The world’s richest man has frequently been criticized for Amazon workers’ poor working conditions and paying small amounts of federal income tax.
A number of independent bookstores and authors have criticized Jeff Bezos after the billionaire successfully launched himself into space. Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the world’s richest man, completed his 10 minute suborbital flight on the New Shepard rocket, built by his Blue Origin company, on Tuesday. The other crew members were his brother Mark Bezos,18-year-old student Oliver Daemen, and 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who finally made it into space 50 years after an all-woman space mission dubbed «Mercury 13» was scrapped. Even before the rocket launch, Bezos and fellow billionaire, space tourism rival Richard Branson, were criticized for using their vast wealth for space adventures and not aiding humanitarian or climate change issues. Bezos, in particular, has been widely condemned for the poor working conditions of Amazon workers, especially during the pandemic, with the billionaire also reported to have paid no or little federal income tax down the years.
