Worth noting for context, that's 117 vax hold-outs among 26,000 hospital employees.

@1: Soon to be 25,883 employees, hopefully.

Slapping a public servant is a heinous crime, but clearing out protestors with a low flying helicopter is just good ol fashioned law enforcement. What a world...

"he reported a total of $6.5 billion in income. The $1.4 billion he paid in personal federal taxes is a massive number — yet it amounts to a 1.1% true tax rate on the rise in his fortune."

Maybe by math is rusty, but 1.4 billion represents 21.5% of the reported 6.5 billion of income. I was under the impression taxes were a percentage of annual income, not total net worth. Have I been doing it wrong?

The massive house prices here are effectively a liberal society tax, as sane people flee the psychopathic lunacy of Republinazi-ruined failed states.

@5 You've been doing it right, but the point of the bit was that the rules need changing. That 6.5 billion was only about 5% of the Bezos increase in wealth. But 95% of it didn't get taxed because it wasn't "income". Hence, the call for taxation of unrealized capital gains.

Locally, latest stats show we have between 96 and 98 percent hospital staff vaccinated.

Now go get your shots so we can have a summer of fun!

@7 Interesting. Like every homeowner in the country, my house appreciates in value. Do I need to get a second job so I can cover the tax bill on this unrealized capital gain? I'm worried about the consequences of the changes to the tax code you are advocating.

@8 - the reported details are unclear, but "following the statute and precedence" doesn't make an action morally correct. If an unarmed disoriented intruder is pounding on your door, wouldn't it be better to remain inside, call 911, or at least wait until the door or a window is breached before firing a leathal shot? Was the shooter legitimately in fear of great bodily harm or death? I hope we find out more about this incident, but being given the right to "stand your ground" doesn't always mean that one should...

@10 Taxing the ultra rich and taxing homeowners are two different worlds.

HBB - I was thinking the same thing. It’s just a pathetic spin on reality that made it into publication. It’s as bad as the ‘fake news’ on the conservative side. 21.5% is higher than probably anyone paid trading these comments, myself included.

The distinction between wealth and income from the writers at The Stranger is so exhausting. Wealth is not tangible which is why we don't tax it until it is converted into income. Wealth is simply a measure of the value of an asset. That value however could just as easily disappear tomorrow as we saw with the housing crash back in 2008. Imagine if it was discovered Amazon was misusing consumer data and became the subject of a class action suit. Bezos wealth would be drastically reduced and then what, is the government going to owe him for his "losses"? These types of discussions are just wrought in envy and bitterness (Rich should be nicknamed Capt Salty for his continued diatribes). If you are pissed off that Bezos is so wealthy then be angry that Amazon is valued so highly. That is a sign that they are too dominant in the market and should probably be broken up. Guess it's better to piss in the wind though.

Please tell me why Bezos, who has what, $147 BILLION dollars? Needs $10 BILLION from the federal government? MOTHERFUCKER ALREADY GETS BILLIONS FROM THE GOVERNMENT IN THE FORM OF NOT PAYING TAXES. Why on earth should taxpayers be funding this white boy space man fantasy bullshit?

Congress Is Trying to Give Jeff Bezos’s Space Firm $10 Billion of Your Tax Dollars
Politicians need to stop bailing out billionaires.
https://fee.org/articles/the-us-senate-is-trying-to-give-jeff-bezos-10-billion-of-your-tax-dollars/

As for VP Harris' trip and statement, I believe a bit of clarification is required:

The Trump Administration stole children and trafficked them. Sending the ones they did not put in cages around the country, allowing them to be who knows what (they claim adopted) and did NOT keep track of them or their parents.

That is not the same thing as what the Biden Administration is doing.

Whether or not one agrees with the VP Harris' trip and statement (I do not, but that is irrelevant), what the Biden Administration is doing is NOT the same thing as what Trump did.

The people are still desperate to escape and they will continue to come and/or send their children alone no matter what VP Harris or anyone else says.

The biggest question that must be answered by the Biden Administration is America still engaging in a massive violation of human rights equivalent to a literal war like the Trump Administration?

What is happening to the people, the children, when they do come? Are they being kept in cages? Is America still trafficking children? Are Border Agents still raping, torturing, and killing people? Will ICE be abolished?

Will Congress EVER GET ANYTHING DONE EVER? WILL THEY PASS IMMIGRATION REFORM LEGISLATION?

With Biden as president we knew there was going to be no major shift in how immigration is handled (see his work under the Obama administration), yet with Congress there was some hope that something might get done.

But no, we sit here and one fucking person is allowed to hold up everything - whether it's Mitch McConnell or Joe Manchin. Our government is a fucking clown show and it is literally destroying the country, but hey, who gives a fuck am I right?

This was written in 2019 and has only become more relevant as time has passed.
Do Americans Understand They’re Beginning to Live in a (Genuinely) Fascist Society?
https://eand.co/do-americans-understand-theyre-beginning-to-live-in-a-genuinely-fascist-society-8612cf43bf11

@15 i agree the end result may be the same but I think the methodology to get there matters greatly.

When you complain about Bezos you are obviously attacking a person. What did he do that was so bad? He created a company that is extremely valuable in e-commerce and is being rewarded for doing so. Bitching that he is too wealthy is nothing but envy. When people in our society create something that has value they should be rewarded. Any time its argued someone is too wealthy then what you are really saying is there should be a limit of the value of what you create and I'll never agree with that. That only restricts innovation.

Focusing on the value of the company is entirely different. Recognizing Amazon is valued too highly acknowledges that capitol itself has become concentrated. Rather than seeking new investments to grow the overall size of the pie and create new wealth all that money is tied up in one place. Incentivizing investors to leave Amazon and invest in new projects distributes that wealth more efficiently and effectively than any type of government taxation ever could.

@24 What makes you think amazon is so good at distributing wealth? I don't know what you consider efficient distribution but I feel like it runs counter to the explosion in Seattle's homeless population, which coincided with the corporation's rise.

I can appreciate the publish or perish environment you exist in for your paycheck, but allowing yourself to portray partial truths as newsworthy seems newsworthy itself if you are that short on content.
With so few properties on the market, many go far above asking price. Some developers need work for talented crews, or they seek employment elsewhere.
Similarly, not all income needs to be taxed as if it were wages. If my Real Estate holdings increase 29.5% (?) I may get taxed on that increase once King County gets around to re-assessing value, but no one is taxed until it sells, and the check clears.
Similarly, millions to billions held in stock or other financial vehicles are taxed when sold, and at a lower rate than wages.
Any chance you'll report on what quality reporting is, and show the value of bombastic headline or other shortcuts, and how that increases your personal bottom line?
I'd have thought a bigger story was the G7 trying to enforce a minimum tax on multinational corporations, for more global equity and sticking it to the Board Rooms and Shareholders. Maybe The Stranger goes to bed before that story featuring Janet Yellen, broke
Best of luck in your efforts.

@25 that's kind of my point. People don't understand the designation between wealth and income. They see Bezos' equity in Amazon has increased at a ridiculous rate and then get mad he hasn't paid tax. What they don't consider is that equity can disappear just as quickly. That wealth means nothing until he turns it into income by exercising some shares. Another way to look at it is to think what would happen if he tried to access that wealth all at once. If he sold that many Amazon shares he'd flood the market and crash the price so even now despite what he is worth he can't access that wealth. It's not real. I agree that concentration is not healthy but again my point is you need to focus on the source of the wealth and not the wealth itself.

@26 I never said Amazon was good at distributing wealth. In fact quite the opposite. Given a choice Amazon will continue to consolidate wealth and hoard capitol thereby increasing its value. That is where government can play a role through antitrust. Breaking Amazon up would make it less valuable thereby encouraging investors to move their money and naturally distributing the wealth through market economics. What I don't support is the government taking that wealth themselves through onerous tax policies and being the sole arbiter of how it gets redistributed. That just invites corruption and cronyism.

Also the net effect of Amazon on the homeless population is negligible. The people on the street everyday are not those who were forced out by Amazon. They have addiction and mental issues. You could give them all an apartment tomorrow and they'd be back on the street because they are unable to support themselves. That Kshama argument is nothing but a red herring so she can continue her draconian assault on capitalism.

@18 you are so so so confused about wealth, income, valuation, etc. He does not have $147 billion dollars. Doesn't have it. No Scrooge McDuck vault full of $147b in gold coins. Just because my house is worth a million, according to King County assessor, doesn't mean I have a million dollars. Quite the contrary, I have a shit-ton of debt.

@25 Bezos having wealth doesn't preclude anyone else from making money, it isn't finite

@26 if Amazon caused this meteoric rise in homelessness, why did we not see the same thing occur in Redmond during Microsoft's heydey? Or even to this day as Redmond is even far more expensive to live in than Seattle?

@33 I’m not saying it can’t be done but there will be issues. Car and homes have a pretty standard valuation schedule. When you get into taxing all wealth how do you value a private business? What about that Monet on the wall? The issue of coming up with a number gets much more difficult. Once the gov has that money are you also convinced they can make the best use of it? I’d argue government is not efficient when it comes to wealth redistribution because it’s political. No, gov is much better served putting rules in place that incentivize investors to distribute the wealth themselves. It is easier, faster and most likely would generate higher returns creating more wealth in the process.

I have no problem with Bezos, or anyone, being insanely wealthy.

What I DO have problems with is that we, as a so-called civilized society, allow poverty and homelessness and hunger to exist in a society with multiple billionaires.

No billionaires should exist until everyone has a warm, safe place to sleep, food on the table, and all basic needs taken care of. Everyone.

Man, I kept contemplating a venture into this thread earlier this afternoon, but would wind up getting distracted by work or other issues each time. What a fun one though. Fax2supportsomepointz is obviously just trolling as usual and an absolute idiot, but he's a fun idiot, and I do genuinely enjoy me a good philosophical discussion of absolute vs relative morality. I think one of the things he's downplaying here is the autonomous agency each of us possesses, and the obligation we have to take those autonomous beliefs into account when assessing the morality of going out and killing people.

I do sincerely hope this current iteration of his manages to stick around for a bit.

@51 - don't get too excited. I'm pretty sue it's just Dr. Nelson Salim trying out something new.

@2 - the "well-trained" part is evidenced by the fact that he hit the innocent person he was aiming at. Isn't that enough?

@49: Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

@18 & @22 xina: I am just as shocked, appalled, and horrified as you are at the current events.

@50 sounds a lot like a deported Nigerian prince living in exile, claiming to own a stately chateau in France.......or was it Monte Carlo?

@34 Arbitrating how resources get distributed is a major function of government, lack of regulation on any party is what invites corruption and cronyism. And you're wrong to typecast homeless people as addicts and people with poor mental health, that's a fox news lie that just keeps getting repeated. There are numerous studies (for decades) that link homelessness to income inequality, which has gotten profoundly worse with the amount of wealth that amazon has distributed into the hands of its investors, especially bezos.

@35 Please google homelessness and income inequality, I'm not making it up. And it doesn't matter where the homeless are or come from, the issue is that more and more people are living on the streets while a small group of people are amassing more wealth than they or anyone could ever enjoy. The arguments for so few to retain their wealth are always rooted in selfishness; rewards for accomplishments, societal good be damned

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I can appreciate the publish or perish environment you exist in for your paycheck, but allowing yourself to portray partial truths as newsworthy seems newsworthy itself if you are that short on content.
With so few properties on the market, many go far above asking price. Some developers need work for talented crews, or they seek employment elsewhere.
Similarly, not all income needs to be taxed as if it were wages. If my Real Estate holdings increase 29.5% (?) I may get taxed on that increase once King County gets around to re-assessing value, but no one is taxed until it sells, and the check clears.
Similarly, millions to billions held in stock or other financial vehicles are taxed when sold, and at a lower rate than wages.
Any chance you'll report on what quality reporting is, and show the value of bombastic headline or other shortcuts, and how that increases your personal bottom line?
I'd have thought a bigger story was the G7 trying to enforce a minimum tax on multinational corporations, for more global equity and sticking it to the Board Rooms and Shareholders. Maybe The Stranger goes to bed before that story featuring Janet Yellen, broke
Best of luck in your efforts.

@58: Do your own research. For example, read https://mrsc.org/getmedia/8d5ab109-d85d-4e5c-9ff1-8c97ff524b4b/SeattleHomelessNeedsAssesmentReport.aspx

A majority of Seattle's homeless population arrived here already homeless;
A majority reported using drugs;
"The highest percent (71%) of respondents reported that they could afford a monthly rent of less than five hundred dollars, followed by 24% who reported they could afford between $500 and $1,000 monthly."

(That was in late 2016; the last $500/month rentals in Seattle were twenty years before then.)

This is not a local population, driven out into our streets by rising rents (indeed, only 11% reported that as the cause of becoming homeless). It is an influx of already-homeless persons who could not have paid rent here for years -- or even decades. Housing that population is a far different matter than simply taxing anyone you don't like and building housing with the proceeds.

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