Who needs 25 bathrooms?! Apparently, Jeff Bezos does:

[demmiblue]

Jeff Bezos's new Washington, DC home, two adjacent mansions purchased for $23 million, will have 25 bathrooms, 287 fire alarm sprinklers and 1,006 light fixtures. @washingtonian:

Link to tweet

[OliverQ]

1. All the more reason we need to put a stop to billionaires.

[Hotler]

7. If we could just get Democrats to stop shopping Amazon, and Walmart.

Let the repugs keep these corporations afloat.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. Count me as one who doesn't shop at either n/t

[alittlelark]

51. Never Walmart, but due to 1 hr drive to any store - 2 hr round trip

Amazon has got me.

[Blue_true]

30. Why?

Per your thinking Soros and Steyer would be banished.

Maybe we should focus on teaching ethics and civics in schools so that future billionaires realize that even the grandest opulence they can acquire is worthless without an orderly and just society existing around them.

[janterry]

56. he paid 0 in taxes last year

he is using us, the taxpayers and our infrastructure (that we paid for)
to build a fortune

He owes us $.

This doesn't even get into the exploitation of workers
and the internet to beat his competition.

[Blue_true]

66. He likely paid taxes. The company that he runs didn't.

The problem is how our tax code is structured between C corporations versus individuals, LLCS, Sole Business owners. The solution is voting in people that will establish a just tax code, but the people that whine the most about how Amazon gets away with not paying taxes will refuse to vote if their preferred person is not nominated, or they "protest" vote by voting third party, writing in their favorite, or writing-in some bullshit like "Mickey Mouse", then they complain like babies with wet diapers when the shit hits the fan.

[Loki Liesmith]

55. I really couldn't care less what he spends his money on.

[FM123]

2. I guess that if you make 215 million dollars a DAY

you have to poop some of that away....
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-makes-every-day-hour-minute-2018-10

[brush]

10. Has he overtaken Gates, Buffet and the Sultan of Brunei as the richest man...

in the world yet? 215M a day is 1 billion more plus every 5 days.

When is enough enough? He could just cap his own fortune now(which is so large he could never spend it all), and use that constant income stream to do so much to help humanity in say Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Kurds in Syria, the poor all over the world, including here in the US of course.

After you have that amount of money what are you proving by getting more and more—maybe trying to top John D. Rockefeller, purported to be the richest man ever whose fortune peaked at $900,000,000, nearly a trillion? And back in the early 20th century $900 billion dollars goes a whole lot further than now, let me tell you. It equals $22,600,000,000, that's trillions btw so it's not possible with anti-trust laws and all.

He's already shown you he make fortunes, he should do something else, help people. He can be more effective than any government that has to go through legislative channels to get approval to do anything.

[Celerity]

42. passed them all in 2018, but for one day, October 24th, 2019, Gates repassed him after Amazons stock

dipped 7%. If he had not gotten divorced, he would be worth around 40 billion US more (depending on the stock price.)

His all-time high net worth was around 180 billion USD the last week of September 2018 (the 24th to be exact.)

If he had not divorced he would have topped it very slightly this year, on July 8th, 2019, when Amazon hit its all time high price of 2035.80 USD per share.


After Briefly Falling To Number Two, Jeff Bezos Is Back As The Richest Man In The World

https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2019/10/25/after-briefly-falling-to-number-two-jeff-bezos-is-back-as-the-richest-man-in-the-world/#292a5c2361bf

[samnsara]

3. he earned it.. He started as a garage business and built it into this! Thats the..

..American Dream!

[Doremus]

8. I dunno.

It seems most billionaires acquired their money one of two ways: Inheritance or steamrolling less talented/educated/clever folks as they strip them of their talent/money/labor.

None of which is admirable, imo. And a big reason most of them are flaming assholes.

[demmiblue]

9. And exploiting their workers. n/t

[maxsolomon]

74. Dennis: Oh, king eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, eh?

By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. If there's ever gonna be any progress...

[Blue_true]

33. He started an online bookstore in his single home garage.

That is a fact.

I have worked in high pressure situations before. I also have run two businesses, there is a fine line between having dedicated employees or having people that use every trick in the book to avoid work or simply not show up. Until my first business failed, I could never see my self drug testing and background checking potential employees, I could never imagine putting security cameras up to keep a record of employee actions, but those things are needed. It only takes 2 or 3 people in a 25-125 employee organization to destroy the company, is it exploitation to prevent them from doing that?

[USALiberal]

31. Thanks for that! I don't get the hate of him. nt

[Blue_true]

34. A lot of it is just raw envy.

Many people live paycheck to paycheck, some of them have convinced themselves that people that have plenty of money are evil.

[USALiberal]

38. Good point. nt

[Turin_C3PO]

50. He treats his workers like shit.

It has nothing to do with envy. That’s a Republican talking point, that people are jealous of the rich.

[Blue_true]

64. I run a business. I have two siblings that run their own business.

What I tell people that wax on about how workers get abused is for them to try running a business and hiring people for that business. Me and my siblings have done that an remain progressives, some people that were progressives and tried it became conservatives. Look, not all workers are noble, some will take restroom breaks and spend time on their phones if a business doesn't guard against that. If a business has 8 employees, that business need to have those people putting their back into the effort. I know personally, I never thought that drug testing a potential hire and background checking every aspect of their lives that a check could find was a good idea until I tried running my first business. I can understand why Bezos has security cameras all over that place and likely have supervisors monitoring how long people stay on a break, some employees WILL absolutely abuse workplace freedom if a company doesn't put in place abundant safeguards against that.

[MrsCoffee]

72. Must protect the profits.

Fuck privacy apparently.

[Blue_true]

73. A business has to have profits to keep people employed.

The tradeoff to that is workers help the business gain those profits. That is how business works. It would be great if everyone showed up to work with their heads in the game, but that doesn't always happen for a variety of reasons, some understandable (sick or injured child or other relative) or for reasons that are not tolerable if a business is to stay open (a person simply doesn't want to work or does not perform the tasks that the business needs from their pay grade).

[treestar]

59. Perhaps true but natural

It is hard for each of us to believe he is so much more virtuous than we are. At least to the extent. Resentment more than envy

[Blue_true]

65. He is not virtuous. He seems to have some character gaps.

Envy or resentment, when people spend time focused on people that have what they don't, the mental energy that gets wasted robs them of seeing the frequent good ideas that pass them by.

[Blue_true]

32. People ignore that the guy started out selling books online from his garage.

He likely saw that book buyers wanted a bag of the special maple-coated peanuts that they couldn't seem to find, so he went out and found people that sold them and convinced them to sell on his new site, so now he sold books and an increasing list of sundries that book buyers couldn't seem to find locally.

I can promise you that early on, he often laid awake at night wondering how he would pay the light bill. But people don't see that person, they just see the richest person in the world and despise him for that.

[tenderfoot]

47. "he often laid awake at night wondering how he would pay the light bill."

Now everyone that works for him can feel the same way because they're so poorly paid.

Why all the fuss?

[Blue_true]

61. You make a good point. Too often people that endure struggles fail to see other people struggling

once that "make it". I put Bezos firmly in the category of a person who has forgotten a lot. But I stay with me observation that he was not an overnight billionaire, like the ex-Soviet Union oligarchs who basically were high placed smucks that stole the public's assets.

[treestar]

60. So many more lay awake

And the business fails.

[Blue_true]

62. True. Running a business is tough. It is easier when a person comes up with

a unique product or service. Bezos' genius was in recognizing that a large number of people preferred buying books and having them delivered to their homes than going to Borders or Waldenbook or some other bookseller, then he recognized that those people bought trinkets that he displayed on his site.

I have a friend that is on the restaurant business, talk about a brutal business to be it, that is it. A person has to be really good and have enough money in reserve to survive the lean periods until a stable and profitable clientele is formed. I really hate hearing people brag about how they got a 10% or 15% discount from a restaurant by implying that they could buy from somewhere else, if the order is large enough, that 10%-15% was likely the restaurants clear profit for that day. I also hate seeing the big chains having signs outside about the 2 for $6 sandwiches they offer, most people go for that because busting their gut is more satisfying than eating a higher priced good sandwich.

[meadowlander]

44. Someone who makes his workers pee in bottles instead of take bathroom breaks

may have "earned" it, but he should be spending it paying his workers better or hiring more of them so that they can have a little human dignity instead of buying a house with 25 bathrooms.

Watch this and then tell me with a straight face he's come by all that money honestly and deserves to waste it on silly shit like this.

[tenderfoot]

46. Now he gets to cut health care for all of his part-time employees...

the American Dream for sure.

[treestar]

58. Even so only a few

Manage it. They would have us believe we can all do it. That we do t is our own lack of inventiveness. Or lack of hard work.

[Blue_true]

63. Bezos has marketing genius, but he also got lucky.

He came up with a unique idea when there was zero competition, then as he executed that idea, he noticed other things that he was able to market. The sequence that he used is pretty much what all successful companies rely on, a little bit of luck, a little foresight, paying attention to things that others miss. The part that I don't like is what I hear about his pay and benefits scales. If it is true that his workers are peeing in bottles (I sort of doubt that for several reasons), then that is a bridge too far, I would focus on hiring people that have the discipline to realize that restroom breaks are just that, then I would set up restrooms that are convenient for them and provides privacy, and I would have a cleaning crew that made sure the restrooms were kept clean.

[miyazaki]

4. Thats a lot of liquid-plumr.

[Polybius]

5. As much as I'd like to criticize him for this, it's hard

If I has 100 billion plus, I guess I would do the same, just not in DC. I prefer Encino, CA or the Hamtons in Long Island, NY.

[Blue_true]

36. I would figure out a way to continually put money into public schools,

provide free lunch for all public school kids in my state.

The only thing that I like in a house is having some clear acres around me for experimental farming.

[Freedomofspeech]

54. That is beautiful.

[Blue_true]

67. It isn't beautiful, it is commonsense.

Very rich people often forget, or never gained an understanding of, that without a functioning society around them, they have nothing and in most cases would not even have life.

[Freedomofspeech]

69. As a retired educator...

It is beautiful to me on many levels.

[JesterCS]

6. That's just absurd. N/t

[lame54]

11. Is that a dig on his own employees....

Whom he doesn't let use the restroom

[Vinca]

13. I'm sorry, but that's just taking wealthy to stupid levels.

What the hell can you possibly do with 25 bathrooms if you aren't a hotel? I don't get it. Guess I'd make a lousy rich person because I'd be giving it all away before I'd have 25 bathrooms.

[Blue_true]

37. I would give it away to fund public schools and infrastructure. nt

[Sewa]

14. Amazon use union contractors

to build and remodel there facilities in the Seattle area. Which has provided hundreds of union construction workers a paycheck. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bezos had union workers remodel his home in DC.

[Blue_true]

39. Come on, people need the Bezos is a bastard fix like some need coffee.

The dude is a complex person. I really have no idea of what his politics are. He doesn't make a lot of grand public pronouncements like Elon Musk.

[Sewa]

15. I would guess many of these bathrooms

are attached to bedrooms. So guests can have a private bathroom. That would be a logical explanation

[Blue_true]

40. And you are right, that typically is the case. nt

[onethatcares]

16. how many friends does he have?

aside from the hanger ons, the sycophants, and the rest of the people he can buy?

No matter how much money he has, he'll always be wondering if the guy next to him is only in it for the cash.

[Blue_true]

41. Isn't that the case regardless of how much money one has? nt

[lostnfound]

49. Far more than 25. Inviting people for a weekend versus for a barbecue. Nt

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

68. Apparently a lot with bowel problems that prevent them for walking more than 10 feet without having

to "go."

[Crunchy Frog]

17. OT, but kind of reminds me of this scene with George Jefferson.

Starts at around 3:25

[VOX]

18. He must have IBS to beat the band. n/t

[DFW]

20. That occurred to me, too, but I held back....n/t

[panader0]

23. When you have IBS, sometimes you just can't "hold back".

[DFW]

24. You're right, poor choice of expressions to use in this case!

I'll be more careful next time!

[customerserviceguy]

43. IBS

or simply full of shit?

[VOX]

29. Sometimes "holding back" isn't an option.

With my apologies for extending the questionable theme.

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. Beyond disgusting and obscene.🤑

[Snake Plissken]

21. Considering the building is 29,000 Sq ft, that's not really that outrageous for a building that size

I wouldn't be surprised if the zoning called for some of those specs.

[DFW]

22. If he's leaving the historic exterior intact, I really don't care

Maybe he's planning on having a lot of family live with him, maybe he's planning on entertaining a lot. Whatever. not many mortals can afford houses in Kalorama anyhow, so if he's tossing a few dozen million in union work to get it done, well, DC can always use the money and the property taxes.

At least he's not putting up some obscenity like the guy in Florida that built a combination of Windsor Castle and Westminster Abbey just for his family and his antiques. Now THIS is obscene:
[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

He had, I was told by someone who stayed there, ten bedrooms, all on the second (if you're US)/first (If you're European) floor, EACH with its own elevator down to the ground floor. Now THIS is obscene. He boasted of having the construction done by a firm from Texas because they were cheaper than the local Florida quotes.

Needless to say, the guy became a big Republican supporter, hosting Republican Party events at his monstrosity on a regular basis--until it became clear he was scamming the bank, spending his (private, so no stockholders) company's money on himself and his house, having several credit lines at once, none of which knew about the others. When it finally collapsed, he was bankrupt, still living in his monster house because no one else would buy it. Remember that Florida law! He had $35 million in debt and the bank finally settled for something like $1.5 million. I heard he had stashed a couple million in a "non-extradition" country when things looked like they were starting to collapse. This was in the Tampa area, if anyone there remembers.

I think he finally moved out of his house, and started from scratch, vowing never to let his ego make him that crazy ever again (over half a year in prison probably added a little perspective on what "adequate accommodations" really meant).

I met the guy several times, know him slightly, and we never liked each other. Like Trump, he was a habitual liar. I'll bet he still votes Republican.

[VOX]

35. Wow. That IS "wretched excess" defined.

I don’t know how some people, no matter their their wealth, can exist with so many lies and complications (illegal, to boot) on a daily basis.

I include our current “president” in this number— lie after lie after lie, a raft of sketchy attorneys suing and counter-suing, each sunup bringing more chaos, constant shifts in direction, on and on it goes. What kind of person can exist comfortably with that daily diet of deceit, back-stabbing, debt-welching and conflict?

[DFW]

48. What kind of person?

A person who has never suffered any negative consequences from their actions or attitude. If you always get away with it, you gradually think that you will, indeed, ALWAYS get away with it.

The guy in the "wretched excess (aptly put)" house didn't change his way of thinking until he was forced to. Trump is even worse, because he never made an honest buck on his own. The guy in Tampa got addicted to his initial success, and somehow got the notion that anything was fair as long as it made him richer. He got away with it for so long partially for the same reason Trump got away with his financial fraud--his creditors had a feeling something was wrong, but no one wanted to be the first to find out.

The first one to call in the debt forces himself and all the others to admit the debt is worthless, and all those banks and other lenders will be forced to admit that those huge loans they are carrying on their books as assets are in fact worthless. When you get to Trump's level of fraud, that means bank managers having to admit that they have been covering up billions in losses for years. The heads of vice-presidents roll under such circumstances. They know it and Trump knows it. So no one wants to be the first, and he gets to play billionaire as long as the house of cards stands.

[VOX]

57. Excellent analysis.

The question was somewhat rhetorical, but such a broad-spectrum, long-running, strongly enabled scam continues to be utterly foreign to my hard-wiring— the stress alone of keeping up the fake front and telling multiple whoppers daily would be a killer, unless there’s a complete departure from being able to distinguish between destructive and constructive behaviors (not to mention legal vs. illegal) which is obviously what we’re saddled with, Trump-wise. He’s likely overtly delusional on this issue (among others) by now.

Your last paragraph is particularly notable, since one rarely thinks about the layers of financial entities and managers who are all playing a part in the continuing illusion.

A “house of cards” indeed. There’s been some huffing and puffing, but it’s still standing...for now.

[DFW]

70. These people are wired entirely differently from the rest of us

They are not stressed by lies and fraud. On the contrary, it comes naturally to them, and, as long as they continue to get away with it, it is the natural order of things to them. Only when the façade collapses, and their material normalcy is pulled out from under them, do they experience anything like stress.

There is much truth to the notion that Republicans really believe that "if you're rich, you deserve it, and if you're poor, you deserve it." It goes a long way toward explaining why so many poor people support Republicans and religious con artists. If their poverty is God-ordained, well, then, there is no reason to wish for any improvement in their lives.

[fescuerescue]

25. I imagine the plumbers didn't mind

Putting food on their table.

[Hoyt]

26. Bet he gets caught on property tax deduction limit.

[Blue Owl]

27. A man of many toilets...

[democratisphere]

28. Scamazon is a runaway company that needs to be put in check,

along with Boogle and fakebook. Extreme wealth corrupts absolutely.

[Captain Zero]

45. I really don't begrudge him 25 bathrooms

But the fucker needs to pay income and social security taxes on ALL his income at the same rates as we do. Then if he wants 50 toilets to hang his ass flaps into, I'm sure he can still afford it.

[Rhiannon12866]

52. Changing lightbulbs could be a full time job!

[Skidmore]

53. Well, to be fair,

when you have such a large house, you wouldn't want to have to hike if you had to wee badly.

[MrsCoffee]

71. Nice digs for a guy with a company that isn't profitable and doesn't pay taxes.

At least I saw someone make that argument here a couple days ago in defense of amazon not paying taxes.