When billionaire Jeff Bezos canceled his health benefits on Sept. 13, part-time workers at his grocery store Whole Foods, the richest man in the world, saved the equivalent of what he did. he won in just a few hours.
This is evident from an analysis of Decision Data's "Data in the News" series, which revealed that Bezos could cover the full annual benefits of part-time employees working less than 30 hours a week with he won in shares and investments. a fraction of a day.
"Making a quick calculation with the publicly available figures shows that Bezos earns more money than the cost of a full year of benefits for those 1,900 employees in 2-6 hours," says Dr. # 39; study.
The analysis used an estimate that Whole Foods would contribute between $ 5,000 and $ 15,000 per year per employee for benefits. In the middle of this range, $ 10,000, which is $ 19 million a year.
Bezos earns just under $ 9 million at the hour, according to a 2019 report Internal business analysis, which would mean that he would earn enough money in just over two hours to cover the benefits he had removed. Decision Data was based on an earlier study that Bezos earned $ 4.5 million per hour to conclude that it would take about four and a half hours to cover costs.
"More than $ 110 billion CEO cuts health care for 2,000 workers after raising $ 9 million per hour," tweeted Economist Robert Reich, citing the 2019 Internal business Fig.
The discrepancy between Bezos' wealth and the cost of profits was noted by a number of observers.
"Jeff Bezos earns $ 3,182 per second," m said Jacobin writer Luke Savage.
The presidential candidate and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Julián Castro, described the move as "shameful" and pointed out that the jewel of Bezos, the online retailer Amazon, paid nothing in taxes.
"Amazon does not pay any dollar in federal income taxes," Castro tweeted. "Jeff Bezos is the richest man in modern history yet they continue to degrade the rights of their workers."
Enjoy this piece?
… So let's make a small request. Like you at Raw Story, we believe in the power of progressive journalism – and we invest in investigative reporting as other publications allow. Raw Story readers are using DCReport by David Cay Johnston, whom we have developed to monitor in Washington. We exposed the tax evasion of a billionaire and discovered the White House's efforts to poison our water. We have revealed financial scams for veterans and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We launched a weekly podcast, "We have problems," focused on issues, not tweets. And unlike the other media outlets, we decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. You will not find any mainstream media bias here. We are not part of a conglomerate or a project of venture capital groups. From flawless coverage of racism to revealing efforts to erode our rights, Raw Story will continue to denounce hypocrisy and wrongs. Separated from billionaires and corporate lords, we fight for no one to be forgotten.
We need your support to continue to produce quality journalism and deepen our investigative reporting. Each reader contribution, regardless of the amount, makes a huge difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a unique contribution to Raw Story Investigates or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.
Enjoy this piece?
… So let's make a small request. Like you at Raw Story, we believe in the power of progressive journalism – and we invest in investigative reporting as other publications allow. Raw Story readers are using DCReport by David Cay Johnston, whom we have developed to monitor in Washington. We exposed the tax evasion of a billionaire and discovered the White House's efforts to poison our water. We have revealed financial scams that are attacking veterans and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We launched a weekly podcast, "We have problems," focused on issues, not tweets. Unlike other news sites, we decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.
Raw Story is independent. You will not find any mainstream media bias here. We are not part of a conglomerate or a project of venture capital groups. From flawless coverage of racism to revealing efforts to erode our rights, Raw Story will continue to denounce hypocrisy and wrongs. Business minded, we fight for no one to be forgotten.
We need your support to continue to produce quality journalism and deepen our investigative reporting. Each reader contribution, regardless of the amount, makes a huge difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a unique contribution to Raw Story Investigates or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.
Report typos and corrections to: [email protected].