By Larry Johnson
MacKenzie Scott is giving away $1.7 BILLION!!
Before you express too much dismay, Scott is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. So she’s got a potfull of money to work with.
Scott will still have something more than $58 billion left over, due to her ownership of 4 percent of Amazon’s stock.
Still, what a haul it is for a whole bunch of progressive organizations.
According to the Seattle Times, Scott will donate to 116 organizations that are obviously too numerous to mention here.
Scott’s wealth has increased by $22 billion just this year alone.
Clearly, that’s an obscene amount for eight months, and it dramatically demonstrates inequities in American income distribution. I guess it is what it is. Jeff Bezos, seen below, still has far more.
Still, it’s a lot of money, and Scott is at least demonstrating a sense of responsibility and some compassion. When was the last time you heard about the Trump family donating anything close to this? Thought so.
Here’s how Scott’s donations break down in broader categories:
Racial equity, $587 million
Economic mobility, $400 million
Gender equity, $133 million
Global development, $130 million
Public health, $128 million
Climate change, $125 million
Functional democracy, $72 million
Empathy and bridging divides $55 million
LGBTQ+ equity, $46 million
Last year, Scott took The Giving Pledge, started by Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett, who joined others among the world’s most wealthy in pledging to give away half of their wealth.
While you can argue, and I do, that these folks shouldn’t have so much of the world’s money, it’s also good to see at least some of them giving some of it back.
