At 9:00 a.m. EDT tomorrow, July 20, Jeff Bezos — founder of Amazon and richest person on Earth, with a net worth of $202 billion as estimated by Forbes’ “Real-Time Billionaires List” — will launch himself into space.
(A quick pause to say that if there are so many billionaires whose fortunes are increasing so rapidly that we “need” a real-time tracker, our priorities as a civilization may be a little off.)
Bezos will be the second billionaire astronaut. Music and airline magnate Richard Branson (net worth: “only” $5 billion) became the first billionaut earlier this month. And former Saturday Night Live host Elon Musk (net worth: $160 billion) is expected to space suit up soon.
So here’s an idea:
Billionauts must pay a modest (for them) fee to come back down to Earth. We can call it the Billionaire Astronaut Reentry Fee — BARF, for short.
- 10% of the billionaut’s net worth as estimated by Forbes’ “Real-Time Billionaire List” at the time of their launch.
- For Bezos, the BARF would be $20.2 billion. He can afford it. His net worth went up more than that in just the past three months.
- Note: the BARF would apply only to billionauts themselves, not to sub-billionaire passengers or crew.
- As it happens, Public Citizen has calculated that it would take $25 billion — just a little more than the Bezos BARF — to vaccinate enough people around the world to end the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Add your name if you agree:
If billionaires want to hurl themselves into space, they must pay a Billionaire Astronaut Reentry Fee (BARF) equal to 10% of their net worth as estimated by Forbes’ “Real-Time Billionaire List” at the time of their launch.
Thanks for taking action.
For progress,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it. We’re also busy undoing all the damage Trump did. And, like so many nonprofits and small businesses, we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic. If you can, please make an emergency donation today to support the critical work we’re doing together or even join our popular Monthly Giving program. Thank you.
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