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According to Bezos he funds Blue Origin by selling $1 billion of Amazon stock annually. After his safe return back to Earth Bezos stated, “thank you to every Amazon employee, and every Amazon customer. Because you guys paid for all this.” His statement wasn't received as well as he had anticipated.
According Amazon Bezos has long faced accusations from former employees and watchdogs, that its warehouse workers and other employees are severely underpaid and overworked. The company had also been fighting, however unsuccessfully, against the unionization of the workforce at a warehouse in Alabama earlier this year. With a net worth of roughly $117 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, it's safe to say Bezos and his lineage will not have monetary concerns any time soon. With that in mind many pocket watch the billionaire and his spending and believe his resources could be put to better use like compensating the very people he thanked for his space travel.Former World Vision head Richard Stearns in a series of tweets. “It is estimated that Bezos spent $5.5 billion to achieve his space flight. That same amount of money could have brought clean water to 110 million people who currently have no access. It could also have given a $4000 raise to every one of Amazon’s 1.3mm employees.”
Most of the public's issue with Bezos and his space exploration is with the cost. People took to Twitter to point out that the money used for this space track could have been allocated elsewhere. Check out a few tweets below from Twitter users and their hot takes.
The fact Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos could come together and easily end world hunger but instead decide to waste money on flying to space is absolutely despicable. Money truly is the root of all evil, there are no kind or caring billionaires. pic.twitter.com/RK5wiA0eKS
— My Name Is James (@_JamesGtfo) July 21, 2021
.@JeffBezos speaking truth after successful #BlueOrigin flight:
— Dan Linden (@DanLinden) July 20, 2021
“I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this.” https://t.co/hMS01eRzMs pic.twitter.com/3CueAOX9M8
This is why billionaires should be taxed out of existence. This is just wrong wrong wrong on so many levels. We need to save the planet, solve a global pandemic, inequality & this billionaire exploiter Jeff Bezos can waste billions on ego vanity projects https://t.co/XoFu6uZU3A
— Rory Hearne (@RoryHearne) July 20, 2021
I didn’t realize Jeff Bezos space trip was just going to be a drive-by. He probably didn’t even have enough time to eat freeze dried astronaut ice cream or gold plated dinosaur eggs or whatever billionaires eat. What a waste.
— BRIZ 💀🦥 (@brizmullen) July 20, 2021
Jeff Bezos spent $5.5 billion to go to space. The U.S. population is 327 million. He could have given each American $1 billion and still have money left over. I feel like a $1 billion check would be life-changing for most people. Yet he wasted it to go to space.
— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) July 23, 2021
Under my plan, Jeff Bezos would pay a $5.4 billion #WealthTax of his estimated net worth of $181 billion. He could still pay for his space missions and super-yachts, if that’s where he gets his kicks. But as a nation, we could invest in our people—including universal child care.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 23, 2021
Jeff Bezos started as a small Entrepreneur in a garage. Took risk by quitting his job also risked his parents money in starting Amazon. He has created millions of jobs & business indirectly which all contribute to tax worldwide. Now you want to punish him for all that??
— Ishmael Dube (@IMDube) July 23, 2021
This is why billionaires should be taxed out of existence. This is just wrong wrong wrong on so many levels. We need to save the planet, solve a global pandemic, inequality & this billionaire exploiter Jeff Bezos can waste billions on ego vanity projects https://t.co/XoFu6uZU3A
— Rory Hearne (@RoryHearne) July 20, 2021
Mark Shelhamer, former chief scientist of NASA’s Human Research Program, states in a conversation with Christians Today podcaster Morgan Lee, “You could probably look at the way I spend money, right? This is a dangerous road to go down. I'm not about to cast the first stone in this argument and say the rich people should be spending their money differently. If you knew how I spent some of my discretionary income on my hobbies, I'm not going to call them vices, I'm going to call them hobbies.”
He continues, “But anybody could come in and say, you spent X amount of money on this thing, a concert ticket, or a new piece of electronics, which is in my home workshop. You could have given that to X and used that to buy another meal for the underprivileged or whatever.” He goes on to say no one would know if he’s already given or work over time an “I have discretionary funds to reward myself for that extra work.”
Bezos explained he’s reasoning in placing value in space exploration CNN, He said, "Well, I say they're largely right. We have to do both. You know, we have lots of problems here and now on Earth and we need to work on those, and we always need to look to the future. We've always done that as a species, as a civilization. We have to do both." He said this mission is about "building a road to space for the next generations to do amazing things there, and those amazing things will solve problems here on Earth."
We are interested on your take of Bezos's space exploration. Do you believe his push for space travel is pertinent in the face of looming catastrophic events and circumstances, such as world hunger and environmental crisis, here on earth? Comment down below!
Written by Precious Onukwuli
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