Democratic Massachusetts Senator and 2020 U.S. Presidential election candidate Elizabeth Warren is making some noise on Twitter, and rightly so.
Warren slammed Amazon CEO Jeffrey Bezos for his recent frivolous expenditure--going to space.
Bezos, a man who is rich enough to end world hunger, house the homeless, or stop climate change, chose instead to build a (notably phallic-shaped) rocket and go to space as a flex.
This came after Bezos was engaged in a heated space race with other billionaires such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Warren has since ripped Bezos apart on Twitter for his trip, citing that the average American is drowning in debt and can barely afford to live.
This is because Bezos--on top of literally flying to outer space on a joyride--paid no money in taxes, despite being a billionaire and literally the wealthiest man alive.
Propublica, an independent, investigative journalism news source, has reported that Bezos did not pay a single cent in taxes in 2007, 2011, and 2018, and paid a true tax rate of less than one percent between 2014-2018.
This means that a man who is worth hundreds of billions of dollars paid next to nothing in taxes for almost 15 years, while letting working class Americans pick up the slack.
Added on to allegations of Bezos paying Amazon workers low wages and overworking his employees, Bezos' space flight has seemed like added insult to injury for working class people.
What's more, Bezos is auctioning off seats on his next space outing and padding his bank account even further.
Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, has already held a public auction for one of three available seats on the next space flight. A single seat ticket was auctioned at a whopping $28 million.
In fact, last week Bezos bragged that he had sold almost $100 million in tickets for future space outings.
This caused Warren to take to Twitter and slam Bezos, calling for him to pay taxes:
"The richest guy on Earth can launch himself into space while over half of the country lives paycheck to paycheck, nearly 43 million are saddled with student debt, and child care costs force millions out of work. He can afford to pitch in so everyone else gets a chance."
The richest guy on Earth can launch himself into space while over half the country lives paycheck to paycheck, nearly 43 million are saddled with student debt, and child care costs force millions out of work. He can afford to pitch in so everyone else gets a chance.— Elizabeth Warren (@Elizabeth Warren) 1627231886
Other notable politicians commented on Bezos' space excursion as well, including Independent Vermont Senator and activist Bernie Sanders.
Jeff Bezos is using his time to go out and zoom around outer space. Good for him. Poll after poll shows the American people want him to pay his fair share of taxes back here on Earth. \n\nLet's get it done.— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1626983400
Warren and Sanders are far from the first to drag Bezos on social media, however.
He recently got slammed by a plethora of Twitter users for thanking Amazon workers and customers for being the ones to fund his space flight.
Unsurprisingly, many people called out Bezos.
Jeff Bezos really was like "your stolen wages made this possible!"— Wagatwe Wanjuki \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddea \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf8 (@Wagatwe Wanjuki \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddea \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf8) 1626799996
Jeff Bezos is like \u201caren\u2019t you jealous that I can go to space???\u201d and it\u2019s like, no dude, we\u2019re jealous you can go to the hospital.— Robert Schultz (@Robert Schultz) 1627059374
Introduce a 100% luxury tax. You can afford a $550 million yacht? On money created by the labour of others? (And it is *always* created by the labour of others.) Then you can afford, dollar for dollar, to give YOUR SHARE to those that gave you that insane luxury.— Ian Park \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf3, Certified Pair-a-Docs (@Ian Park \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf3, Certified Pair-a-Docs) 1627235321
The rich elite are facilitated by unfair tax systems. Geoff Bezos\u2019 spent $7bn leading to his 11 minutes in space. Meanwhile, 22,000 children die each day from poverty. A wealth tax of 3% on the world\u2019s billionaires would yield \u00a3345bn a year. Inequality is a political choice.— Paul Delaney (@Paul Delaney) 1627104672
Jeff Bezos stole the surplus value of Amazon workers and used it to launch himself into space \n\nIf that doesnt upset you, then you are a bootlicker of the highest order— Nick is a Fred Hampton Leftist \ud83e\udd4b (@Nick is a Fred Hampton Leftist \ud83e\udd4b) 1626966765
If Bezos paid taxes at the rate we all do, then he would annually fund NASA 2x over. Instead, we sent 4 people into space for a few seconds, and he thanked us for paying. All in the name of the human race, while emitting 50-100x the per unit carbon emissions of an airliner.— Brian Kahrs (@Brian Kahrs) 1627322477
Adding further insult to injury, this comes directly after Amazon decimated striking Amazon workers' attempts to unionize for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
Bezos says he thanks every "Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this"— Geoff Bennett (@Geoff Bennett) 1626796405
America 2021, where bored billionaires launch themselves into space for kicks while their overworked and underpaid employees are forced to pee into bottles so yeah, I'd say that late-stage capitalism is working out just aces for everyone.\n--Jeff Tiedrich— QuoteDigger (@QuoteDigger) 1626796549
wow love to admit "i didnt really earn this" lmao— hottiepants (@hottiepants) 1626798999
Bezos: thanks to Amazon workers and customers, you paid for my space joy ride!\nAmazon workers: on strike around the world, protesting long hours and dangerous work conditions, company refusing to pay severance to those laid off during the pandemichttps://theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/26/amazon-workers-are-rising-up-around-the-world-to-say-enough\u00a0\u2026— Frances Cook (@Frances Cook) 1626813691
While the American people are struggling to pay bills and stay afloat, Bezos went to space and forced everyone else to foot the bill.
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