Amazon

The federal government has three main responsibilities. First to protect the people from foreign enemies. Second to use regulations and investigations to prevent or minimize corruption in the form of fraud and abuse. Third to provide a safety net for those who because of circumstances are unable to care for themselves. This includes adults with small children and those disabled due to accident or sickness. State and local governments are needed to keep neighborhoods safe. This allows private business to grow and develop. Those willing to take the risk of starting a new business recognize that only one half make it to the five-year mark. These are people who invest their assets and work long hours in the hope of starting a new enterprise. Once in a great while these turn into a giant success. There are many well known examples, people like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Steve Jobs of Apple. Thirty years ago 31 year old Jeff Bezos started an online book store in his garage. He used all of his $10,000 and a loan from his parents of $250,000 of which he told them there was a 70% chance of failure. Today Amazon offers online purchases of most consumer products with next day delivery. The company has 1,200 distribution centers, 100,000 delivery vans and 1.56 million employees. Bezos is worth $220 billion but 99% is invested in Amazon and Blue Origin space company. Bezos retired from Amazon in 2021 but is still active in his Blue Origin business. While he owns luxury items like homes, planes and yachts, he spends most of his time with his family or at work. As the wealth gap in the US continues to widen some are saying that the government should go after Bezos money and no person should have that much and they are saying the same thing about other billionaires. There are 33 million small businesses in the US employing 63 million people and anyone of these could become the next Amazon.