMES beat up on them...We all pay for their health care though a
program called Medicaid...GEEZ
FROM
GE: Yikes, reading The NY Times article reminds me of the 19th century
sweatshops and workhouses set in a Charles Dickens novel.
Only
this is the 21st century and the year is 2021!
Deplorable
managers. Deplorable technology. Disposable workers who are used, abused and
thrown out.
This
is very upsetting.
I
will now have to think very hard about ordering anything from Amazon again.
FROM
HH: Jeff Bezos is unquestionably a genius. He's also the world's richest man
who gutted Main Street like a fish, forces many manufacturers to supply him at
a loss, doesn't pay taxes despite making his fortune on the back of America's
infrastructure, and had *full-time* employees who qualified for food stamps. In
my book, that's not a hero—that's a villain.
FROM
MS: "Mr. Bezos believed that people
were inherently lazy. “What he would say is that our nature as humans is to
expend as little energy as possible to get what we want or need,”"
Wow! I really didn't think that Bezos was this
stupid about people's motivations.
Firstly, he is underestimating the cost of constantly training new hires in
terms of production. He doesn't appear
to even care to consider this fact.
Why? With his viewpoint fixed in
looking at people from a negative view, he is more motivated toward the
"stick" than the "carrot" view of mankind.
Evidently, Bezos hasn't taken into
account that the viewpoint of
"expect the worst from people and you will get it" is a
self fulfilling philosophy. Bezos is
sitting on a powder keg and doesn't realize it.
You'd think he doesn't read the news that are showing more work place
violence, especially when workers have been fired.
(Astonishing, however, how
little violence there has been – dji. But is that a good thing, because law and
order are an essential component of civilization, or a bad thing, because it
means that even the most passionate (or psychotic) employees will accept abuse
and/or termination like docile herd animals waiting in line in the
slaughterhouse. This may evoke
re-contemplation of the Capitol riots… especially as, with the moratorium dead,
evictions spike.)
I
would encourage Bezos to read up on articles in the social sciences that study
what really motivates people and I think he'd see that "carrots" work
better than "sticks."
Otherwise, why would so many businesses try to find ways to reward
people for jobs well done? Praise and
rewards assure cooperation and enthusiasm.
Ask any parent of a two year old and they will
tell you which philosophy works better in a household.
FROM
KP:
Atlanta
came close to unionizing. If one goes and changes follow, then all the others
will go. The fact is that
the system that Amazon uses is blatant age discrimination. Older people can't
do the job. The pace is too great. Once he burns through the ever
decreasing pool of 30 and unders he is going
to have a problem finding workers.
(Which again, as above, begs the question: did the workers reject
the unions because of pernicious and lingering odor of mob corruption, because
of personal and class intimidation such as ramping up even the most abusive
practices… overwhelming the union legal teams and dragging out the pursuit of
justice for, perhaps, years… or did they appeal to the macho “tough Americans
(even the women) don’t need no vaccines to stay healthy and no unions to tinker
with their working conditions”?)
FROM
WS:
I
can't imagine anyone who is lazy lasting a day working for Amazon. Why doesn't
he just give them a break? He can afford to. I'm sure he doesn't work as hard
as his employees. So...fire him. I think it would be more cost effective for the taxpayers to dispose of
all the billionaires. They have become too much of a burden.
FROM
RM:
Trying
to figure out how many wrong turns my life would have to take for me to become
the kind of person who would waste energy to log on to the internet and stick
up for a company as horrid as Amazon.
FROM
DH:
Like
many Americans, I shop Amazon regularly. Not too much is new in the NYT piece, as Amazon is
already known for being a difficult place to work.
Of course you won't read about
that in the Washington Post.
I wonder why?
FROM
TT:
Wow. Jeff Bezos is literally the embodiment of the
worst mindset of capitalism. What a
shocking and unexpected discovery.
People
aren't lazy for not wanting to throw themselves into ruthlessly exploitive
menial labor for hours on end... day after day... in perpetuity. Especially not for wages that sit roughly at
the cost of living. And naturally the
psychopath's solution is burn them out in less than a year and then cut them
loose, knowing you didn't pay them enough to really save or anything so they
are once again desperate enough to accept a mediocre job that will quickly burn
them out, fire them, and the cycle continues.
Capitalist dream state right there.
Work, work, work until you drop dead on the job floor, because working
to increase your boss's value in the only part of life that matters.
I
feel so bad thinking back on the people who (rightfully) thought that the
massive efficiency increases of technology would mean people could work less
and live more, since an hour could produce what used to be a day's worth of
"work". Instead it appears
that the bosses just decided that if everything could be done in less time,
then workers should just be given more to do.
Ever wonder where all the increased value of your work is going
instead? (Hint: it's people like Bezos)
FROM
MF:
TT
ONCE again you are falling into the worker fallacy that companies are going to
TAKE CARE of you. Actually people with the education
to work IN TECHNOLOGY do live more like you say, BUT if the only job you can
get is basically a warehouse job, these are considered as a living
wage...https://livingwage.mit.edu/
The
real tragedy will come when because of companies' need to satisfy their
investors and holders actually use technology and AI to do these jobs without
that many people. And people elected from your state do not want additional
regulation or labor protection laws or higher wages. Maybe if they were not
benefiting from their investment in companies like this it might be different
but it will take states putting forth people who do care about our
workers...and education...
FROM
AC:
Fellow
citizens of Oceana: the
Amazon model is our future.
This “inherently lazy” view of humanity
goes directly back to the well-publicized views of the Confederate leaders and
their belief that if they weren’t forced to work slaves would not work. Upon
emancipation, even under Reconstruction, municipalities legislated idleness
laws and systematized low-wage dead-end employment with sufficient churn to
create a pliable workforce dependent upon the charity of their former masters.
Bezos is just following the white patriarchy’s playbook that embedded the
theories of slavers in order to justify the exploitation of workers on an ever increasing scale.
(Only partially true – DJI.
All but the most psycho slavers understood that their Negroes were an
asset… as in capitalism’s assets and liabilities… worth cash money when alive
and working, so it made good business sense to keep them, at least, alive. With reconstruction and down to the present,
slaves (or hired workers) have no capital value therefore, as Mr. Bezos
presumes, they can be interned… at the minimum “training wage”, churned, burned
and, if not meeting the machine’s productivity standards, turned out or fall
ill or injured trying to satisfy their masters – thereafter dying and being “urned”
at their family’s expense.)
FROM
FF:
(Bezos)
is having people work at a warehouse job that our Dept of labor says is
equitable for that job level and he like all business here is working to
support the interests of the holders and investors FIRST. These are NOT slave wages which
were nothing; and these people are as free to leave these jobs as anyone else.
https://livingwage.mit.edu/ this wage calculator states that Amazon is paying
above the living wage.
FROM
MG:
The
fact that Bezos and Co. are concerned that they will run out of eager workers
and essentially replace their entire workforce every eight months in order to
incentivize them is always justified by claims of offering a “living wage”.
Churn, treating workers like
criminals that are waiting to slack off and random unexplained firings belie
such claims of sufficiently good wages and benefits. This is a white patriarch using and abusing
an exploited workforce until there’s none left that will fall for the “good
benefits” carrot only to lose them to the surveillance efficiency firings
stick. Good for the holders and bad for workers. Only when they face labor
shortages do they grudgingly raised worker conditions. Same old white captain
of industry story.
FROM
SW:
but
he is definitely breaking OSHA laws that protect workers' health and safety.
FROM
NA:
Gawsh! You mean
Amazon doesn't care? I am really really really really really
really really really shocked.
FROM
CP:
The only way the system changes is when
the USA stops taxing only employment income and starts taxing investment wealth
in a significant way. Reagan's tax changes eventually led to this.
FROM
LF:
My company is one of the millions of
sellers on Amazon.com. We have to sell there because Amazon IS ecommerce on the
planet earth. Search the internet for any product and even if Amazon doesn't
sell it, they're going to have the top 5-10 ad placements. There is zero hope
for success of an online retailer who tries to go their own way without
Amazon.com For the privilege of selling on their platform, the fee we pay often
results in their making more money on the sale of our products than we do. But
wait... there's more. Every single interaction we have with Amazon is measured.
Miss a metric and we could be terminated from the platform, putting us out of
business. Try to reach a person to
discuss a problem and we get sucked into the same automated non-human system
that Amazon employees do. Is this the world we all want to live in? Is it that
great that we can get a $10 cellphone case tomorrow?
FROM
MG:
As
a consumer, I have a beef. They offer a
place to comment about their goods and services, rate it etc.
After
being a good customer on Amazon for over a year, suddenly, I was no longer able
to leave any comments. They stated a
generic reason in a response, I talked with some person on the phone and they
pretty much said 'good luck' in 'sotto voce.'
There
was no way this should have happened. I
had only two complaints, both of those were taken care of by the
seller...without a problem...but suddenly 'i am a
pariah?'...did not like that....with no recourse.
FROM
SS:
Your
story is like the one in the article about people being fired because of a
glitch in a computer program.
When
a company is as big as Amazon, you're not a person to them, no matter what
consultant-approved market-grouped rhetoric they might spout about the
"customer experience being the priority."
You're
not a human being to them. You're a
collection of preferences, a history of purchases, minus whatever you might
cost them in terms of time or money. And this is the model our best and
brightest seem keen to replicate across not just our commercial system, but our
social systems and communities as well.
FROM
FJ:
I
search for an item, look at the Amazon ads and then search for the product
manufacturer's website so I can order directly.
There
is also Etsy.
FROM
JB: I make it a point not to order anything from Amazon unless I cannot find
the product elsewhere and not before asking myself whether I really, really
need it. I went on a shopping diet
during the lockdown because I realized I needed less "stuff" and most
of it was meaningless. Instead I went
into my closet and inventoried what I already had and started wearing things I
had not worn in years. Everything else
was totally unnecessary. Begin by asking
yourself if that item really adds to your quality of life and the consequences
of the purchase. Cheap labor to make it
and impact to the environment. We live
in a disposable, consumer oriented country. Unfortunately, even our workers are
disposable. I for one prefer not to buy
crap from Amazon.
ATTACHMENT ONE (C) –
From Slate
SLATE’S
PEANUT GALLERY
FROM SR:
Nothing says
"I'm a dick" like doing a quick dip into a space in a dick-shaped
rocket.
FROM BC:
I really don't get
what the big deal is. They were in space for 10 miserable minutes and it was
just above orbit.
There have been
dozens (if not hundreds) of missions to space, we had moon landings (over 50
freaking years ago!), space stations where astronauts lived for months...
What did Bezos accomplished again??
FROM DP:
The beginnings of the
commercialization of space. That fact that he went just because he wanted to go
is a milestone. Now is the begining
of the age of space tourism. Also his rocket is shaped
very rudely.
AND…
I wanted him to spray
cheez whiz out of a can, to see what would happen to it in a weightless environment.
You know, for science.
FROM GA:
NYT:
Jeff Bezos, the
richest human in the world, went to space on
Tuesday.
I assume they have to
clarify with "human" because of Scrooge McDuck.
FROM FA:
I’m happy for Jeffy. I really really am.
FROM FR:
I don't think it
counts as going to space unless you achieve orbital velocity, regardless of how
high you go. What makes space interesting is less the absence of air and
more being in freefall for an extended period of time (4 minutes isn't all that
extended).
FROM CN:
I'm all for shooting
billionaires into space but I don't understand all the wasteful spending on
return vehicles, parachutes, etc.
FROM EE:
Think of this as a
stepping stone. In 5 years we may be putting mere
millionaires into space.
FROM FB:
How long before we
know what super powers he acquired from the cosmic radiation?
FROM TS:
Next challenge:
developing a robotically driven portapotty that will
show up on demand at a warehouse worker's station. But no, that's not fun and
is a convenience for mere workers instead of an ego boost.
Next iteration:
Supersonic robotic portapotties that have enough
battery to be driven around a racetrack multiple times.
FROM JM:
I think sequence for
re-entry is just to fall back to Earth and deploy a parachute.
FROM IG:
Reusability is the
main thing here. That required the creation of rocket engines you can relight
(as opposed to solid rocket boosters or single ignition rockets). That was an
enormous challenge that us laymen can't really understand, it required the
invention of modern computers and 3D printed parts, etc.
Shooting a rocket
into space has been proven tech for close to a century. Landing one is very
new.
FROM BJ:
I'm pretty sure some of the Gemini and Apollo hardware was
capable of several restarts. And obviously the lunar lander landed by rocket
onto the Moon.
The other thing we had to invent were corporations huge
enough recreate the Gilded Age billionaire class.
FROM HC:
Those were ICBMs, that may have complicated things.
Anyway, they weren't reusable. Reusability is going to make this more affordable.
If he's planning on charging 250K per passenger, his launch cost will have to
be no more than 1.5 million to break even. I don't have figures but I'm
fairly sure those early launches cost more than that.
Just googling: The
Titan II that launched Gemini cost 25 million in today's money, not counting
the non-reusable capsule.
FROM VA:
I don't want to take
anything away from the engineers who built and tested these suborbital craft.
It's an amazing achievement for them. Bezos and Branson are just egomaniacs
hogging the glory.
FROM JB:
Why
not launch another space station or three?
FROM CJM:
That
would be cool. But the ISS is a work in progress itself, can't launch all
that weight at once.
ATTACHMENT ONE (D) –
From Guardian UK
BEZOS BLASTED
FOR TRAVELING TO SPACE WHILE AMAZON WORKERS TOIL ON PLANET EARTH
Space-obsessed billionaires come
under fire with the Amazon founder declaring the critics ‘largely right’
By Adam Gabbatt Tue 20 Jul 2021 05.00 EDT
As Jeff Bezos blasts into space on Tuesday, his voyage
has some people asking whether the billionaire’s time, or at least money, might
be better spent here.
Bezos,
the Amazon founder who has an estimated net worth of $206bn,
is taking off from Texas on Tuesday morning on the rocket New Shepard, owned by
his company Blue Origin.
It
will be a moment of celebration for Bezos, a noted space enthusiast who said he
has “dreamed of traveling to space” since he was five-years-old. But many
others are unimpressed with Bezos spending his fortune on space travel, given
the long-running complaints about working conditions at Amazon, and broader
concerns about income inequality and the amount of taxes the wealthiest Americans pay – or don’t pay – to
the government.
In
June, a ProPublica investigation revealed how the
wealthiest Americans have consistently avoided paying income tax, stirring
anger from struggling Americans taxed at normal rates.
Bezos
isn’t the only billionaire with a lust for space travel. His fellow
billionaires Richard Branson and Elon Musk have been engaged in a space race
for some time, with Branson arguably winning when he flew in a Virgin Galactic flight last week.
The
competition has left Warren Gunnels, a staffer for Bernie Sanders, distinctly
unimpressed.
Bezos
addressed some of the criticism on Monday, when he was asked about the claim that he was taking a
rich person’s “joyride” instead of focusing on problems on Earth.
The
critics are “largely right”, Bezos said.
“We
have to do both. We have lots of problems here and now on Earth and we need to
work on those and we also need to look to the future, we’ve always done that as
a species and as a civilization. We have to do both.”
Bezos,
who has stepped down as Amazon CEO, saw his net worth increase by $70bn during the pandemic, as hundreds
of millions of people looked to his company for food deliveries and
entertainment. Amazon has been criticized for years over the conditions for its
workers, with reports of staff urinating in bottles for fear of missing delivery
rates and regularly working 14-hour days.
Andy
Levin, a US representative from Michigan (and nephew of recently deceased
Senator Carl), pointed out the discrepancy between owner and worker in a tweet.
While
others noted that as Bezos did a round of interviews to discuss his
spaceflight, the media largely avoided asking him about his company’s
procedures.
Bezos’
flight comes after the British billionaire Richard Branson flew to space in his own Virgin Galactic
aircraft. Branson reached an altitude of 53 miles (85 km) in his vessel, lower
than the 62 mile (100 km) Kármán line which Fédération Aéronautique
Internationale, the Switzerland-based world body,
defines as space, though other organizations – such as Nasa – have it lower.
Blue
Origin engaged in some social media bickering of its own after Branson’s return
from the air. The company’s Twitter feed posted a side by side comparison of
its own space trips with those of Virgin Galactic, pointing out that its own
trips definitely will go into space, and describing Branson’s ‘space craft’ as
a “high altitude airplane”.
ATTACHMENT ONE (E) –
From the Huffington Post (article)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN RIPS JEFF BEZOS FOR SPACE TRIP
WHILE STIFFING IRS
“He can
afford to pitch in,” Warren said.
By Mary Papenfuss
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) flamed Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos for his high-flying trip to space last
week after skipping out on his taxes and letting struggling Americans pick up
the tab for funding the nation.
The richest guy on Earth can launch himself into space while over half the country
lives paycheck to paycheck, nearly 43 million are saddled with student debt,
and child care costs force millions out of work. He can afford to pitch in so
everyone else gets a chance.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 25, 2021
ProPublica reported last month that Bezos — who is worth
some $205 billion — didn’t pay a penny in federal
income tax in 2007, 2011 or 2018. He paid a true tax rate of less than 1%
between 2014 and 2018, even though his wealth soared by $99 billion.
Now, Bezos will rake in even more dough by selling tickets
off-planet via his Blue Origin space company. A public auction held for one of
the other three seats on the first crewed flight of the New Sheperd
rocket that carried Bezos into space last Tuesday sold for $28 million. He
boasted last week that Blue Origin had already sold close to $100 million in
tickets for future flights.
Bezos was recently scorched on social media for thanking Amazon workers and
customers for funding his flight. That was a particular clunker
given that Amazon crushed workers’ efforts
earlier this year to unionize and receive better pay and benefits for their
labor.
Critics were also happy to agree with Warren:
Jeff Bezos really was like “your stolen
wages made this possible!”
— Wagatwe Wanjuki
🇰🇪 🇧🇸 (@wagatwe) July 20, 2021
It’s beyond ridiculous when his
employees are screaming out for unfair working conditions
— ClapBackKing2018 (@BackKing2018) July 25, 2021
Important to note that Bezos’ billions only accrued due to government
services - like roads, a safe way to travel, safety standards for production
facilities and and safe food to eat- and employees
work. Taxes should be fair.
— Patricia Nolan (@PattyNolan1) July 25, 2021
He got rich from the underpaid sweat and labor of a lot of those people.
HUFFPOST’S
PEANUT GALLERY
FROM BJ:
Mam, with all due respect, get rid of all the
loopholes, and special favor laws that legally allowed Jeff and others to pay
what they paid. May I also point out, that many members of congress do the
same, so the lip service may be good for the press, but until something is done
about the laws, it doesn't really mean very much.
·
FROM MS:
Senator Warren is a member of the Senate
Committee on Finance and chair of the Subcommittee Fiscal Responsibility and
Economic Growth. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is chair of the Subcommittee
Taxation and IRS Oversight. If she could single handedly change the tax code to
close the loopholes that allow billionaires to escape federal taxation, I'm
sure she would.
·
FROM DL:
Bezos isn't going to pay more taxes until
Republicans are willing to pay more themselves. This is what happens, Trump's
tax cut was a disaster. it exploded the national deficit and put money into the
wealthy's pockets and big corporations. They also took their share including
Trump, all self-interest. Republicans refuse to fund government putting it on
future generation to handle the rising debt, won't even fund covid relief measurers partly with a tax program as was
always done in the past with crisis expenditures like wars, all now on credit.
Bezos with his lawyers is just following the law, inadequate for our modern
society and unequitable as the debt falls on everyone while Bezos and others
take the money and run, or go to the moon he's now planning. It is a national
financial house of cards that can't be sustained. The fall off the financial
cliff is never seen until it happens. The GOP is blinded with their short-term
opportunistic horizon.
·
FROM KO:
He not stiffing the IRS he’s using the laws that
were written for the wealthy benefit. It’s the rest of us that getting stiffed.
·
FROM SM:
It's pretty outrageous that my household paid a
LOT more in taxes than the richest person on earth. It's just not right.
·
FROM GS:
Are you suggesting that if congress changed the
tax code to allow you to hide most of your income from tax liability, you
wouldn't take advantage of that? That's all Bezos does.
·
·
FROM KE:
Mr. S, you are spot on correct.
·
FROM GA:
I find it odd that someone like Warren would not
know that in order to qualify for the tax rules permitted by Congress, Bezos
had to reinvest the money owed back into America. She appears to believe that
he simply refused to pay taxes which is quite illegal. Congress, obviously made
of both Republicans and Democrats, agreed to give companies tax breaks in
exchange for direct investments. Bezos reinvested approximately $200 billion
upon landing. I find it incredibly unfair for Congress to pass laws, then demonize
corporations who abide by those laws. If as a member of congress, Warren
disagrees with her own policies than perhaps she should rewrite them but then
again. Of course doing so would make it harder for her
to politicize this issue, a tactic she commonly uses to garner support and
votes; much like she and others did when you were told that Buffet's secretary
paid a higher tax rate. Sure, it got votes but it was categorically false, just
as her current claims are against Bezos.
·
·
FROM MT:
Corporate lobbyists literally write the tax code
themselves. Welcome to dysfunctional American politics.
·
·
FROM SD:
Gee whiz, Skippy. Regular people invest in our
country with AFTER-Tax money.
·
FROM BS:
Have to agree with Liz on this one.
·
FROM MF:
It his money. He pay taxes
based on the laws Warren helps write. Why should you be upset that he follows
the law?
·
FROM AW:
It is time for all billionaires to put their
money where their democracy is, if they want it.
·
FROM FD:
They pay all the taxes they owe unless you are
Helmsley.
·
FROM SS:
I haven't heard of him breaking any laws.
Apparently, he does what the law allows. He can't be faulted for that. He can
spend his money as he chooses. "Chip in"? Taxes are not donations or
a divided restaurant tab. There is money due the Treasury that Congress refuses
to get. That is not Bezos's fault.
·
·
FROM FC:
Tax laws were written for the working man. They
were not written for investors and folks like Walton, Bezos, Etc, etc. The Tax
laws definitely need to be revisited. Bezos should have to pay taxes on the 100
million he made selling future flight tickets, but no, he will reinvest that
money and avoid paying anything.
·
FROM JR:
On the other hand, maybe they were written for
the wealthy? After all, it's the wealthy who benefit most from the current
laws.
ATTACHMENT ONE (F) –
From Huffpost (comedians)
By Elyse Wanshel 07/20/2021 04:22 pm ET
JEFF BEZOS’ BRIEF TRIP TO SPACE LAUNCHES GALAXY WORTH
OF JOKES ON TWITTER
“When your ex
needs to go to space about it, you won the divorce,” one Twitter user said.
Jeff Bezos’ short trip to space inspired as many jokes as there are stars in
the universe.
The Amazon founder kind of, sort of blasted into space with
his private rocket company, Blue Origin, on Tuesday.
He was joined by his brother Mark, aerospace pioneer Wally
Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen — but most jokes on Twitter were reserved
for the billionaire.
The quips included references to Bezos’ recent divorce, reported treatment of
Amazon employees and usage of tax breaks, as well as the rocket’s resemblance to a part
of the male anatomy.
HUFFPOST’S
(COMEDY) PEANUT GALLERY
FROM SM:
when your ex needs to go to space about it, you
won the divorce
FROM TA:
jeff bezos didn’t even go to space! he just got super high which
nobody congratulates me for??
FROM SG:
In general,
good journalistic practice is to be clinical and wordy.
INCORRECT: “Jeff Bezos took off in a dong-rocket.”
CORRECT: “…rocket that was much like a piece of male genitalia in appearance,
and to be specific, not the testicles; we’re talking about the penis here.”
FROM KD:
At least billionaire Jeff Bezos designed his
spacecraft to look like a dick to let aliens know there was one on board.
FROM BA:
Quick!
Everyone in the warehouse use the bathroom!
FROM BC:
Where does Jeff Bezos get all this money to go
to space? That rich son of a bitch. I’m disgusted. I hate him. Also my Amazon package is late for the fourth time this
week. I’m so mad.
FROM WM:
Jeff Bezos was in space for 5 minutes—or as its
known at the Amazon warehouse, your allotted break time for a 16-hour day
FROM SD:
Today’s space flight was 11 minutes longer than
an Amazon employee bathroom break.
FROM SR:
Earth
re-entry tax now.
FROM PL :
he really
said he was gonna go all the way into space and then did just the tip……. who
does that
FROM BK:
His flight lasted 10 minutes, or as Amazon
employees call it, maternity leave.
ATTACHMENT ONE (G) –
From Fox News
JEFF BEZOS ROASTED FOR
THANKING AMAZON EMPLOYEES, CUSTOMERS FOR PAYING FOR SPACEFLIGHT: 'I'D LIKE A
REFUND'
'You don't have to be a
rocket scientist' to support a billionaires' tax, remarked Assistant House
Speaker Katherine Clark, D-Mass
Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, thanked his employees and customers on Tuesday for
subsidizing his Blue Origin spaceflight, during which he and three others spent
11 minutes inside the "New Shepard" capsule after lifting off from
the desert in Van Horn County, Texas.
"[I] want to
thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for
all this. So seriously, for every Amazon customer out there, and every Amazon
employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart, very much. It’s very
appreciated," said a cowboy hat-sporting Bezos upon returning to Earth
with his fellow passengers, younger brother Mark Bezos;
aviation pioneer Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk, 82, and Dutch teenager
Oliver Daemen.
The New Shepard, named
for Alan Shepard, the first American in space, took off on the 52nd anniversary
of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the automated capsule reached an altitude of
about 66 miles, more than 10 miles higher than Virgin founder Richard
Branson’s July 11 ride. The 60-foot (18-meter) booster accelerated
to Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound to get the capsule high enough,
before separating and landing upright.
Upon his return to
terra firma, Bezos was roasted by critics for his comments thanking customers
for the reported $5.5 billion cost
of the Blue Origin endeavor.'
The New York Daily
News reported that the ticket cost for one seat on Tuesday's flight was $28
million, with the Big Apple publication remarking a New Yorker could buy 5.4 million hot
dogs at Nathan's Famous on Coney Island for that amount.
Stars & Stripes
journalist David Choi also retweeted video of Bezos' comments, remarking
"I'd like a refund."
In the U.S. Senate,
progressive Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tore into the billionaire,
repeating her call for a "wealth tax" and accusing Bezos and the
company he founded, Amazon, of paying no taxes:
"Jeff Bezos
forgot to thank all the hardworking Americans who actually paid taxes to keep
this country running while he and Amazon paid nothing," Warren tweeted.
Warren's fellow Bay
State lawmaker, Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark, further criticized
Bezos' remarks, saying they remind Americans that it doesn't take "a
rocket scientist to know it’s time for billionaires to pay their fair
share."
Across the northern
border, the leader of Canada's far-left New Democratic Party echoed Warren, calculating
that Bezos became $1.6 million wealthier during the 11-minute flight, and
accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of allowing Amazon to pay "$0 in
taxes."
"Jeff Bezos's
space flight lasted 11 minutes During the pandemic, every 11 minutes, he got about
1.6 million dollars richer… It's time the ultra-rich pay their fair
share," MP Jagmeet Singh of British Columbia
province wrote on Twitter.
"Just ordinary
people coming together to do extraordinary things for Jeff Bezos," tweeted
Mother Jones reporter Timothy Murphy.
Bezos is worth a reported $177 billion,
which he has accrued since founding the e-commerce giant in his Bellevue,
Wash., garage in 1994.
FOX NEWS’
PEANUT GALLERY
FROM CJ: My problem with raising taxes on billionaires is
that is never really the proposal. Congress always wants to raise taxes on
people making about $450,000 a year. That is such a far cry from a billionaire.
Why can't they propose new brackets at like $750,000 and $1,000,000 etc. with
increase rates. Why should two married professionals pay the same percentage as
the CEO of some huge corporation, a professional athlete or a celebrity. It
makes no sense and it actually makes the truly elite's wealth have more value because it makes it harder for others to
accumulate wealth.
FROM DR: I don't like
Bezos, and only use Amazon for essentials I can't get direct from stores or
manufacturers. But employees make any business run, and customers
"VOLUNTARILY" buy what he's selling. Anyone involved in either area
can stop right now. And Bezos won't care because he can't spend himself into
poverty at this point. He started an online business selling books. Anyone
could have done that in 1994. But they didn't, and he did.
FROM BR: Amazon has
mandatory turnover rates. Bezos has said that the longer someone is on the job,
the less productive they get. Which is true…when the worker is not appreciated.
Working for Amazon should be great. But it’s not. Now obviously Bezos knows how
to make the most profitable business on the planet, but I don’t agree with how
he’s done it. So like you, I only buy from Amazon when
I can’t find something elsewhere. But I’m afraid someday Amazon will be the
ONLY option.
FROM RD: Anyone is
free to start a company, build a huge fortune and pay for their own trip to
space just like he did. As for his taxes, he follows the law and takes
advantage of the breaks afforded in them. Congress won't change the laws
because it would affect their own investments and taxes.
FROM CD: Congress wont change the laws because Bezos won't fund their
reelection efforts. When we the people are United, billionaires and politicians
have limited profit. Quit glorifying them and letting them divide us and we
take their power. Pretty crazy to think that socialist policies keep us
divided, poor and powerless.
FROM TS: IF Bezos or
Amazon paid zero dollars in income taxes, it is because of politicians like
Senator Elizabeth Warren. They are the ones writing the tax laws, not Bezos. He
is doing as the law allows, like it or not.
FROM BJ: Bezos, Musk,
Branson, and other billionaires are actually pushing the bounds to make travel
better in the future, and engaging in new endeavors that an ultimately make
space travel more feasible and routine in the future. New York to Sydney in a
couple hours kind of travel. There is a long way to go, but you have to start
somewhere. I don't see the
government doing anything to make this happen. I also see these
billionaires doing more than NASA. Sure the 'gubment
could take 90% of their wealth as people like Warren are calling for, but we
all know the government would do nothing of note with that money. More handouts
that would do nothing to advance humankind.
FROM MM: Overall
though amazon brings in huge tax revenues. Look how many people he employs and
all of those people pay taxes. I am sure personally he pays his fair (share) of taxes, which I
am sure is in the tens of millions if not hundreds of millions, more money than
the average American can comprehend. He can do whatever he wants with his
money, he built this company and he has earned the right to spend his money how
he wants.
FROM BE: So is it "wasted" money on the backs of Amazon
workers and customers? Maybe? But the reported $5.5 billion cost of
the Blue Origin endeavor didn't just vanish into thin air. The money was spent
on engineers, workers, etc that built the spacecraft, computers, etc., etc...
That money was re-circulated into the economy. Better than sitting in a bank
account and/or offshore?? Just food for thought.
FROM FR: Bezos seems
like a jerk, but why can’t people realize this simple fact. He didn’t vaporize
5.5 billion in cash. He spent it, all the way down to paying the janitors and
secretaries and all the other support staff that do the jobs they are paid to
do, jobs that would not
exist if it was not for said jerk.
FROM EE: Bezos
doesn't write the tax laws and I'm sure he takes advantage of them wherever he
can, just like all of us. If
Warren or any other lawmaker doesn't like the tax laws that exist then they
need to change them. I bet every lawmaker takes advantage of the tax
laws. Have you ever heard one lawmaker say that he/she/it should pay more
taxes?
FROM HS: Bernie
certainly didn't. When he became a millionaire (funny how he only bashes
billionaires now) he got a little testy when someone asked him about his taxes
and declared he paid what the tax laws required.
FROM WA: People that
complain Bezos has too much money are the same ones complaining that items in their
local stores cost too much. Right now I need to buy a
fuel filter for my truck, I can go to the locale Auto Zone or Napa and buy it
for $35.00, or I can buy it off of Amazon for $21.00. With A.Z. or Napa, I have
to drive my truck over there and wait in line and pick it up. With Amazon I can
order it on-line and it shows up at my doorstep in 2-3 days. The filter gets
made in the same factory no matter where I get it from, the only difference is
do I pay the wages of some local dude that stocked it on the shelf, and then
rang up my order at the checkout, or do I pay someone working in a warehouse a
thousand miles a way to pull it and put it in a box to ship it to me, and then
pay the locale driver to deliver it to me. Either way I get what I want - YOU as
a consumer have to make the final call on how you make the purchase.
FROM DC: For me, I’m
in the upper income bracket. I support local business. The cost is irrelevant
to me. The ONLY time I don’t is when availability is an issue and I have no
choice of alternative. Fortunately, those occurrences are extremely rare.
FROM SJ: Amazon
employ 1.3M people directly, where the minimum wage is set to $15 an hour. Blue
Origin has about 3500 people directly employed, where it's reasonable to assume
the average salary is quite high. Indirectly, Amazon is probably giving jobs to
additional millions of people (those who sell through their solutions, e.g.,
Amazon website, AWS, etc.). Personally, I am not a big fan of the power Amazon
has; mainly because they have a tendency to dominate and make everyone else go
bankrupt (few can compete, and those who do are getting crushed by the
influence Amazon has). Their influence and reach is so
wide and big that it's questionable if they can even be called a
"company" these days, they're looking more like empires or small
nations that are getting a monopoly at certain areas.
FROM MR: Hey as much
as I dislike and may not agree with his ideas and morals, he said the truth.
Those were actually few of his most honest and credible words! If all of those
who buy or support (while to a minimal extent whenever possible, I too have
contributed) his drive to amass and monopolized wealth to the point he has with
no regards, we are responsible. It is on us he has built himself. We have made
him and given him, willfully, his wealth and power. Don’t blame the guy, we are
to blame. He is just enjoying our work and labor. If you/we don’t like it, stop
supporting him, that simple.
FROM NW: I find the
prices on ebay to be cheaper 85% of the time for
things I buy online. Once in a while Amazon will come in a bit lower but not to
often. I do take some time to shop for the best price. What is good on Amazon
is product description and all the customer reviews. Returns are much easier
and better on Amazon than on EBay because you are dealing with Amazons policy.
On EBay you are dealing with the different vendors and if there is still a
problem, then you have to file a complaint to EBay resolution center. This all
takes a lot of time. I have always got my returns resolved to my satisfaction
with EBay but it takes time. So sometimes it is better to pay a little more to
Amazon if there might be a return possibility.
FROM VT: Jeff Bezos
pioneered a business model which has brought great convenience to everyone. He
employs millions of skilled and unskilled people and he pays well above the
federal minimum wage. Like all of us, he doesn't pay any more in taxes than he
has to. We are fortunate Bezos put in the years of hard work to bring Amazon to
life, and instead of complaining and being envious of his wealth, we should all
be thankful for him. If you take Elizabeth Warren's attitude toward Bezos, it
becomes perfectly clear why you don't see great new products and businesses
sprouting forth from big
government socialist countries.
FROM FB: Amazon
workers are some of the highest paid workers in their industry and have
benefits that are matched only by a few. If they don't like participating in
the success of their founder, maybe they can find employment with a company
that is more generous.
FROM SG: The can go
to China and work there. Apple is probably hiring.
·
FROM NM: As an Amazon customer, I helped too. I did not order from Amazon
because I wanted him to be rich, I did it because they offered the best deal. Welcome
to reality.
FROM FB: Amazon is an
amazing company that has made my life much easier. I can find items there that
almost impossible to find locally or would take days of searching. Thanks Jeff
for creating this great American company.
FROM RL: I am not a
Jeff Bezos fan, however I am a fan of business. As a
business owner and having taken all the risk to make sure my employees have a
job each day and into the future, I am entitled to make as much money as I wish. It’s what I
choose to do with that money that will give me peace of mind. My first
responsibility is to my family because they sacrificed as much as I did, the
second is to my employees, spending wisely, reinvesting in them making sure
they have all the tools they need to grow with the company and continue to make
the company grow. Supply them with well structured benefits that fit the
majority of our workers so they want to make this job a career. Last invest in
my church and my community. What I don’t need is some politicians telling me that
because I make a certain
amount of money I need to give it to them so they can pocket 3/4’s of it
and invest the rest in another failed entitlement program. So
AOC and her Squid friends need to spend some actual time in a business to see
what they have to do each day just to stay in business!
FROM JR: The American whiner is the most
pathetic in the world
FROM DD: Amazon may
have paid less in tax than many think they should pay, but we also have about
40% of our citizens who pay no tax. How are they any different in this regard. Perhaps if everyone had to pay
at least some minimum tax, they might pay more attention to what our government
spends.
FROM PO: I favor a gross receipts tax
like a national sales tax. No deductions. The most efficient WINS.
FROM TS: If you don't
like it, then quit working for his company and go work elsewhere. If you don't
want to use Amazon when buying on line, go elsewhere. I hate to quote a cliche, but it isn't rocket science. It's his money, he can
do what he wants with it. If
you don't want him to earn anymore, stop using his company.
FROM TC: Henry Ford, and other
Capitalists, would thank good employees by giving them promotions and more
money.
FROM WW: All of his
employees should be thanking him for giving them a place to work. He started
this company out of his garage. He built it himself. He isnt
where he is because those people propped him up. He did it himself and we as
customers were offered a service that the population craved. The company had to
grow or be replaced by another that would. Why demonize him for having a
company that could employee so many people? There are plenty of other reasons to criticize Bezos that
are way better than because he was successful. This is just jealousy.
FROM DW: Don’t blame
the accountants, if the tax laws allow it, blame your elected officials. How
many of us here would give up an allowed deduction and purposely pay more
taxes? Get real. I’m sure Warren, AOC, Bernie, Biden, Pelosi, et al take their
fair of deductions too.
FROM Anonymous: DEAR
JEFF BEZOS: Stop
supporting that anti-Gentile, anti-Christ, anti-American Washington Post
newspaper. SELL IT NOW. (To whom? Donald Trump?
Mike Pence? Kim & Kanye? – DJI)
FROM WS: If he could just leave off the political side....but we know THAT isn't going to happen. He can spend all
his cash anyway he wants. Preach to me, however...and I'm out.
FROM DW: The money Warren and her cronies waste with out of
control spending, money that’s confiscated through tax collections, makes the
money Bezos earned and spends seem like a drop in the bucket.
FROM WS: While I
really don’t like Bezos’ political stance, this is an example of true
capitalism and a prime example of wealthy entrepreneurs putting money back into
the economy to employ people and build things. I like to see Elon Musk, sir
Richard Branson, and Bezos control their investments rather than the Idiocracy.
FROM MM: The
poor simpletons here don’t realize how much they benefit from the fancies of
the rich. Someone gets paid to produce their sports cars, yachts, huge homes
and their Expensive culinary tastes. Being ungrateful is one thing. Being
extremely stupid is another. The combination of both is scary.
FROM HX: And just
what is "their fair "? You'll never get an answer to that question
from politicians. I think think they already ARE
paying their fair . Millionaires pay about 30% of all
taxes collected now. Personally,
I think non paying citizens (the so called "poor")
, that's 45% of the population should be paying SOMETHING, even if it's
only $25. Let everyone "feel the pain" a little. After all,
the poor, like everyone else, enjoys the rights, freedom and protections, just
like the rest of us.
FROM ON: The lottery is the tax on the poor.
FROM NR: This is the beginning of something bigger. Don't be
so small.
FROM GP: Musk is pure genius!!
FROM PB: So whats the problem with
his tweet? Most of the
people that work for Amazon probably wouldnt have a
job if he didnt start the company and like him
or not amazon made peoples life alot easier to obtain
goods and services, and not to mention many business’
thrive from amazon as do the employees of those business.
FROM BH: They’d
probably be working at one of the companies Amazon put out of business
FROM HM: If you did not know. Amazon is not known for how
well they treat their employees -despite the commercials as of late. I’ve had
two close family members who worked there at one point.
FROM KS: He's a total crook but did it legally. You make no
sense. It sounds like you are angry cuz he is smarter
than you. Are you saying he should voluntarily pay more taxes and voluntarily
not earn as much profit? That is not only stupid, it is ludicrous.
FROM VK: No,
you are a wimp.
FROM AP: Ted Cruz and Ben Carson had a one tax rate across
the board. you should have voted for one of them. if you earned $100 you pay $15 in taxes. if you earned
$100million then you pay $15million in taxes. I call that a fair
. then a across the board corporate rate as well. The consumption
tax is good too. It hits everyone, including those that work off the books.
FROM FC: Bezos - smart, hardworking and focused, brought
retail into the 21st century and made Amazon an American success providing tens
of thousands of dollars of high-paying jobs. Amazon invests billions into high
technology, R&D, education and employees that pay billions in taxes. I may hate his politics and WaPo, but if anyone deserves a trip into space it is Bezos.
Congratulations to him and I hope he had the ride of his life.
ATTACHMENT ONE (H) – From
Professor
Galloway.com
·
Scott Galloway is a bestselling
author and professor of marketing at NYU Stern.
·
The following is a recent blog post,
republished with permission, that originally ran on his blog, "No Mercy / No Malice."
JEFF BEZOS IS NOT MY ASTRONAUT
By Scott Galloway, July 23, 2021
Ever since the first tribe walked out of the Great Rift
Valley and crossed the Sinai into Asia, humans have been explorers. We’ve
crossed continents, then oceans, and in the 20th century, left Earth itself.
There’s glory in our species’ expansive nature, and as the TV show says, space
is the final frontier. However, Jeff Bezos is not my astronaut.
I felt more disdain
than wonder watching Richard Branson’s joyride and Jeff Bezos’s soulless flight
to the Kármán Line.
Everybody
Gets a “For All Mankind” Trophy
There was no ground broken here. In 1903, the Wright
Brothers completed the first powered flight. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the
first human in space. In 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first human on the moon.
Those are milestones worthy of celebration. In 2004, Burt Rutan’s Scaled
Composites carried the first people into space on a privately built spacecraft
— a milestone of sorts.
What was accomplished on July 11 (Branson) and 20 (Bezos)?
Well, one of Bezos’ passengers, Wally Funk (great name), became the oldest
person ever in space. After the flight, she reminded us that when you’re 82 you
have zero fucks to give. She was disappointed in
both the view and the length of the flight, and she found the cabin
insufficiently spacious for the “rolls and twists and so forth” she wanted to
do.
Another of Bezos’ passengers became the youngest person ever
in space. This sounds like something, except that he bought his way onto the
flight — actually, his father, a private equity billionaire, paid for the
recent high school graduate’s estimated $28 million ticket. My youngest has
been acting up (if “acting up” is terrorizing all of us — he constantly
assesses the household for weaknesses and then makes brazen attacks on his
older brother and anything resembling domestic harmony). I don’t have any idea
how to deal with this, so I bought him a $1,000 iPad. His mother told me I was
sending the wrong message. I reminded her that the message could have been
28,000 times worse. So, there’s that.
Blue Origin’s reusable rocket is a real technological
achievement, but that was news … back in 2015.
None of the July “astronauts” were even the first space tourists. That
empty-calories honor belongs to Dennis Tito, who paid $20 million for a ride on a Russian rocket in
2001. And Tito spent a week in space, living on the International Space Station
— the equivalent of nearly a thousand 11-minute trips on Blue Origin.
Astronauts, my ass. Apollo 11 and Columbus travelled 240,000 and 3,000 miles
to reach the moon and Caribbean, respectively. New Shepard 4 traveled
0.026% of the way to the moon. Put another way, on Tuesday we watched a
man plant a flag three feet up from base camp at Mt. Everest and expect to be
knighted. This weekend, I’ll be in Montauk. I plan to swim a half-mile from
shore (I can do this) and declare I’ve discovered Spain.
It’s his money, and he has the right to spend it on what he
wants. But if Mr. Bezos was genuine about doing something more than crashing a
canary yellow T-top Corvette into a Bosley for Men
franchise, he could raise the minimum wage at his firm to $20/hour.
Egonauts
In addition to vanity
projects for billionaires, these pseudo-events were
advertisements, promotions for the brands prominently displayed throughout the
breathless television coverage.
ut advertisements for what? Human exploration is about the
future, and space exploration is a long bet on a very distant tomorrow. What kind of future will the
billionaire space race promote? One clue: After his flight, Bezos said, “I want to thank
every Amazon employee, and every Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all
this.”
He’s right. We did
pay for it. Eighty-two percent of American
households are Prime members, and the company has 1,298,000 employees. We
also paid for the Apollo program, of course, only there’s a difference. To put
Neil Armstrong on the moon, we paid taxes, and elected representatives to
decide how to spend them.
In the 52 years between Armstrong’s July accomplishment and
the Branson/Bezos “accomplishments,” the United States has radically
restructured its economy. Specifically, we’ve handed it over to billionaires.
Now, rather than paying taxes, we pay for our Prime memberships. Instead of
NASA, we fund Blue Origin. We’ve elected people who defund NASA so businessmen
can lead us to new frontiers instead of test pilots and physics PhDs.
Historically, astronauts were the best and the brightest.
The pioneers of the 1960s were war heroes and accomplished pilots who combined
physical skill and courage with crisp engineering minds. Neil Armstrong,
a legend among
test pilots, flew more than 900 different types
of planes before leaving the Earth in July 1969. When the Lunar Module’s
computer conked out on final approach, he manually piloted the craft to the
moon’s surface. Those that followed, in the Space Shuttle and aboard the
International Space Station, were scientists and engineers of distinction.
“Astronaut” used to
connote something noble, something that cemented the best of what it meant to
be American: Men and women of exceptional
capabilities and unremarkable origins. Armstrong was the second person in his
family to attend college, and his father was a state government bureaucrat.
John Glenn’s parents were a plumber and a teacher. Sally Ride, the first
American woman in space, was a PhD physicist; her father was a community
college professor, and her mother volunteered as a prison counselor. Former
NASA Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson, a PhD biochemist who spent more time in
space than any other American (665 days), grew up on a farm in Iowa. (Kudos to
the FAA, which, just before Bezos took off, issued a new policy requiring
that a space crew member actually contribute to the mission before receiving
astronaut “wings.”) no
respect for wally funk? - dji
In the Prime Space future, we won’t have astronauts, we’ll
have egonauts.
The problems of the Prime Space future go deeper than who
gets to ride Jeff’s cocket to the Kármán Line. An
ever-expanding array of technological innovations, businesses, and services
fall under the rubric of “space.”
One of the earliest and still most important benefits of
space exploration was the Global Positioning System. It’s hard to overstate the
importance of GPS, which is foundational to our mobile economy. GPS was born of
a U.S. Department of Defense project in 1973; it continues to be run by the
DoD, which makes it freely available to all users.
Bezos and Elon Musk
are launching thousands of satellites over the next several years to enable
their Kuiper and Starlink systems. There’s a lot to
celebrate about these projects, which promise broadband internet for remote and
underserved regions. But do we want Bezos and Musk — or shareholders in their
companies — to control that access?
With the number of satellites projected to grow from 3,000 to 50,000, space
hauling will be an enormous business.
Bezos dreams of moving pollutive manufacturing to space, which
seems both insane and amazing. Musk wants to build a colony on Mars, which
seems more like space execution than exploration. But as humanity expands to
become a space-faring species, who should control who gets to go and what we do
up there? To whom do the benefits of all this technological innovation flow?
I know two things about Blue Origin. One, Amazon’s customers
and employees paid for it, just like Bezos said. Two, the commonwealth may
register progress, but there will be less public spillover from the technology
and an increase in private capture. Imagine the tax avoidance that will occur
in space, where nobody can hear the IRS scream.
The counterweight to market externalities is democracy. And a democracy that cedes ownership
of its future to a winner-take-all market will lose control of that future.
Democracy acts through governments (and taxes), whether we like it or not.
The Right
Stuff
While Bezos was high-fiving his employees after his jaunt
into space, NASA scientists were working on projects for all mankind. The Perseverance rover
on Mars has its own drone, which is sending back amazing
pictures. In November, NASA, along with the
European and Canadian space agencies, will launch the James Webb Space
Telescope, the successor to the Hubble; under development since 1996, it
promises to advance human knowledge about the formation of the universe and the
origins of life.
It’s unlikely these projects will attract any venture
capital money or support a SPAC. Private space projects might be dressed up as
achievements for humanity, but their aim is to return capital to shareholders.
And when that’s the criteria, the astronauts and their efforts become limited
in scope.
Mach-3
Train Wreck or Galactic ATM
Whatever you think of
space travel as a human endeavor, space tourism is an awful business. Even
assuming all goes well, it makes no sense. These are vanity projects, and the
only people that will make money from them will be the early investors … who
bail out before impact.
Most businesses are either demand constrained (the market
for its product is limited) or supply constrained (it can’t make enough of its
product). Virgin manages to be both. To meet its profit targets, it has to sell
about 3,100 tickets per year at a whopping $400,000 each, a 60% increase from
the current price. After an ad the entire world saw, the product has a waiting
list of … 600 people.
My Brand Strategy class at
Section4 has 1,500 people, and there’s dramatically lower odds you’re going to
blow up in your chair.
But even if there were an annual demand from 3,100 people
willing to pay that fee, to supply the spaceflights, Virgin would have to make
two flights per day, every day, without mishap. So far in all of 2021, it has
flown … twice. The true addressable market for space tourism is zero. It’s the
mother of all product-market mismatches. By comparison, Google Glass and
Cheetos-Flavored Lip Balm (an actual thing) were on point. Virgin Galactic may
achieve great things, but the stock (Nasdaq: SPCE) is a Mach 3 train wreck.
The worst-case, and most likely, scenario? Death. Rockets to
space are controlled explosions of thousands of gallons of flammable material.
Re-entry is a high-speed fall into the searing heat of friction. Virgin
Galactic has already lost one pilot, Michael Alsbury, who died when his
SpaceShipTwo craft broke apart in the atmosphere. Five hundred and ninety
people have headed into space, and 19 have not returned, meaning space travel
is more dangerous than base jumping.
A space tourism fatality is a question of when, not if. Exploration and
innovation are worth risks, even to human life. Floating weightless for 300
seconds is not.
Richard Branson
understands these risks. Last May he sold $500 million of his Virgin
Galactic stock, and this April he sold another $150 million, trimming his
holding to less than 25% of the company. He was able to make both sales because
he took the company public in 2019 via a SPAC controlled by
former Facebook employee Chamath Palihapitiya. Who
also shed his entire
personal stake in
the company back in March. Billionaires vote with their wallets, and the two
largest shareholders believe their capital will achieve greater returns elsewhere.
Sally Ride
One of 35 people selected from 8,000 applications, after
receiving a PhD in Physics, Ms. Ride spent 843 hours in space aboard the Space
Shuttle Challenger, where she was charged with operating the
robotics arm (“Canadarm”). I wonder if, when peering
down at Earth 300 miles below, she registered satisfaction from her hard work,
or the reward of pursuing greatness in the agency of others. Was it freeing to
be in space, on a craft judged only by her skills and character? I don’t know.
What I am certain of is that Mission Specialist Sally Kristen Ride is a United
States Astronaut and went to space for all mankind.
Life is so rich,
scott
P.S. I’ve done OK investing. Join me on July 29 for a live
lecture and Q&A session on how I navigate public and private investments
both as an individual and as a citizen of good old planet Earth. Sign up
here. Warning: hyperlink removed, malware alert – DJI
PROF. GALLOWAY’S PEANUT GALLERY
FROM J:
Did
anyone else think the conversation and antics in the capsule were shallow? Vapid
even. Seemed like Bezos was looking for instagram
moments more then peering out the window!
FROM HJ:
Another
important space hero is Jerry (High Eagle) Elliott, who became the first NASA
rocket scientist of Native American heritage, fulfilling his destiny while
receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom for helping to save the Apollo 13
crew from disaster. https://vimeo.com/542932472
FROM M:
It’s pretty sad to see people actively
complaining about space exploration. Maybe if NASA had stepped up and been the
leaders they should be, it wouldn’t be falling to private industry to lead the
way today.
Complain all you want, but if
billionaire joyrides pave the way to more exploration and innovation then I’m
all for it.
Every single. complaint. I’ve heard about this basically boils down to someone
whining because others have more than they. I doubt Musk, Bezos, or Branson got
where they are by whining.
PS: the author can buy their kid a
$1,000 ipad for bad behavior? Pot meet kettle.
FROM H:
I agree with your assessment. I relate
space travel to air travel. The Wright Bros. and Charles Linberg
were the Trail Blazers of air travel. The rest of us are just pilots or
passengers. John Glen, Neil Armstrong, etc were the space trailblazers, people
like Bezos are nothing but just space passengers.
FROM ST:
I don’t see Space Tourism is the
ultimate goal with these ventures… In my view tourism is merely an excuse to get
this venture going…they are opening up access to space by innovating on cost
reductions and NASA is benefiting from this first and foremost and all of us
will too ultimately… government should start thinking how and what to regulate
for the safety and cleanliness of space access …
FROM B:
I’m
thinking that the government should first start thinking about how we are going
to stop the trend of life expectancy decreasing for the first time in 100
years, or perhaps how we are going to have any political representation at all
with such severe economic inequality.
FROM V:
That’s
an orthogonal argument, akin to saying lets stop working on faster internet or
developing self-driving cars so long there are poor people in the world.. your argument is well intentioned but the world
doesn’t work this way
FROM G:
“moving pollutive manufacturing to space”:
1. Rocket starts add lots of carbon
dioxide to the atmosphere, which is polluting (even if they use H as fuel, for
producing H is not straightforward).
2. A single rocket starts add the
thermic equivalent of a Hiroshima bomb to our already heated atmosphere.
So Bezos
plans to stop polluting by polluting?
FROM B:
Yes. This is the economic acumen of the
richest man in the world.
FROM BM:
Well
said Scott, the “space flights” were of little or no value except to stroke two
very large ego’s…. Egonauts for sure.
FROM F:
I
think it’s to soon to be this judgmental. Perhaps things will look a lot
different in 10 years just like a little book selling company turning into a
giant Amazon.
FROM B:
If Amazon paid any taxes, perhaps I’d
be less judgemental. Who funds the highways that all
these goods are shipped over, anyway?
FROM F:
If
only more people created as many jobs as Amazon who cares if they pay taxes.
Think about how much that saves the government (that’s all of us) not paying
them unemployment money.
FROM I:
Read
about SLS and NASA/ Boeing… then apologize for wasting all of our time. $20Bn
R&D for a $2bn launch on a non reusable rocket
that’s years late. Are u a Boeing lobbyist?
FROM D:
Troll
FROM D:
You
left out the carbon footprint part. Everything else is 100% accurate though.
“Space” tourism is a waste in so many ways.
FROM A:
The Blue Origin rocket used liquid
hydrogen and liquid oxygen. I.e., very little if any carbon emissions.
FROM B:
Wow. Are you serious? And what do they
do, just go to Oxygen Lake and the Sea of Hydrogen and take whatever they need?
The gases have to be cooled to below -250C and -297C, respectively. Somehow, I
doubt you are going to see the “Energy Star” logo on a rocket anytime soon.
People are dying of heat exhaustion out west this summer. People are sleeping
in “cooling centers” to avoid that. Do you have any idea how much energy it
takes to cool oxygen and hydrogen to a liquid state?
FROM D:
So only PhDs and test pilots should go
to space ?
Ridiculous article. Full of envy and left wing rhetoric.
FROM D:
No,
the point isn’t that only those folks should go. It’s that “space” tourism is a
gigantic ego trip and a galactic waste.
FROM B:
Coming
from a Trumptard.
FROM B:
Is
that not preferable to whoever can pay the most goes? PhDs aren’t just a status
symbol. They have them because they need them to go there. The same with being
a test pilot. It’s _merit_, as opposed to merely being able to pay. It is that
they actually DO things up there. They conduct experiments on behalf of
universities. It is an attempt to actually have it benefit the rest of us. I swear,
what is with you people and advocating against your own interests? I doubt you
even know what “left” and “right” mean or why they are called “left” and
“right”. You just identify with some tribe (that doesn’t actually exist). It’s
hilarious that you said “PhDs and test pilots” yet lack the insight into what
they might have in common: excellence. It’s not as if YOU are going to pay the
ticket price anytime soon! And besides, the issue isn’t that there is a private
space industry per se. It is that we no longer have any public space program.
One could argue that there is no point in going to space until we have solved
the huge problems here, but I’m not even going that far. What I am going to say
is this: you didn’t actually say anything. You just ridiculed the article,
apparently on the basis that the author is envious (I might as well call you
envious of the author’s rhetorical prowess) and that it is “left-wing rhetoric”
(I don’t see any evidence that you know what left and right-wing even mean).
Simply calling something “left-wing” or “right-wing” is not an argument against
it. You just think you know what the terms mean, and you think that there are
two teams, and that you are on the team that is going to space. I assure you,
you are not on that team.
FROM C:
As
the daughter of a test pilot and NASA astronaut, I totally agree with this
article. So many things in our world today were researched and developed and
tested by brave and courageous souls. Those that have the bucks to poke their
craft into the edge of space HEB failed miserably to benefit anyone else but
themselves. Egonauts indeed.
FROM M:
Someone
had to say the exact same thing every other media outlet is saying?
How stunning and brave. Get the author a medal!
FROM BA:
I
agree with the this article in general (some nitpicks
but minor stuff). If we’re talking egonauts, please
add the 2020 Presidential runs of Tom Steyer & Mike Bloomberg. Take a wild
guess how much $$$ (combined) was blown of these bids. Take about egos!!! JFC!
FROM JL:
I’m imagining Virgin Galactic over the
next few years offering a Los Angeles to New York trip. The passengers then
take a week or two on vacation on the east coast then fly back on the
spacecraft or conventional jet. How about LA to NYC, NYC to Orlando, Orlando to
LA?
FROM B:
That’s
a nice vision. Until we have the energy infrastructure to create all that
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, it is insane. Perhaps it would be better to
figure out how to provide air travel to more people, period, without burning
fossil fuels. (Jetpacks?
Stagecoaches? – DJI)
FROM SP:
For the most part I agree with
Galloway’s take, but also recognize the history of similar explorations and
inventions and how they paved the way for what we have now without that’s being
known at the time.
How much different our understanding of
these space flights (sic) would be if Bezos, Branson, and Musk had not booked
themselves on the first flights. Is it a public demonstration of their
confidence in the safety of their teams’ work? Perhaps, but it comes across as
a vanity statement. With different passengers (like Funk) it could have avoided
that, at least.
FROM C:
i dont
love jeff bezos but my
girlfriend does!
FROM BUZZ ALDRICH: (REALLY?)
Wow! What an ego. I think it’s bigger
that the billionaires. But at least they did something with the potential to
change the world. A whole long article about who were your heroes. Who f’ng cares who you think deserves your praise. My father was in NASA and it was an amazing
time back then in the 60s and early 70s. They were men. By the best definition
of what it means to be a man. (Italics – dji) The space shuttle astronauts were the beginning
of the smarter than brave astronauts. I take satisfaction that the astronauts
who landed on the moon would have been embarrassed by
your leftist woke jealousy. On the bright side. I had been giving to a charity,
but your article was the last straw. I am cancelling it. Investing in Virgin
Galactic instead. Government is giving away too much money as it is. This
country was founded in rugged individualism not socialism.
FROM H:
I’m
not one for comment sections, but Scott, as one of my intellectual mentors, is
the first to be self-critical, self-depricating, and
self-aware. His favorite topic is himself, because he deserves it. Refreshing
for young men, seeking their way in the world, amongst the Fratitudes
that clearly permeate your take, Mr. Wannabe Buzz. You can always choose not to
read!
FROM N:
screw you idiots that love bashing
leftists. You are the TRUE parasites of the world! It is Socialism for the
wealthy and the hind twat for the rest of us!
FROM B:
Yes. Privatizing gains while
socializing losses. If you want anything else, you’re a commie (or something).
McCarthy would blush with envy. (Kevin,
Clean Gene, Joe or Charlie? –
DJI) Huh? (And) You are cancelling giving to a charity
to protest big government?
FROM R:
Nothing is as phony as a guy in a
nonfunctional “spacesuit” wearing a cowboy hat. Wearing a cowboy hat while not
working as a cowboy is like wearing a fireman’s hat while not fighting a fire.
FROM K:
“It’s
unlikely these projects will attract any venture capital money “. Agreed. But,
I might be wrong, the first British colony in America was a private funded
for-profit project, if I quite remember.
FROM D:
Scott,
do you read these comments? I have a grudging admiration for these two, tho I would have preferred that they and Musk also spent
some money on earth to improve the lives and climate for those less fortunate.
I like your outrage, its good to clear the pipes and vent. But for every
problem raised, it would be good to have your thoughts on solutions too.
FROM B:
The
problem with such extreme wealth inequality is that they become completely
detached from the reality the rest of us live in, while their wealth allows
them to buy political representation. No individuals should have as much power
as they do. Anything resembling democracy cannot exist like this. We already
have solutions, and they have been used in the past. In 2020, amazon paid
federal taxes for the first time since 2016.
FROM Z:
I
was watching the movie, Ford vs Ferrari as I read this article. I couldn’t miss
the similarities in the role of the “suits” in each….and also $$$
FROM R:
Bezos is a douchebag no doubt. But
you’re forgetting the bigger picture with your woke
hate. People like Branson are paving the way for the normalization of
spaceflight.
Air travel was ridiculously expensive
early on. It took 50 years for it to become cheap enough for the average Joe.
What the hell do you think is going to happen at this point? You think Branson
is going to stop now? The next step is a bigger parabola. Wanna
get from NYC to Tokyo in an hour? We have a space plan for that.
But I less you trail blaze you get
nothing. People like would have mocked Magellan when he said he wanted to
circumnavigate the world too.
FROM B:
Um,
this doesn’t contribute to that in any meaningful way. What are you gonna power this spaceplane with, optimism? There isn’t any
major innovation happening here. Zero. The trail has been blazed already–in the
1950s. We have different challenges now–an energy/climate crisis. How about
they first figure out how they are gonna produce all of that liquid hydrogen
and liquid oxygen? You should look up how much it costs just to keep an MRI machine
running. Where is all of this energy going to come from?
FROM C:
I
reread the column and noted the ‘$20/hr comment. Why just $20? If you believe
that some other entity should set wages, why not $50 or $200 an hour? Why limit
what the ‘workers’ get? Make them all millionaires. We wanted delivery TOMORROW
of our stuff on Amazon, so we paid Bezos for Prime. If he wants to go to space
with our money, fine. We both got what you wanted Don’t like it? Shop WalMart.
FROM M:
Write
about something that matters? The”people
we elected”? The rigging of primaries to give us 1%r tools?
FROM BR:
It matters because the same people who
celebrate this shit are the people who’ve been drinking the Kool Aid and
enabling this sham of a political system.
Not to mention the media cronies who’re
trying to make Bezos a hero are the same ones responsible the political crises
of the past year and then some.
FROM L:
There are many things in your article
that may be true, but “sour grapes” still seems to me to fit.
FROM S:
I
liked reading the article as always. However, I don’t agree with the point
where you elude that only the best and the brightest have to be astronauts,
like in the past?! I found it very patronising. High
tuition fees in American schools eliminates many brilliant students from
getting accepted. So what difference does it make if somebody pays for the
college education or for space travel, it’s just that space travel is for
richer people only!
FROM O:
This
is the first article of your’s I’ve ever read and
whilst I could be what my son would call a “capitalist pig” I agree with
everything you have written about the two egotists who have recently had their
little joyride. Space tourism will not be something profitable for many years
(if at all) and Richard Branson will have exited for a tidy profit like he has
done in previous businesses.
Let’s
save our hero worship for people who actually make the world a better and safer
place rather than creating carbon emissions for their own ego. Also in relation to items being sent into space don’t forget
it is not just the USA doing so, China will be sending a lot of things up and
given the mess we have made of Earth I don’t see how anyone can expect we won’t
do the same in space.
FROM PJ:
All living things venture forth, expand
and grow. Humans are no different. We make mistakes on the way, & hopefully
we get better (and as an optimist I will always believe we do). You look
backward too much Mr Galloway. The kids on the space YouTube channels that have
all sprung up recently are wild eyed and bushy tailed optimists, kids who will
build our future. Don’t shackle them with your prejudices and negativities. The
future won’t be built this way.
FROM K:
Your jealousy is sad. Very sad and you
know it. Sadder still is I have
taken hour classes and now I am questioning the wisdom of that. Feel free to
look me up by eMail address in your Section 4
database to validate this statement. Sad little man. Sad and jealous.
FROM R:
You
should binge watch For All Mankind, the alt reality TV series, so you’ll have
good feelings about real astronauts again. It’s better than real reality by a
long shot, which as we know is getting worse all the time.
FROM W
Nobel
laureate, Derek Walcott said in his acceptance speech (I paraphrase) that one
of the advantages of growing up on a poor island (St. Lucia) is that you
couldn’t afford too much mediocrity, cf. Sidney Poitier’s comments on growing
up poor in the Bahamas, a rich life in many ways it seems… Is there a genuine
parallel here, that in affording excessive mediocrity (I have Netflix, Disney
Plus and 60+ cable channels plus streaming), we are no longer able to recognise that we are also affording superficiality in the
form of righteous self-gratification? Yes, I am from the Caribbean. No, I have
never watched keeping up with the Kardashians.
Excellent.
I witnessed (the middle of) Branson’s adventure into space but found it felt
flat. Barring his smile in the face of a boundary, it seemed too short lived to
have real meaning. But your article hits at the deeper truth of a shallowness
that characterises our time. So, thanks! Didn’t see
Bezos.
FROM Z:
As
an aerospace physiologist in the Air Force, I still can get over how whacky the
idea of leisure space travel is. People can hardly survive in aircraft that fly
between 30K-50K feet. The enormous amount of stress on the body (or the
requirements to compensate for it) isn’t even feasible when we think about
“colonizing Mars.” I mean, Elon Musk is the biggest troll of all trolls. But in
the click-driven social media world, what is a realist to do?
FROM E:
Yes!
I keep thinking and saying the same thing! While studying neurobiology, NASA
scientists lectured at our university and we studied the effects/challenges of
real space travel and research projects around it. Spoiled wealthy won’t
address real space challenges, certainly won’t put their own bodies at risk as
do all true astronauts.
FROM SJ:
Spot
on, well written and I agree with everything you said. Completely vanity BS.
Won’t end well. The media fawning and extended coverage was sickening. We’ll
lost all perspective when we put these billionaires on a pedestal for this.
They are all accomplished and should be given kudos for their business
accomplishments, not for being faux astronauts or for ripping off spoiled rich
people who want 8 minutes of vanity.
FROM P:
Damn! Usually I get a kick out of your
particular brand of pissed-offness. But this post is
not worthy of you. It should have run in the Times maybe. Or some other
reflexively “liberal” pub that doesn’t appreciate individual accomplishment.
Read what Chas and Jim wrote below, willya?
FROM CHAS:
Not sure I agree with your thesis. Bezos brought along
people who simply paid for the trip. True, but after a few years of developing
airplanes, the Wright Bros also were part of companies that took paying
passengers. Do you believe that people shouldn’t fly coast to coast simply
because Kit Carson had to walk? Is American Airlines an affront to Lewis and
Clark? Should we expect every person scaling Everest to dress like Sir Hilary,
and not bring Oxygen?
We cannot ask Sally Ride what she thinks. Best not to speak for her.
FROM JIM:
The point of the article
is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news event over a
billionaire splurging.
Are you aware of any
other companies besides Amazon, Facebook and Apple? Is there some slight
possibility that you might discuss them at some point? And no, that doesn’t
mean Wework.
Really, I started watching your videos years ago on youtube,
when all this was fresh. I’m just getting tired of the repeats. You’re in
danger of jumping the shark.
FROM C:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
Crazy
idea – Don’t fly into space. Also maybe learn how to
write about things that benefit society (I’d really love to hear how much govt
has helped us) instead of griping about how other people use their money. At
least, my rep Bluemanure, has endorsed and sees it as
a great vehicle for a new and creative tax.
Also
stop using Amazon – However, you’d be in a small group of people. I realize
Amazon is so terrible that they just keep getting more of our dollars in a free
market.
Finally,
shut up people like me and come up with a better solution.
FROM O:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
I
can “The Space
Barons”.
Remember:
Tesla’s are a step to DER electrification and Mars. Tesla started with sports
cars as a market leverage strategy.
The
idea that this is actually about tourism is uncharacteristically naive.
FROM M:
My wife has been yelling at the TV for days
that Bezos and Branson should spend their money helping people here on earth.
The old but still worthy chestnuts, feed the hungry, cloth and house the poor,
etc. She is so not impressed with these billionaires and their vanities. She is
right. You are right. Thanks again.
FROM CHAS:
Expending
energy yelling at a TV makes about as much difference as complaining about what
people do with money THEY made. I would ask if your household also yells at
celebs and their well publicized $1M wedding, $50K Grammy Awards Dresses, or
their NBA heroes stable of Ferraris. Likely not. We admire people for unnatural
looks or athletic skills, but not for hard work and risk taking. What media has
done to us.
FROM F:
I
guess It’s more trendy to respond with snarky,
sarcastic, negative criticism of someone’s accomplishments than to go out there
and accomplish something on that scale yourself. Billionnaires
like Bill Gates, Elin Musk and Jeff Bezos could just sit back and enjoy their
money with an attitude of “to hell with the rest of us”. Instead, they are
devoting their lives to solving problems that effect
all of us. That Blue Origin flight took place 52 years to the day of Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing. Question: What has NASA done since
that time to further manned space flights back to the moon or to other planets?
Yes, I am aware of the Space Shuttle program. My son worked on the Space
Shuttle at the Cape for many years until it’s demise. I’ve heard the comments
about how only the rich will be able to travel to space. Well, only the rich
were able to fly commercially at the beginning of air travel. Instead of the
snarky criticism, which of course makes you sound so intelligent and in the
know; let’s take a moment to celebrate these moments of accomplishment. After
all, with the ways things are going, we don’t have
that much to celebrate these days.
FROM CHAS:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
I
find it remarkable that we celebrate those who’s success is primarily based on
gene pool rather than those who worked hard and smart.
FROM L:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
All
of the people mentioned by F are self made businessmen. I’m not sure which gene
pool you are referring to. Like it or not, these people worked very hard and
smart.
FROM S:
We
are angry at self made, jealous really. Yet we admire 7ft NBA stars or
actresses with ‘perfect’ bodies. We bash Bezos who delivers high value to us
the next day, but buy $40 Nike T-shirts because a jock told us to.
FROM Z:
What
has NASA done? Far more than Bezos, in fact, it is laid out in plain English at
the beginning of the article. However, what have they done lately? Well, it
doesn’t seem to be a lot because they have used logic and evidence in their
decisions not to send people to sure death.
FROM R:
You’re
“I work for the government” prejudice is showing. Elon musk did in 5 years what
NASA never even considered doing. Why? NASA has no profit motive. They just
take money without considering the source. Sure nada
has done a lot, but what has advanced human space travel more in the pat 20
years? NASA or the private sector. Elon musk is sending people up in rockets
that look inside and out like something befitting the 21st century. NASA still
hasn’t completed Orion.
Bigelow
arrowspace has invented I floatable habits in space
that will dwarf the ISS. NASA hasn’t done any of that.
Sure it’s done some cool
science and you can’t take away the martian
helicopter and rovers from them.
But
give. The right motivation, SpaceX would have done it faster and cheaper… And
likely better
FROM W:
Lefties
hate fun. You just like to complain. Thankfully you weren’t in charge of the
Spanish Throne when Christopher Columbus was fund raising. Step back and take a
breath. If you want to spend a fortune on climate change read ‘Unsettled’ by
Steven Koonin, President Obama’s scientist.
FROM F:
Not
everything has to be boiled down to politics. (See my comments above.) We can
have civil discourses without bringing liberal and conservative bias into the
discussion.
FROM C:
Unfortunately,
the media finds everything is politics, as do many unrelated columns in all
fields. Fly into space by someone they dislike gets a lecture on pollution in
the upper atmosphere. But not trips by Hollywood icons, John Kerry, or NBA stars
alone in their private jets. Few have a sense of right or wrong, just variable
morality that fits into whatever political tribe they have joined.
FROM G:
I
can’t believe you spent your entire newsletter (which is great, and I love it
btw, although I hate when you bring your lefty political side to them) to talk
about those rides to be ego trips.
They are of course trying to do money on a new market, they are free to do that
without being judged.
Is like the hotel industry, first we were explorers, than we needed place to
stay when we were traders, now we travel for leisure and fun….
So after all I think, this was one more left oriented texts and I feel sorry
having missed the chance to read some forecasts or something really relevant
FROM L:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
Love
your newsletter/blog post. The amount of free advertising for Bezos was out of
control.
FROM R:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
Amazon
Prime penetration of U.S. households looks overstated at 80%+. Think you may be
taking the global Prime members and dividing by U.S. households? I’d be
surprised if Prime was much more than 50% of U.S. households given income
levels and the required annual fee to be a Prime Member.
FROM LB:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
funny
exactly my first thoughts on this article I found that number just implausible
and then it makes one wonder what other inaccuracies
FROM RR:
What
a grumpy rant. Why are you so obsessed about how other people spend their
money? If you don’t like what they’re doing do your own thing. You can spend
your money anyway you want, why do you think you get to spend Bezos’s money on
what you want as well?? Well below you usual standard Scott.
FROM M:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
Wow,
I just read a lot of responses and it seems like most of your readers are
really serious. Bursting out in tears!? Lighten up folks (that term – ‘folks’ –
applies to all humans).
FROM S:
Honestly-
you’re bitter and offer a strawman by asking Bezos to increase minimum wage to
$20. Firstly, why $20? Did a tooth fairy drop this number? Why don’t you ask
for a lot more if you really cared about the state of his workers?
Secondly, in the great tech revolution, individuals make decisions. I know it
hurts your ego that people care less about high fulluton
Academics, than they do about rockstar CEOs (not my
words) but the world has changed. Having a PHD so you can tell the rest of
society what’s good for them is exactly what people are rallying against. And
what exactly is good for them? To fund a dying organization, bleeding money bit
by bit, so that you can say NASA is American pride?
Let’s start here- since you care so much about worker health, why don’t you
start a company, scale to let’s say even a million in revenue and offer your
workers an above market wage rate? And that’s minimum wage..I’ll
wait and watch while you do that.
FROM J:
Oh
look, another troll simping for the elitists. Why do
you idiots keep defending billionaire CEO’s that don’t pay taxes and exploit
workers for cheap labor? I know, because you don’t give a shit about anyone but
yourselves. F off loser!
FROM M:
Bezos’
stint (or stunt) as an Astronaut is the equivalent of me taking batting
practice with the Pirates in spring training and then calling myself a ‘major
league baseball player.’ My experience was just a little less expensive, but on
the bright side lasted longer…
FROM R:
I
agree that the space telescopes have been perhaps the most widely appreciated
space investments that the vast majority can . It
helps us all to know we
this special planet which is so delicately interconnected. There
are multiple satellites advancing meteorological research, archaeological
research, and atmospheric research currently in ways not possible before.
Satellites will continue to benefit multiple areas of earth’s research,
communications, and other needs. I agree that joy rides for the rich are simply
a bit irritating for the average humans to watch as there’s no practical
benefit. Space exploration and equipment which benefits the planet benefits
mankind. Democracy which you mentioned is a very precious form of governing.
Insuring democracy requires insuring voting for the governed and we don’t want
oligarchs or corporations having such profound influence through Super Pacs where any democracy is being “bought” by very few. It
seems that this has been the trend and lawmakers control through legislation
how campaign finance and voter access are possible. This is what concerns those
who favor a true democracy of those governed. I’ve seen far too many trends of
the process of democracy being bought. Our government is literally for sale in
bidding wars which lease the actual voter in a far less informed position at
the voting booth assuming they are able to register. You’ve combined two very
unique topics into this weeks email which might be
worthy of addressing separately. However, you keep us thinking Scott which is most appreciated.
FROM N:
Can’t begin to list the causes who
would benefit and the changes that would be ignited on THIS planet with
5.5Billion – it’s more than an ego play – it’s heartbreaking
. Jeff came from humble beginnings – this doesn’t make sense.
FROM JOHANNA:
Dear
Scott, I’m with you in more ways than you can consider. Nothing happened with
the recent billionaire space venture except a lot of bragging by big egos.
Please do a thing for me and all women everywhere, refer to all as humankind
instead of mankind. I’m not included in mankind because I am a woman.
Regards,
Johanna
FROM B:
FFS,
talk about big egos and out of control wokeness. Get over yourself and pick up
a dictionary to find the word “mankind”. It has nothing to do with gender.
You’re one of those people who feed off of being offended. It’s like air and
water to you. Meanwhile so many women are doing great things because they don’t
have time to be offended. Join us!
FROM B:
The
profit taking, media provided free advertising, and space-face time can be
avoided with a sound investment strategy and a good remote control. What cannot
be avoided is the loss of ozone and the imposition of thousands of pounds of
needless pollution – all at the expense of current and future citizens of the
planet.
FROM T:
I
had a very visceral response to your article over my coffee this morning.
Instead of anger I burst into tears. Yes, tears. There is no more pride in
education nor accomplishment it seems… only wealth made on the backs of others labour. The bullies only lose in movies, in real life they
win, with their fake trophies, gold stars and bogus paid for awards. (Top 49
under 40 / top 500 / best of lists paid for by marketing funds) They demand
accolades. then like any textbook narcissist, they expect us all to watch them
“win”, cheer them on, and then get ourselves back to work making them wealthy
while they hit the golf course for another round.
FROM C:
Yes.
What is being proved here?? Alan Shepard – our first man in space, 1961. A
little sub-orbital flight: ONE HUNDRED MILES up! SIXTY! years ago.
FROM N:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
Prof..
he’s proving out prod-market fit. I think they (Bezos and Branson) are on to
something (even if it ain’t for me or my wallet).
everything else it’s hype and branding.
FROM G:
I
completely agree. Add two other insults to these joy rides. 1. The way that the
media, particularly CNN, fawned over this as news jumping up and down like kids
who had to go pee and couldn’t hold it in. 2. At a time when so many people are
suffering in so many ways and how they brazenly flaunted their next diversion
as wealthy guys seeking thrills that go with their stations in life.
And
then they frame it all in how this is going to benefit humanity, the planet,
the future, the economy, as if they are doing all this through altruism. We’re
living a world of growing bullshit.
FROM F:
Well,
let’s see… they put their money where their mouth is… and they put their lives
at risk. What are you doing to make this world a better place?
FROM E:
Great
post! I was listening to a podcast recently and they made an interesting
analogy that private space exploration was at a stage similar to early
explorers sailing from Europe in search of trading routes and riches. Financed
by wealthy monarchs and all in the name of commerce. At that point no one would
have been able to predict a modern insurance industry, massive container ships
connecting the planet or cruise ships with 3000 people on board fuelling a
massive global tourism industry. So it’s a good
reminder to always be open to the possibilities of what can be!
FROM BB:
Prof,
as always, pure gold. It’s Christmas morning every time I get this email. One
thing I’m ever so bummed you didn’t comment on: the fucking Skittle game played
on the Blue Origin flight. Nothing against Skittles, a fine candy indeed, but
what a perfect demonstration of how utterly useless these flights really are.
Finally, to your astute point, WHEN (not if) something goes wrong, these
useless flights are going to add more space junk, a real problem with grave
consequences. Sure, the orbit is so low, all bits will likely re-enter and
sizzle away. But is that what our environment really needs right now? Anyway,
less cock rockets and more actual exploration please! Thanks for being you
Scott. CHEERS!
FROM CHAS:
Would
you use the same logic if this were people you follow/like/admire/voted for
making similar ‘useless’ trip in their private jets, spewing pollution into the
upper atmosphere?
FROM FO:
You’ve
crawled so far up the billionaire’s arsehole that it’s surprising you haven’t
suffocated. Quit being such a twat, “Chas”
FROM L:
You
just compared the ‘billionaire’ driven space race, and its achievements, to the
‘government’ driven space race and its achievements, and concluded that the
government version is better, by far, by every measure: Private astronauts =
lame, while government astronauts = “the best of us” …and the government did it
with taxes, while private still makes us all pay for it, but the decisions are
made by unelected CEO’s,… Most damning of all, in your
telling of it: The government achieved real, historic milestones, that produced
valuable “public spillover” technology benefits, while private space efforts
produce non-events for narcissistic rich people, that produce little public
benefit….
In
order to fully grasp the total absurdity of this post, I ask all readers of
this comment on it to compare what SpaceX alone has achieved in space in the
last decade, and the amount of money SpaceX spent to achieve it, and the
resulting technology that is in use right now as a result….and compare that to
what NASA achieved in the same decade…and what NASA paid to achieve it…and what
we all have to show for NASA’s efforts…If you want a shortcut, Google “NASA
SLS, Space Launch System delays and cost overruns…”
As
a matter of degrees, the difference is as massive as you say it is, but you
have the players backwards: NASA has spent trillions of taxpayer money to get 3
feet above Everest basecamp, while SpacX spent 1% of
that amount, to go to the top of Everest, then back to the bottom…AND THEN
REPEATED THAT FEAT 250 TIMES OVER, all while the NASA team waited at basecamp
for Boeing to send replacement laces that actually fit the holes in the boots
they were given for the trek…
FROM RA:
The
criticism is of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. He clearly says space hauling (putting payloads
into orbit) is quite valuable and makes sense. Which is what SpaceX does.
I
will also point out that SpaceX’s achievements, which are quite real and
impressive, happened by building on what NASA already figured out over the
decades starting from scratch and without the benefit of all the powerful
computers and material science we have today. So of course
it cost them more to do. It’s easier to open the jar when it’s already been loosened
up and you have a bigger wrench.
FROM E:
Scott
Kelly’s recent year in space advances us towards real space travel including
how to survive the time it would take to travel to, or survive on, a planet
like Mars. The ISS serves a function for multiple countries working together
towards sustainable space exploration. It’s highly
unlikely most uber-wealthy will take part in this as they run to a spa if
stressed here on earth and the real, lasting effects of time in space are more
significant than their perceived stressor on earth. Yes, we all keep hearing
the “yeah, but” criticism of anyone who dares to question these billionaires;
yet that is the point.
FROM CW:
Question
I raise is about the number of space vehicles ie
satellites or other in space. If we are heading toward 50,000, shouldn’t that
have some commentary on the wholly negative impact to space not to mention back
here on earth when they leave orbit and drop on our cities? I mean haven’t we
done enough with the global warming to earth much less what we’re going to see
with the galaxy around us? Will too much space junk finally bring
the space aliens to come for a visit? What does better Internet get us then?
FROM R:
The
point of the article is that we shouldn’t be celebrating and making a huge news
event over a billionaire splurging.
I
too came for the “egonaut” coinage. Scott, did you
invent that one? When tweeting I’d like to credit you but not if you don’t feel
it’s yours to take the bows for creating.
FROM WS:
Great Column and on point. Space
Tourism is nothing more than a billionaires ego trip.
Your spot on calling Bezos rocket a Cocket (reminds me of an Austin Powers Scene) you’re right,
the economy is being increasingly captured by an increasingly small number of
people and it’s scary. Human Endeavour enriches the world and many inventors
never got rich from their inventions but that was never their intention. The
intention was to leave a positive lasting legacy. It’s hard to see what legacy
(if any) that commercial space tourism leaves to the world, other than ego and
bragging rights. Instead of spending billionaires on a folly jolly to space he
should be paying his employees who helped pay for this, much better. The
American style of capitalism is corrosive to social cohesion and eventually to
democracy. When on the richest country on the planet families need food stamps
to survive, they aren’t the least bit interested is a bald egomaniac goes to
space. They care about survival. And the system is broken. Let’s hope it can be
repaired before it’s too late.
FROM T:
Are we surprised by the breathless
media coverage of these ego trips? When a huge chunk of the country can’t be
convinced of the merits of getting vaccinated, it’s no surprise that personal
aggrandizement supersedes genuine human progress.
ATTACHMENTS TWO (A and B) – From the New York Times
ATTACHMENT TWO (A) – From the New York Times (2015)
INSIDE AMAZON – WRESTLING BIG IDEAS IN A
BRUISINGWORKPLACE
SEATTLE — On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an
orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular
way of working.
They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learned at previous
jobs, one employee recalled. When they “hit the wall” from the unrelenting
pace, there is only one solution: “Climb the wall,” others reported. To be the
best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by the leadership principles, 14 rules inscribed on handy
laminated cards. When quizzed days later, those with perfect scores earn a
virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the company’s proud phrase for
overturning workplace conventions.
At Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one
another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight,
followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to
standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.” The internal phone
directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s
bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool
offers sample texts, including this: “I felt concerned about his inflexibility
and openly complaining about minor tasks.”)
Many of the newcomers filing in on Mondays may not be there
in a few years. The company’s winners dream up innovations that they roll out
to a quarter-billion customers and accrue small fortunes in soaring stock.
Losers leave or are fired in annual cullings of the
staff — “purposeful Darwinism,” one former Amazon human resources director
said. Some workers who suffered from cancer, miscarriages and other personal
crises said they had been evaluated unfairly or edged out rather than given
time to recover.
(Read the remainder of the article here.)
ATTACHMENT TWO (B) – THE FEDERAL AVIATION
ADMINISTRATION MAY DISAGREE. OR IT MAY NOT EVEN MATTER.
By Kenneth
Chang July 26,
2021
The honorary
awardees would not have to meet all of the usual requirements.
In the end,
it may not matter what the government thinks.
NASA
has given pins to its astronauts since
the earliest days of the space program.
He presented one of the suborbital pins to Beth Moses of Virgin Galactic
after her first flight.
(Read the remainder of the article here.)
Published fri, jul 30 20211:16 pm by Michael
Sheetz
The
complaints were filed by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Leidos’ subsidiary Dynetics.
July
20, 2021, 5:38 AM EDT / Updated July 20, 2021, 9:42 AM EDT By Talia
Lavin, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
AND
BILLIONAIRE 'SPACE RACE' RENEWS
1960S DEBATE OVER SPENDING INEQUALITY AND SPACE TRAVEL
JULY
19, 202105:26
The results of those federal investments aren’t for the good
of all mankind — they’re for the good of a select group of men. Bezos, who
plans to jet to the edge of space on Tuesday, even invited an as-yet-unidentified multimillionaire to
buy his way aboard. Said multimillionaire is unable to even take the $28
million seat because of a scheduling issue (perhaps he had some gold-flecked
caviar to eat off the palm of a stately courtesan); a Dutch teenager will take his place instead.
Meanwhile, Branson, the blond-goateed proprietor of Virgin Galactic,
flew to just below the Kármán line, the outer boundary of earth’s atmosphere,
last week; future flights will
cost ticket-holders a quarter-million dollars. And while he won’t be launched
into the sky himself, let’s not leave out the odious Musk, whose signature
combination of braggadocio and searingly obnoxious
fanbase makes the SpaceX-founder perhaps the most unlikable of any of these
would-be emperors of the cosmos.
There may be those who thrill at the spectacle, but the
whole ordeal is too apt a metaphor for the slow and then dizzyingly fast
collapse of America.
In this billionaire battle, there is no pretense at a sense
of collective pride or communal achievement. Even the drumbeat of nationalism
would be better than this obscene egotism, whose fumes are more putrid than
rocket-jet emissions. It feels like a parody of hubris, and a colossal celebration
of the social failure to moderate preposterous accumulations of wealth.
There may be those who thrill at the spectacle,
but the whole ordeal is too apt a metaphor for the slow and then dizzyingly
fast collapse of America. What once was a public effort turned into a private
playground for the ultra-wealthy, the commons hollowed out and impoverished to
make room for immense consolidated wealth. While the rich sail to the stars the
rest of us are left to toil in gravity’s bounds, never to attain the exalted
heights, or elevated strata, that the titans of greed have claimed for
themselves.
These men — all men, all white, all rich beyond imagining,
hoarding wealth beyond the coffers of most global governments — are bored of
their multiple homes and enormous staffs and entourages and yes-men and
diminishing corporate responsibilities. They look to the black deeps of space
to fuel their sense of conquest, correctly assuming that all earthly authority
is too cowed to challenge them, that they will never have to share the treasure
troves they have acquired and sit on in dragonish greed. But even the sucking
emptiness of space cannot match their vacuity; stars shine with inner fire, not
glitz dearly bought and easily discarded.
Looking at Bezos’ pending launch into space, I cannot help
but think of the fact that the behemoth company he founded is infamous
for forcing their warehouse workers to urinate in bottles. (At least astronauts have the
advantage of an elaborate hose-and-funnel system — and more importantly, it’s part of a path they have
chosen, not an exercise in dehumanization.) In space, at least, unlike in the
United States, there’s no real estate crunch — there is quite literally all the
room in the world, for the most colossal of palaces.
If the billionaires really wish to outdo each other, let
them build floating space palaces of increasingly comical size; rest in
weightless ease on their golden artificial planets; and leave the rest of us in
peace, never to return.
ATTACHMENT FIVE – from Info
Wars
Bezos Flies Into Space on a
Giant Dildo
by Kit Daniels, July 20th 2021, 8:56 am
Jeff
Bezos launched into space from West Texas on a rocket that looks like a giant
dildo.
The
Amazon mogul was joined by three others who boarded the New Shepard spacecraft
for a 11-minute flight that took the crew 62 miles up to the edge of space
above the Guadalupe Mountains.
“The
craft’s reusable rocket also made a safe landing,” RT reported. “After propelling the capsule towards space, it used
brakes, fins, and a last-minute booster to touch down on solid ground.”
The
Internet was quick to point out that the rocket is shaped like a dildo.