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Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, on Tuesday thanked his employees and customers for subsidizing his Blue Origin space flight, in which he and three others spent 11 minutes inside the “New Shepard “after taking off from the desert of Van Horn County, Texas. .
“[I] I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you paid for it all. Seriously, to every Amazon customer and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart, very much. It’s greatly appreciated, “said Bezos, wearing a cowboy hat, upon returning to Earth with fellow travelers, younger brother Mark Bezos, aviation pioneer Mary Wallace” Wally “Funk, 82 years old, and Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen.
The New Shepard, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space, took off on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the automated capsule reached an altitude of about 66 miles , more than 10 miles more than that of Virgin founder Richard Branson. July 11 ride. The 60-foot (18-meter) booster accelerated to Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound to get the capsule high enough, before splitting apart and landing upright.
Upon his return to dry land, Bezos was roasted by critics for his comments thanking customers for the reported $ 5.5 billion cost of the Blue Origin business.
The New York Daily News reported that the cost of the ticket for a seat on Tuesday’s flight was $ 28 million, with the Big Apple publication noting that a New Yorker could buy 5.4 million hot dogs at the Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island for that amount.
Stars & Stripes reporter David Choi also retweeted a video of Bezos’ comments, stating “I would like a refund.”
In the US Senate, progressive Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tore the billionaire apart, reiterating her call for a “wealth tax” and accusing Bezos and the company he founded, Amazon, of paying no taxes:
“Jeff Bezos forgot to thank all the hard working Americans who paid taxes to run this country when he and Amazon paid nothing,” Warren tweeted.
Warren Bay State MP, Deputy House Speaker Katherine Clark, further criticized Bezos’ comments, saying they reminded Americans that it does not take “a rocket scientist to know he is time for billionaires to pay their fair share. “
Across the northern border, the leader of Canada’s far-left New Democratic Party echoed Warren, calculating that Bezos had made $ 1.6 million richer during the 11-minute flight and accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of allowing Amazon to pay “$ 0 in taxes”.
“Jeff Bezos’ space flight lasted 11 minutes During the pandemic, every 11 minutes, he got richer by around 1.6 million dollars … It’s time for the ultra-rich to pay their fair share,” he said. writes BC MLA Jagmeet Singh on Twitter.
“Just ordinary people who come together to do amazing things for Jeff Bezos,” tweeted Mother Jones reporter Timothy Murphy.
Bezos is worth $ 177 billion, which he’s racked up since the e-commerce giant was founded in his Bellevue, Wash., Garage in 1994.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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