OK, I want to have a conversation with you
today in order to maybe focus some of our
economic critiques right now and make sure
that we're not missing the forest for the
trees, I think is the metaphor that that makes
the most sense.
Now, if you like this type of segment, I would
love to hear from you about it.
If this is not the type of analysis that you
find interesting.
I'm I'm also glad to hear from you.
Here's my thought.
We're increasingly seeing individuals like
Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates maligned not just
as bad people personally, but as emblematic
of the problem as people sometimes like to
say.
The problem with our economy in the United
States, and there is a lot that I can find
to criticize about the way that Jeff Bezos
built Amazon and the way that Bill Gates built
Microsoft.
But I believe that the focus on these types
of tech entrepreneurs is really not the lowest
hanging fruit that we should be focusing on
in order to fix our economy.
So I'll set it up for you.
And then and then we can kind of talk through
it.
Bill Gates created Microsoft.
Jeff Bezos created Amazon.
They've both become obscenely wealthy, personally
wealthier than anybody needs to be.
Their taxes at the individual level are certainly
too low.
They should be paying more in taxes.
They regularly take advantage of a lack of
regulation which has allowed their businesses
to be more profitable.
By the way, as an aside, I mean, Bill Gates
at this point is not even involved with Microsoft.
He's just a philanthropist.
So it's kind of backwards looking in terms
of Gates.
But the analysis is still the same one.
So are there criticisms about Bill Gates and
Jeff Bezos in terms of their businesses?
Of course.
I mean, look at Amazon.
Amazon working conditions aren't good in many
warehouses.
They should be paying employees more.
In many cases, a lot of the products they
sell are manufactured with sweatshop labor
in other countries, et cetera, et cetera.
Bill Gates and Microsoft took huge advantage
of weak antitrust law in the United States
during the 90s.
I believe it was.
You can search YouTube for some of the depositions
to learn more about that.
And there's other criticisms, but compared
to what I believe should be the real targets
in order to strengthen and improve our economy.
Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates really just shouldn't
be the focus.
And they're not the evil doers, so to speak.
Some make them out to be.
Amazon is a huge company that employs a crazy
number of people.
They've created so many jobs.
Should working conditions be improved?
Should some of them be getting paid more?
Are there problems with how Amazon uses uses
third party contractors for deliveries and
uses that to avoid liability?
Of course.
Of course.
I'm right there with you.
But consider that good that Amazon has done
during the pandemic.
People are able to safely get the things that
they need without leaving their houses.
People who live in rural areas and they want
to start a business where in their immediate
area, it's tough to get the products they
need to start that business.
Amazon can ship the stuff to them.
They've allowed countless small businesses
to sell products and be profitable.
Microsoft created Windows, which became arguably
the catalyst for the personal computing revolution
on which can we say millions of tens of millions
of jobs are now based in the information industry.
So if you want to argue that regulation should
be more strict on these companies, that Microsoft
should have been broken up, that Jeff Bezos
doesn't donate enough money to charity or
that he's richer than anyone should ever be.
I'm right there with you, but let me suggest
that the focus maybe should be elsewhere.
Now, first of all, a lot of what people are
criticizing about Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates
is not really about Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
It's about policy.
So focusing on them is actually the wrong
avenue.
While we continue to elect a lot of the same
people, that won't really change anything.
But most importantly, the focus should be
on the elements of our economy that are completely
unproductive and I would argue predatory.
There's criticisms of Microsoft and Amazon,
but they also have done so much good in revolutionizing
the world in positive ways.
Look at the bail industrial complex.
What is that industry achieved that is productive
other than making money off of people in the
criminal justice system?
What is payday lending achieving other than
skimming obscene interest from people who
can't pay their bills?
What about the financial instruments, including
derivatives, derivatives of the Reber derivative
derivatives, derivatives of derivatives, etc.?
Collateralized loan obligations?
None of this stuff really adds to the economy.
The people making money from these tools will
say these are legitimate ways to mitigate
risk for for large corporations, etc.
It's skimming, skimming, skimming so that
a small group of people get rich off of big
corporations and rich.
People hedging some of their risk.
Debt collection agencies.
The entire debt collection industry even looking
at high frequency trading within mutual funds
so that the traders and the fund managers
earn huge commissions while they deliver subpar
returns to customers that are investing their
life savings with them in the financial space.
There are entire categories of products that
are not productive for the economy.
They don't deliver anything that can be used
by people to make a business or to make anybody
healthier.
These are entire swaths of the economy that
just enrich the individuals who come up with
and use these mechanisms to extract money
for themselves.
So to go back to my main point, there is no
question that there are serious criticisms
of our economy which can be seen through the
fact that people like Jeff Bezos and Bill
Gates have achieved such obscene wealth.
And when it comes to antitrust regulation,
tax rate, tax rates, whatever else, that's
a real conversation to have.
And I don't want to be little it.
But Amazon's existence is not where I would
focus.
I would focus on the entire industries that
exist only to leech and skim from hardworking
people for no benefit to the broader economy.
I believe that's what we should be paying
the most attention to and trying to fix.
And I want to hear your thoughts.
