It seems like a simple formula. Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, has a net worth of $165.6 billion. According to a 2008 estimate by Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, it would cost $30 billion a year to end world hunger. Therefore, Jeff Bezos could end world hunger for a year and still be the richest person in the world. In fact, given that cost would probably go down over time, Bezos could probably end world hunger for the foreseeable future and still be a billionaire.
That’s the premise behind the new Twitter account with the display name, “Has Jeff Bezos Decided To End World Hunger?“
The account @HasBezosDecided has only been active since July 21 but has already gained over 25,000 followers. It features a lot of memes about Bezos choosing not to end world hunger.
https://twitter.com/HasBezosDecided/status/1154392076064317440
https://twitter.com/HasBezosDecided/status/1152958435073372161
https://twitter.com/HasBezosDecided/status/1154552927454973952
But there’s a fair amount of economic theory as well. The current pinned tweet is a thread containing a simple explanation of the well known “profit is theft” concept.
https://twitter.com/HasBezosDecided/status/1155636395236634624
Obviously, the account has inspired a lot of debate.
https://twitter.com/eyeeatbooks/status/1155826890394996739
https://twitter.com/HasBezosDecided/status/1155862065040543744
His incentive would be 3,000,000 more people to sign up for prime..
— whos your chaddy (@Techinowitz) July 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/HasBezosDecided/status/1155821649314373633
Bezos, like most billionaires, does donate a certain amount of money to charity every year, but even with last year’s $2-billion launch of the “Bezos Day One Fund,” it still makes up a very small percentage of his total fortune. A fortune which, by some reports, is built on the backs of exploited employees.
It’s also important to point out that the $30-billion figure is heavily disputed. The actual cost of solving the global food crisis is incredibly difficult to calculate, but no one doubts that the money, and therefore Bezos, could make a huge difference. The question is, what will he choose to do so?
https://twitter.com/HasBezosDecided/status/1154511187364605952
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