MacKenzie Scott has done it again.
After donating $ 1.7 billion to charities last July – announcing that she no longer uses her ex-husband’s last name, Jeff Bezos – she said she has donated another $ 4.2 billion to 384 organizations in recent years. four months.
While all techies are fighting to colonize space tax codes and California is united by the only thing that really matters to them (defending themselves from antitrust lawmakers), Scott makes them look like stingy, greedy incels without any compassion for those who are in ruins for COVID-19.
“This pandemic has been a devastating ball in the lives of Americans who were already in trouble,” Scott wrote in a mid-December 15 publication. “Economic losses and health outcomes have been worse for both women, people of color, and people living in poverty. Meanwhile, the wealth of billionaires has increased substantially.”
Billionaires who, with the exception of Bill Gates and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, have been relatively mothers in this pandemic. Remember when Elon Musk was introduced loudly to the Thai cave rescue crisis, acting like a real-life Tony Stark? Why so quiet now?
And where is Mark Zuckerberg? He has pointed out political ambitions. Do you know what helps you? Acts of generosity, compassion and humanity.
That said, no one on the planet has benefited more from this pandemic than Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (who not long ago publicly humiliated Scott by maintaining an extramarital affair with his now fiancée). Amazon has been the biggest beneficiary of the COVID-19 crisis so far and will probably be for a while to come, as retail sinks and even older Americans and technology-averse resort to online shopping.
A recent USA Today report ranked Bezos as number 1 among the 30 billionaires who made even more disgusting a virus that has caused 1.65 million lives worldwide. According to a Congressional report, in April 2020, just one month later, there were more unemployed Americans (14.7%) than had ever been recorded.
Despite this, Bezos has remained tremendously calm in the face of the economic devastation that so many Americans have suffered. A survey by The Washington Post (also owned by Bezos) in June reported that he, “the richest man in the world with a fortune of $ 143 billion,” donated only $ 125 million to charity by 2020 .
To be clear, this is only 0.08 percent of his wealth, the equivalent of taking root on the couch to change it.
Bezos, meanwhile, bought David Geffen’s property in Beverly Hills for $ 165 million in February. The previous summer he bought several New York City apartments for $ 80 million, and in April it was reported that he bought another New York apartment for $ 16 million. During this pandemic, Bezos ’wealth increased by $ 13 billion in a single day in July. Amazon shares were trading at $ 1,700 pre-lock. They are now over $ 3,000.
All this while employees of Amazon’s compliance centers were protesting and demanding proper conditions of workplace safety and protection. Some, such as New York protester Christian Smalls, were fired. Amazon executive Tim Bray resigned in May, calling the layoffs “cocky” and writing in a blog post that “remaining Amazon’s vice president would have meant, in fact, signing the actions he despised.” .
As The Guardian pointed out, Bezos is now worth more than Exxon Mobil, McDonald’s or Nike.
Still, his ex-wife, who raised $ 38 billion in the divorce, dwarfs him in charitable donations.
“He is responding urgently at the moment,” Chuck Collins, director of the Charity Reform Initiative at the Institute for Policy Studies, told the New York Times. “Think of all these technological fortunes, they’re the big disruptors, but she’s changing the rules around multimillion-dollar philanthropy by moving fast.”
In his average publication, Scott wrote about the average American who gave what they could, not just financially, but for themselves, to help others who needed it.
“Our hopes are fueled by others,” Scott wrote, encouraging those of us lucky enough to have jobs, homes, and health to give what we can. “The hope you feed with your gift,” he concludes, “is likely to feed yours.”
With his donations, Scott has not just demonstrated his beautiful holiday spirit. She has shown what her multimillionaire Scrooges brothers really are and, most importantly, her ex-husband.