By Louis Le Marquand for The Liberty Block
Many media outlets on both the Left and Right have been scorning the fact that Jeff Bezos’s net worth has increased so rapidly during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Don’t be one of them.
Don’t be one of those economically ignorant, envious guilt-peddlers, who has nothing but contempt for the industrious geniuses on which many of our jobs, wealth and prosperity depend; the men and women – who although constrained by unprecedented working conditions – continue to produce the values we need to get through the lockdown and life in a tolerable manner.
These media outlets are acting as though Jeff Bezos fired all of his employees, hacked into their bank accounts, and then transferred all of their money into his. They’re acting as though the world of economics today is a zero-sum game, i.e.; for Bezos to get richer, his employees and/or the rest of society must somehow become poorer. This is beyond idiotic.
Unlike the government, Jeff Bezos does not have the legal right to take your wealth from you. In order for him to get richer, he must first produce a good or service that people are willing to purchase – to trade their money for.
A billionaire who makes his money in the market is only able to make his wealth by producing something of high value; for an affordable price; which tens of millions of people want in high demand.
These goods and services would not exist without him, without his creative genius and visionary leadership.
Whilst money may have transferred out of your bank account and into his
once you have purchased something from Amazon, could you honestly say
to yourself that overall you got “poorer” as a result? No. Yes, in monetary
terms, your wealth declined, but now you have the good that you purchased
– the item which you valued more than the money you paid for it. You have
been enriched because of the trade. If you thought that the exchange would
not enrich your life, you would not have made the trade. We may make
mistakes from time to time, but our intentions when trading is to profit, in
some respect. That is the beauty of consensual trade, which is the only form
of exchange accepted in a free market.
Jeff Bezos is not a thief, he’s a producer of high value products which many of us desire, and which we are willing to trade our money for because we believe that our lives will be improved in some way from the trade. This is the win-win nature of capitalism. All parties involved in the exchange benefit.
Jeff Bezos does not throw buckets of $100 bills up and down in a hotel
room like someone who just got away with a bank heist, he’s busy creating new ways to improve his service; ways to make it more efficient and more
cost-effective. He invests his return into new ventures – which will potentially be profitable and consequently produce many more new jobs, as
well as many more goods and services that may potentially improve our
lives. This is known by the socialist-Left but evaded or obfuscated.
For a company like Amazon, which continuously invests in its business by building new facilities and buying equipment, the new, super-charged accelerated depreciation deductions come in handy. According to Amazon’s own SEC filings, such expenses likely fall within the $419 million in income tax credits that the company disclosed for the 2018 fiscal year, which it says it is “utiliz[ing] to reduce our U.S. taxable income” and which allows the “full expensing of qualified property, primarily equipment, through 2022.” – Fortune.com
To label Jeff Bezos a “thief”, or a “greedy capitalist”, or a “money-obsessed
materialist” is heretical in my view. It’s an unbelievable act of injustice and
irrationality on the part of his accusers. Bezos is driven by the pursuit of
rational goals for himself and his business – the consequences of achieving
them is (psychologically) pride and self-esteem, and (materially) money.
Money made by voluntary exchange for mutual benefit.
There should be statues of this man around the world for achieving what
he’s has. He deserves your admiration, respect, but most of all, your
unreserved gratitude. If you’ve ever enjoyed any good from Amazon – or for
that matter – from any of the companies that exist as a result of the wealth
Amazon has created you should thank Jeff Bezos!