A rich man goes to space
Jeff Bezos went to space. Meanwhile on Earth, the people who made him his wealth struggle for their daily bread.
On the 19th of July 2021, the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, has made a short journey to space, in the first crewed flight of his rocket ship, New Shepard. It is estimated that he spent $5.5B to be in space for just four minutes.
Up to 1.2 million workers work for Amazon, Jeff Bezos’ company worldwide, including drivers, warehouse workers and seasonal hires. I catch myself calculating: instead of going to space, Bezos could have given each and every one of his employees $4500 instead. I realise how deeply simplistic this is — but my brain obstinately insists on crunching the numbers.
Jeff Bezos’ capsule reached a maximum altitude of around 107 km before descending. I try to picture it in my head — 107 km. This could be the distance an Amazon driver does on a four-hours block, making dozens of deliveries along the way- and making barely minimum wage. On the UK minimum wage, of £8.91, our driver would have to work non-stop for more than 443 million hours to make enough to send Jeff Bezos into…
