The billionaire space race is equal parts vulgar and hilarious.
Last week alleged tax exile Richard Branson put last year’s unfortunate business of asking the government to bail out his companies behind him to blast to the edge of space for a few minutes. He nearly managed to achieve what the Soviets did 60 years ago with less technology than you would find in a modern wristwatch.
Not to be outdone Jeff Bezos has gone full Dr Evil and blasted himself to the edge of space in a giant phallus.
Designer for Austin Powers 2: Man this penis rocket gag is so funny! Should we put a head on it?
Other designer: Nah, we wanna keep that PG-13 rating after all
Jeff Bezos 20 years later: pic.twitter.com/kbYpnYVZ1y— Kathryn Gibes (Goat Arc) 🐐🏳️⚧️✨ (@TransSalamander) July 20, 2021
A few people pointed out the gilded age levels of wealth between Bezos and his employees.
Jeff Bezos made $1.13 billion today as he went to space.
That's the same amount 36,000 full-time warehouse workers will make combined, all year.
And Bezos paid the lowest tax rate of anyone of those 36,001 people.
— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) July 21, 2021
Jon Stewart perfectly sends up the whole farce with this hilarious video:
Sorry for the aborted launch!!! I’m a bad twitterer.
Enjoy this small step for man! pic.twitter.com/6gBHHJLByQ— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) July 20, 2021
I am sure it is fun messing around with big rockets, but just a suggestion lads. Could you put your skills and money into something useful? Solving global warning? Curing malaria? Giving the developing world proper water and sanitation?
Thankfully Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife McKenzie Scott has a bit more of a social conscience. She has donated $8.5 billion in less than a year to actual worthy causes on this planet.
I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
