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posted by Snow on Wednesday January 09 2019, @09:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the prenups-are-very-high-IQ dept.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/jeff-bezos-amazon-ceo-worth-137-billion-to-divorce-wife-of-25-years

"Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie are divorcing after 25 years of marriage, the Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner has announced, potentially leading to the costliest divorce settlement in history with $137 billion at stake."

The richest man in the world, currently worth about $137 billion, according to Bloomberg, made the divorce announcement on Wednesday on his Twitter.

[...]The split could lead [to] the costliest divorce is[sic] history, even if the couple doesn’t divide the money equally. There are no reports indicating the couple has a prenuptial agreement, meaning the wealth accumulated during their marriage would have to be split evenly.

Also covered by CBC, CNN, and CNBC among other news outlets.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday January 10 2019, @04:22AM (8 children)

    by TheGratefulNet (659) on Thursday January 10 2019, @04:22AM (#784467)

    capitalism is broken. it does not work and does not scale except for the tiny few at the top.

    NO single human deserves to earn that much or control that much.

    our system is so thoroughly broken by design ;(

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 10 2019, @01:10PM (6 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 10 2019, @01:10PM (#784481) Journal

    capitalism is broken. it does not work and does not scale except for the tiny few at the top.

    Ok, what's broken about it?

    NO single human deserves to earn that much or control that much.

    Then who does and how do you decide they get to earn or control that much?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 11 2019, @02:17AM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 11 2019, @02:17AM (#784804)

      Then who does... decide...?

      We do. We give them everything they have on a silver platter, for instance when we elect their servants to public office, and work for such meager compensation. We keep the peace through submission. Resistance only means extermination, unless the grunt with his finger on the trigger/button has a conscious.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 11 2019, @04:20AM (4 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 11 2019, @04:20AM (#784885) Journal
        Who is "we"? And why should "we " have a say?
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 11 2019, @07:25AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 11 2019, @07:25AM (#784939)

          Why not?

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 11 2019, @01:05PM (2 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 11 2019, @01:05PM (#785008) Journal
            Because it's not your business? You haven't actually mentioned a potential harm here. Just some vague concerns of "meager compensation" and "resistance only means extermination", etc. None which actually apply to the developed world in the real world.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @12:18AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @12:18AM (#785309)

              Yes, people are too submissive. They need to demand more for their time. We can either organize a strong union, or do it through the vote. We will make it our business whether you like it or not... Or we won't, and will continue to cower before your authority and thank you for the crumbs you leave us, and that you haven't shot us, yet. And it is only public relations that keeps the masters you so faithfully serve from exterminating us. That's a fact jack! 5 or 6 billion would please them... If we ever actually resist, they will do it, without batting an eye.

              None which actually apply to the developed world in the real world.

              You think too highly of yourselves. You are savages! Your evil is deep and dark.

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday January 12 2019, @01:56PM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 12 2019, @01:56PM (#785498) Journal
                Or people are getting what they want. I get people wanting more. That covers most people's desires. Sure, I could do more myself, if I were paid more. But my question here is what are you doing to deserve what you think you deserve? Just because you think you can take more from an employer with some sort of union and such doesn't mean I would agree that you deserve it. And stealing money through the vote I think has already resulted in a lot of blowback including creation of the current system of corruption.

                None which actually apply to the developed world in the real world.

                You think too highly of yourselves. You are savages! Your evil is deep and dark.

                I think there's a hell of a lot of projection here. As I noted earlier, the developed world doesn't fit within your limited view of the world. They fixed the problems of "meager pay" and "resistance only means extermination". I notice a certain class of idiot (I include you, of course) builds up a narrative straw man to attack rather than any real world example, and then engages in a variety of rhetorical nonsense in defense. Who cares about "evil" that supposedly is deep and dark" when it's not? It's just Orwellian doublethink which downplays the societies who have mostly fixed the very problems you claimed to care about.

  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday January 11 2019, @03:09AM

    by Immerman (3985) on Friday January 11 2019, @03:09AM (#784848)

    It think there are some good arguments for capitalism being broken that, but there's also the possibility that it's capitalism *in combination with* other, sometimes unrelated institutions that creates the real problems.

    For example - lets say we left capitalism itself completely alone but eliminated some of the largest problem-amplifiers.

    Corporations - no more limitation of responsibility - the shareholders remain completely liable for the activities of the company (including proportionally serving any prison sentences the corporation is sentenced to). That's huge incentive against racking up corporate debt in excess of assets, or being careless with people's lives. It also eliminates the value of corporate shell games.
    and
    Inheritance - eliminate it (including gifts), or at least *severely* limit it - maybe to something like a total of a few years national median income. Everyone starts life on a roughly equal financial footing, so that actual talent is the defining quality in how wealthy you become. Rich parents can still afford to do better by their kids, but they can't pass on that ever-growing pool of wealth to create dynasties of power.

    I don't think that would be a perfect solution, or realistically achievable, but it's an interesting alternative to consider.

    We've got all these interesting, powerful social technologies and institutions that we've developed and refined over the centuries, that could be put together in so many different ways. We seem to be entering a time of global political flux, opportunities for real change might appear at any moment. It would be good to thinking about how we could realistically improve things, in ways that we could really pull together on