Billionaire Jeff Bezos was mocked on Tuesday after news that the Amazon founder has reportedly grown "unhappy" with the attention his 417-foot yacht — which has a carved sculpture of his second wife, Lauren Sanchez — has brought him and now wants to sell it.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman described Bezos' decision on his Substack, and the symbolism behind a billionaire having buyer's remorse, especially amid President Donald Trump's second term and just hours after Bezos and Sanchez helped host the Met Gala on Monday night in New York City. He noted that Bezos, who was among those celebrating Trump's second rise to power and wanted "all restraints off" and "to live the privilege of their great wealth," might not have the same feelings now.
"And I think if you look at the first year or so of the second Trump administration, the people at the top, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, they all were acting as if OK, no need to apologize, no need to pretend to be good," Krugman wrote.
These billionaires wanted free rein. But that hasn't withstood public perception, Krugman argued.
"By the way, charitable giving has dropped way off," Krugman explained. "The super wealthy are just not doing the kind of reputation enhancing philanthropic giving that their predecessors in the Gilded Age engaged in. So this is a completely amoral elite, I got it, you don’t, I’m in power, I’m friends with the people who hold ultimate power, I don’t have to worry, I don’t care what you think."
"But it’s not lasting," Krugman wrote. "It turns out, and this is why I think this is somewhat important, it turns out that the backlash is powerful enough, scary enough at least to worry them."
That has changed as the Trump administration's popularity has waned.
"I don’t think that people like Bezos are actually scared that the torches and pitchforks are coming for them, but they are starting to realize that maybe they haven’t purchased themselves total immunity the way they thought they had. And this is, I think, a good sign. We need more hypocritical billionaires," Krugman wrote.
"OK, we need fewer billionaires and we need to work on that. But in the meantime having them feel at least somewhat disciplined by the public opprobrium that outrageous behavior brings is a good thing. More ostracism, more boycotts, sneering at and yelling at giant yachts and people who own them is a good thing," he added.
Bezos could sell the mega yacht and ultimately use that wealth to benefit good causes. However, it's not clear what he will do.
"But in any case I think there’s something culturally going on," Krugman wrote. "I think we are seeing a turn and we’re seeing that the collapse of all standards in favor of the belief that wealth is the only thing that matters is not complete and may even be reversible."
Don't Cry for Jeff Bezos's Yacht by Paul Krugman
He's selling it to avoid attention. Good.
Read on Substack