Jeff Bezos pissed everyone off..

This is this interview so far has gotten a lot of people riled up. It's gotten a lot of people mad. We are here with Jeff [music] Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, also of course founder of Amazon. It is great to see you. This is remarkable by the way, just the scale of it. We've been talking about it all morning, but of all the people that we could talk to about everything that's going on in the country right now in the economy, AI, jobs, space, we want to talk to you. And there is so much to talk about, but we're going to touch on that, policy, politics, and so much more. But one of the topics that I thought we should talk about and maybe even start with Yeah. is these days it feels almost impossible to pick up a newspaper without reading a headline about wealth in America. Uh about Oh. Mhm. The billionaire class. wealth and equality and policy and and everything else. And it's taken a a uniquely critical turn, I think. And I'm so curious before By the way, you have to understand the multiple levels of power moves that Jeff is exercising on this guy, okay? Number one We've been getting to everything else. Like number one, obviously he's totally mogging him by like wearing this like really tight shirt. And like he's obviously, in my opinion, on on TRT. Like I mean this dude's huge for his age. And on top of that, he wanted to do the interview. Like you think they don't have an office in this building? Of course they have an office in the building. But he wanted to do the interview on the warehouse floor. And that's so he could look like, you know, he's down there in the middle of it and, you know, he could put that, you know, have that image come out there and everybody sees it on that, right? He is, he claimed it. Yeah, it's obvious. And so not only is he mogging him that way, but on top of that, he's not shutting down any of the loud stuff in the background. So basically, now this guy has to talk over Jeff Bezos who engineered this situation in order to make it the loudest and most annoying to do so he can look like he's down there on the ground floor with all the other engineers. He's rocket mogging him. He is. Like I just want y'all to understand like, you know, people might not really put those things together. But that's exactly what's happening. What you think about that right now? Well, well, first of all, I'm glad you're asking the question. I think it's a really important The wealth inequality. Uh and I think it's an important one to discuss cuz I see the same thing you do. You know, you see it in a bunch of headlines. You see it in a bunch of places. And I have been thinking I have been thinking about like what is What is driving this? Cuz it does seem different from 10 years ago and uh and and It's cuz people ain't got no money. That's the problem. It's like y'all have too much of the money and we don't have enough for the money. And And by we, I mean I I have enough money, but like I mean really I still like I'm I'm I'm still trans broke, okay? Like I have a lot of money, but I still buy like a $1 soda, right? That's it. So I'm I'm still like I don't feel like I'm rich, okay? I don't. I think I think what's going on is that it's kind of a tale of two com- like a crackhead. So you have a bunch of people in this country who are doing really well. But you also have a bunch of people in this country who are struggling. Smart guy. struggling to pay rent, groceries. And so uh what's you know, what's happening here is uh politicians are using the kind of age-old techniques. So there's this tale of two economies and they're using this age-old technique of, you know, picking a villain and pointing fingers at the I mean, but bro, like I mean, 300 billion dollars, I mean, that's that's a lot, man. You got to admit, like, that's a lot of money. I mean, come on, dude. Come on. Come [laughter] on, man. Like, really? Like But, the problem is that doesn't solve anything. It's in shares, I know. like, if you want to help the the group of people who are struggling, you have to figure out real root causes and solutions, and that takes skill. You know, it's like the way we If we have a problem at Amazon, you know, the way we would fix it is we would go in and we do the five whys, and we try to get to a root cause, we try to find a root fix, and then when we fix it at the root, you're fixing it forever. That's the real solution. I think he's right, though. But, I think that one of those whys is that people that have enormous amounts of wealth aren't chipping in as much as I think they should. Like, I I I I'm not really advocating for anything crazy, but I think like an extra, I don't know, like, two or three percent, if you're making over, like, I don't know, five or 10 million dollars like a year, like, I think that's fair. Like, I'm not asking for, like, half. Like, just a couple extra percent, man. Like, really? Still won't fix it? I mean, come on. And what we don't do because it doesn't work is just point fingers and blame people. It might feel good for 10 seconds, but doesn't accomplish anything. And so, what could you really do? So, like, I you know, I started was going to ask. Do you Do you have Do you have a plan? But, I I do have to say, though, and I I hate to say this, but if I had to choose between a side of the guy that's building rocket ships and a bunch of sweaty, um, you know, Shakespeare English majors, I am going to choose Baldi. I'm going to choose Baldi every single time. I'd rather be on his side than the crusty, uh, than the the Krusty Krabs, you know? But I I think that there's a middle ground here. I do. I think there's a middle ground. Some ideas, I have some places to start. So, you know, if Yeah, I I, you know, I started thinking about this and doing some research. Yeah. A nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year Yeah. pays 12 more than $12,000 a year in taxes. Yeah. really make sense? Some people talk about, you know, making the tax system more progressive. How about we start by having the nurse in Queens not pay taxes? This I mean, he's totally right. I mean, like and and and this is the same thing. 12K is nothing. 12K out of 75K is a lot. And also, if it's nothing, then why not just let her not pay it? No, he's totally right about this. Like in my opinion, I think that you shouldn't have to pay any Like this is this is my my opinion. Uh, I think that you shouldn't have to If you make under like 50 grand, and 75 grand is like under 50 grand in like New York, right? Obviously. Um, but like if you make under that amount, you shouldn't be paying any [ __ ] taxes. Like you're you're making like basically poverty wages. Should be zero. Yeah. No income tax. Yeah, exactly. Why is somebody at all? Why is some Why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in That's $1,000 a month that could help with rent or groceries or anything. Exactly. I mean, $1,000 a month is insane. That's a huge amount of money. And so, and and by the way, do you know what that all adds up to? The the bottom half of income earners in this country pay only 3% of the taxes. I really think Baldi's cooking. I actually do. I think he's totally right. Yeah, I mean, he's right about this. It's only 3%. We can find 3%. So, we don't have It's It's It's a small amount of money for the government. You know, that and really it's and the more I thought about it, to me it's kind of absurd that we're doing this. You know, we shouldn't be asking this nurse in Queens to send money to Washington. They should be sending her an apology. They should be sending her They should be sending her money, honestly. Like, if you're working in an in in a necessary role like that, like, they need to be sending you money. Okay, but then on the other end, the question is should you be paying higher taxes to pay for the 3% component part of this that you think is going to need need to be paid for, if not more than that, given the debts we have. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. It's certainly a perfectly valid policy debate to say, "Do we want an even more progressive tax system?" So, you know, I mean, dude, like, two or three You You can't You're telling me you can't pay 2% more? Really? Really, you can't You can't do two Come on, man. But the kind of the line that gets quoted all the time is, you know, the wealthy should pay their fair share. And we can argue about what the fair share is. That's a policy debate. That's okay. But the vilification is the thing that's just a distraction. And and and by the way, if you really are being honest about it, we don't have a revenue problem in this country. We already have the most progressive tax system in the world. The top 1% of taxpayers pay 40% of all the tax revenue. The bottom half pay only 3%. We have already and and I think it should be zero. I don't think This is dude, this is 100% a $300 billion slight of hand. We have the most progressive tax system because our tax system isn't progressive and because of that there's such a massive wealth disparity. We still have rich people paying more money. Like that is just that is so That's why he's him. That's why he's him. That's crazy. It should be 3%. I think it should be zero. So we'd be making more I I I know, but what he's doing is that he's reframing he's reframing terminology and vocabulary in a way that it's not intended to mean, but it means that in a basic English definition. Which is I think very clever. Just keep glazing this piece of [ __ ] I mean, the thing is that whenever I cut a roach in half and I see the roach that's still crawling up the wall with half his body gone, you have to admire the will to survive. You do. You have to admire that. You think to yourself, god damn. He's really bro, like he's not going to let this hold him down. You know, like that's it. more progressive that way. We actually have a spending problem. And it and that's a skills issue. I mean, let me give you an example. Did he really call the government spending a skill issue? zero. So we'd be making more progressive that way. We actually have a spending problem. And it And that's a skills issue. I mean, let me give you an example. The New York City school He's not wrong. I mean, he's not. system. Right. They spend $44,000 per student. 44,000. That's 30% more per student than other big cities like Chicago, LA, and Boston. And it's three times more than Miami and Houston. So, they spend Okay, Houston I can understand cuz I know people from Houston, they're stupid. But like Miami, I feel like Miami's not that bad of a place. By the way, New York City doesn't get better after the I don't know. But so, what this Listen, let me let me just say if if if we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, You'd be out of business. packages would take 6 weeks to arrive. That's it. to charge you a $100 delivery fee. And then when the package did finally arrive, it'd have the wrong item in it anyway. Right. We can't That's a skills That reminds me, bro, like I went to Popeyes last night and they gave me rice instead of mashed potatoes. I'm probably going to be mad about that for like a week. issue, Andrew. It's It's not about [laughter] It's just It's a He said it again. minute anyway. We can't That's a skills issue, Andrew. It's It's not about It's just competence. Dude, he he must [music] know what he's saying, right? He must know that he's calling it a skill issue. It's like a video game thing. Like you you have to know this, right? Uh yeah, okay, there it is. It's a skills issue. I guess so. So, um yeah, I I don't know what to say. This is masterclass. This guy, honestly, what a great interview. What an insanely good interview from the fact And the thing is that everything that he said is basically accurate. Like that's the the thing is that a lot of written cuz I mean obviously this is a six-minute interview. Like this dude was totally prepared for this. I'm impressed. I am. This is good. And you mean monologue? Yeah, it was. People are mad about this? What are they saying? And [music] so let me see if I can find it. Bottom half should pay zero federal income tax. I mean that's obviously true. Let me see if I could find some more molders about this. Paid 500 million for a super yacht. That alone would cover $180 in classroom supplies every public school teacher in the US. $180. See, Melanie is the like Okay, so there's $44,000. And you want to make you want to take away Jeff's yacht for what? For for like three It's nothing. It's like It's not even 1%. It's nothing at all. And so maybe you're wasting money. And he is right that the main problem is the government waste And I don't know about you guys. Like I pay my tax rate like I'm self-employed and I also make a lot of money. So my tax rate is between I'd say 33 and 45%. Like somewhere around there. I would feel a lot better being closer to that 45% because I have to pay extra for social security by the way, obviously, right? Cuz like if you're self-employed you have to pay the additional 7.5%. It's a whole thing. But like anyway, I I I tell an accountant to do all that. Mine's 38 35. It's a lot, bro. It is. But I would feel a lot better paying my taxes if I knew that my money wasn't going to Israel. If I knew that my money wasn't going to trans Sesame Street plays. If I fraud. If I knew that my money wasn't going to Somalian scamming daycares. If I knew that my money wasn't going to illegal aliens, if I knew that my money like so this is going to sound like really this is going to sound silly, okay? It's going to sound a little bit silly. [snorts] it was interesting. So I I I recently had dental work done, right? And you guys notice I've been smiling a little bit more. I've got dental surgery that I've got planned. I've got a consultation for it next week. And so you know, anyway that that's something that's ongoing in the background, right? But anyway, in the process of that I had to pay a good amount of money to have this dental work done, right? And so in the process of having the dental work done, I went over there and I saw that they had an old sign. After I had the dental work done and it cost me a lot of money, I came back a week later and I drove by the same building and they had a new sign. And I was thinking to myself, I did that. I did that. How about that? And like the thing is that like I feel like if you walked around and you saw that you know, the world was becoming a better place and things you know, your the roads are being paved again and you know, the streetlights are you know, like working and there's no problems. There's no you know, sidewalks that are [ __ ] up. I think that a lot of us would probably feel better about having our money go to taxes. I That's how I feel. That's how I'd feel. It is. And so you mean prosperity? Yeah, exactly. Stimulate them. Yes, definitely. Does Nestl see it as a goldmine? I hope so. I see them as a goldmine. It's going to make my like the thing is that I have no problem from people benefiting from me. In fact, I want them to. I just want to benefit from them too. Like that's I understand that people want to distill this down into like some kind of a weird thing. No, that's the way it works. Like I give you money, you give me the thing. You give me money, I give you the thing. That's the way the world works. So, you see Marco Rubio's new speech about Cuba? I did. I watched it just a little bit ago. And uh mutually beneficial. So, uh yeah, anyway, how much did money donate to classrooms do we know? Well, I have no idea. Paid for And also 500 million, that's it for a super yacht? I feel like it'd be worth more than that. Uh billionaire says the bottom half of US workers And And by the way, I do think that we have to give some credit to the socialist, to the communist. We do. And I hate to say this because they're so annoying. But I think that their rhetoric and their language has put pressures on guys like Jeff to use this language and to talk about this and to normalize things like this that will, I think, be better for most people. I do. I think that it it it you know, it's kind of like you know, it's like whenever you ask to like buy a used car and like you say, well, I'm I'm going to pay $100 for it and they're like, okay, no, you have to pay like a little bit more, right? But it's like a anchoring of the price. W Luigi? I don't think Luigi is really an example of this. I think Luigi was kind of just like a an outlet. I think there's just like there's more of a social opinion of this in general, right? And so it it's it it it's respectable and I I think it's good that they've contributed to that. Now, they're annoying and obnoxious and I hate to give them any credit because I feel like I've been saying the same thing without being as annoying as they are. But at the same time, uh you know, I'm just glad that it's being said. That's really it. [ __ ] Luigi. Yeah, [ __ ] Luigi. You see Bill Burr's comments on this on the Luigi stuff? Yeah, I thought like anytime that a celebrity is gassing up a mass murderer, I think it that they kills people for like a social reason, I just think that they should remember Charles Manson. You know, like remember what happened last time somebody wanted to do that for celebrities and people that were in positions that they thought they shouldn't be in. Uh it's it's very odd to see people do that. Chickens for KFC? What can I say? And anyway, let me scroll back down. And uh, Jeff Bezos on philanthropy versus business. If I do my job right Right. the value to society and civil civilization from my for-profit companies will be much, much larger Right. than the than the good that I do with my charitable giving. And I think this is an important point to make because peop- people forget He's just making an argument of the metaphor of, you know, give a man a fish, you feed a man for a day, teach a man to fish, you'll feed him for life. This is just This is an extrapolation of that ideology. They sometimes don't see that when, you know, when you create something like Amazon and you're saying, "I get letters from new mothers all the time that say like I have no idea what I would be doing right now if I didn't have Amazon. Thank you." Or what we did in the pandemic when people could really see what an essential service we provided to them. He's right. Like whenever my girlfriend and my mom were both living in the house, my house was an Amazon warehouse. I would wake up every morning to start my stream and I couldn't even walk out the door because they would have ordered so many packages. There I'm not even kidding. Like there was an average of like six packages a day arriving at my house. And so, you know, this is uh, we Amazon creates tremendous value. And by the way, all companies are creating value of some kind. It's If I do my job right I mean, he's right. Yeah, he is. Can I DM Jeff Bezos? It doesn't let me. Oh, man. Cuz is he on Twitter a lot? I wonder I mean, he is to talk about the the Jets and [ __ ] Tweet at him? Yeah, maybe I should see if he come on the stream. Tag him dog. He's your boss technically. Yeah, apparently. And I see Kingdom Come we're going to talk about the Lord of the Rings RPG. I already know about it. I heard about it. It's being made by Warhorse Studios. Those are the guys that make Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. We are looking at a very very good situation. We're going to talk about that later on. But I'm not ready for that right now. And so ask for a raise. Yeah, exactly, right? And so yes, exactly. It's big pug, big pug, huge pug. And [snorts] so I'm excited it's going to be gay? No. And yeah, that'd be interesting stream, I know. I mean like I I don't I don't I don't know where he's at or anything. And the important part is zeroing out taxes in the bottom half. So he even clarified it. Best way to put money in someone's pocket is to not take it out in the first place. Bottom half is only 3% of tax revenue, but it's very meaningful to that person. Zero it out. He's completely right. Why are people mad about this? This has 600 replies. Wow, Bernie Sanders approves of such measures. Is that Bernie Sanders? Oh god, communist agent. Is that right? Billionaires patronizing us about the tax code they wrote. Shut up, Jeff. You're up. Oh, they want to Oh, oh right, the guillotine. Oh good. Who is this guy? Rathbone, a musician. A musician. Okay, [snorts] right. Okay. That that's a classic, I know. A musician and a teacher. It's always good to see teachers, the ones that are educating our youth that are advocating for literally just killing people that they don't like. Always reassuring. And uh yeah, now I'll be here at the bottom half by making their their tax bill zero right before they lose their jobs to robots. That's that's a good one. And uh no, Jeff, we're all in this together. Everyone should pay for infrastructure nobody uses. Zero taxes in bottom 50% sounds nice from the guy whose company treats its lowest paid employees like disposable income. Dude, this is like game is game. Uh do you really Is this broke [ __ ] really putting his [ __ ] Bitcoin address on Oh my god. Dude, this broke [ __ ] has his Bitcoin address on his It's not even on his description or his bio. It's on his name. Oh my god. I think so. Yes, it's crazy. And uh let's check. Well, I don't know about that. I don't I have no idea. No more wasteful spending in government. Where were the doge cuts that were promised that were coming? I know. Well, they got rid of the doge cuts. They did. They got to bring those guys back. I I I think that's what they should do. So, let me go and look at the rest of these here. How much taxes did you pay on your boat? Trump has you right where he wants you. What does this have to do with Donald Trump? Like, I feel like this is a lot bigger than that. And so, let me scroll back down and I'm going to look at a few more of these. And uh are there any more of these here? Oh oh, what's this? Is this But just one. He was not the president yet. And I'd asked you what you thought of him at the time. And you said that you thought that he had mellowed. Mhm. That he was calmer. Yeah. This is Trump. now about Trump. Yeah. I still think that Two two years later, Yeah. we've had lots of Uh wars and tariffs and all sorts of things that have happened since then. What do you think? I think he has I mean I'm comparing him to his first term. Yeah. And I think he is a a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term. And you know, so he's again, I've I've worked with all the presidents. I will work with all the presidents. You know, That's what you do. That's your job. going forward if they'll have me. But, it's we we need our business leaders to provide input into the the administration, regardless of who the president is. I want to put I'm not on the side You know what? This is I'm on the I mean, he's right. The thing is that everybody is mad at him because he's rich and bald, but he's right. Like I'm sorry, guys, but like it's I I think it I think he's making some good points. Let me see if there's any more of these. And he's completely right. Yeah, he is. And oh, Ma'am Donnie. Oh, oh, what is this? Can I find this? I don't know if there's the Where is it here? The nurse in Queens. I don't know if there's any more of this that I can find it. But, oh, this is Oh, here's the Ma'am Donnie thing. Ken Griffin isn't a villain. He hasn't hurt anybody. He's not hurting New York. In fact, quite the opposite. And so, it that piece of it isn't isn't [ __ ] is Ken Griffin? The Citadel? Oh, he's an investment guy? Oh, yeah. Of course, people hate him. He's got 50 bill He's got 50 billion. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of fun No, it's not. That's not No, people are thinking Family Guy. This is money guy. Right. And there was no reason to do that. A pied-a-terre tax is a you know, uh There's a very Taxes on out-of-towners are very popular taxes. That's why there are hotel taxes. And you know, hotels always have very high tax rates because why not tax the tourists? [ __ ] them. And there are limits. If you raise the hotel taxes too much, tourists stop coming. Right. Right? So you have to be judicious. But I think that the pied-a-terre tax is a fine thing for New York to do. And you know, they have to figure out how But it's it's a policy debate. Policy debates don't have to be finger pointing. This guy makes a lot more sense than I thought he would. He does. Like I I really have to say like he's right. Yeah. I mean I I think what's going on is that it's a tale of two economies. So you have a bunch of people in this country who are doing really well. this part. I just wanted to see if there were any more any more examples of this. You know, he said he he even say the Australian the Austrian painter did good and mature job if he came back. He always says things that are right to say at the moment for the money. Okay, well, I mean, shouldn't you like Okay, so so you're saying that he's saying this to be opportunistic. Okay, that's good. But I'm glad that he's choosing the correct opportunities. Like I I I understand what you're saying and I think that what you're saying makes sense. Like you're probably right. But at the same time I think that you do have more. Is he trying to set up for a political run? I have no idea. I'm not saying that in a judgmental way or anything. No, I I I get I get it. So yeah, of course he started a bookstore and he made Amazon Amazon. Yeah, I think he knows what the hell he's doing, right? And I obviously does. So you got to be smart to make that much money off of people. Yeah, I mean, like a lot of these guys that run these companies aren't morons, right? They're not. And I wish he cared more about Twitch.