Poor math skills lead to popular social media memes.
“Jeff Bezos could give each American $1 million and still have money left over.”
That’s not merely a minor mathematical error, it’s an astoundingly absurd mistake.
This is a popular social media meme, suggesting few people check the math. Thousands of people are sharing this meme without so much as a pause.
As of May 2021, Jeff Bezos’ wealth was estimated at $131 billion.
$131,000,000,000 divided by 333,000,000 U.S. residents? My quick math arrives at $393.
The federal government has been sending out much larger checks than $393 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the federal government has spent more than $5.1 trillion during the last two years on supporting the economy.
And now, the federal government’s debt stands at $80,900 per U.S. citizen. Military spending is less than the cost of debt servicing as of 2020.
One economist I follow suggested we’d need a 65% tax rate on everyone in the top quintile of earners. That top quintile started at $137,000 in 2018, pre-pandemic.
Yes, if we want more government spending we will need to support higher taxes. However, those taxes would have to be on incomes that aren’t unusual in many of our largest cities.
To really improve the lives of fellow Americans, what Bezos can and should do is push for higher salaries and better benefits at the companies he has led, starting with Amazon. Paying employees well increases loyalty and productivity, so it could benefit Amazon, too.
I don’t want $393 from Bezos or anyone else. Instead, I’d like Bezos to be a better corporate citizen as an entrepreneur.
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