Mackenzie Bezos wants to give charity about 18.5 billion dollars. I am sorry that she is getting a divorce. Divorce is never neat and tidy, and I feel empathy towards her and her husband Jeff. They have had a large financial stake in Amazon, since they were married when the company began. So, under the law of the land, they both receive half of their fortune. She has said to the world that she will give away half of what she will get from the settlement. The Region of Waterloo’s ( this is where I live in Ontario Canada ) yearly budget is 1.8 billion dollars, so maybe her money is not so much. But it is a lot of cash in my world.
Since Ms. Bezos has told us she is going to give so much away, we should help her give to the best charities in the world. I do not believe that Ms. Bezos is a career philanthropist, so she may need my/our/your help. She will probably set up a trust or a foundation to get a good tax receipt, so she can give even more away. The foundation will have so set up rules and guidelines to give to deserving to programs and people. I wonder what guidelines she will have ? What are her morals and ethics ? Is she religious and does she carry strongly held political views ? Will she give it away here in the North America, or will she divvee it up in the whole world ? It is a lot of work to give this much money away. Does she plan to give it away in 2019/2020 or over the course of her life ?
Mennonite Central Committee is celebrating its 100th anniversary, maybe we should ask for an anniversary gift. We are religious, but not really political. We have a good record of doing good things. Or she could give it to the people of Swaziland or eSwatini ( newly named by the King 20218.) ? There are 1.42 million people in this African country , so this would come out to $13,000 or so per person. You do not have to give any to the royal family , and the political, religious and economic elite . They do not need it, so she might be able to give every person $20,000 or so. Done and finished, and Ms. Bezos does not have to worry about that money anymore. And she still has the meagre sum of 18.5 more billion to live on, plus interest. Instead of possibly waiting on studies and development programs, she should just give cash, American dollars. Just giving money has worked in places like Brazil. Let’s just trust the people who will be given the money. In Southern Africa $20,000 can go a long way.
To me, there is something wrong with so much money in one person’s pocket. Sure, they earned it. They have had a successful business, but it comes at the expense of someone.They do not need that much cash, even if they earned it legally and morally. Let the government tax them, so the municipalities around the country could solve some of the social problems that Amazon , Google and Microsoft do not have the skills nor the energy to help solve. And maybe have so much money in so few hands adds to the inequalities of poverty and social dislocation in our world. I am thinking out loud
What would you tell Ms. Bezos to do with her 18.5 billion ? With interest , it is probably closer to 20 billion by today.
Fred Redekop
Ponder Anew 