This just in: Jeff Bezos is a hypocritical gasbag. But then, I think we all knew that already.
Bezos, co-founder of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post, likes to wag his finger at us about carbon footprints. He’s even met with the Pope to talk about carbon footprints. (I’ll bet the Pope’s carbon footprint is substantial.)
But Jeff Bezos is also firmly in the “do as I say, not as I do” camp in his personal life. Example: On Thursday we learned that Bezos just shelled out $80 million for a Gulfstream G700, that being one of Gulfstream Aerospace’s premiere luxury business jets, capable of cruising at nearly Mach One.
It’s Bezos’s fourth private jet. Yes, really.
The billionaire Amazon founder last month purchased a Gulfstream G700, luxury business jet manufactured by Gulfstream Aerospace that’s considered one of the largest and most advanced private jets in the world, according to Business Insider.
With a maximum range of around 7,500 nautical miles, the G700 is also said to be capable of reaching top speeds of Mach 0.925 — or around 92.5% of the speed of sound, around 710 m.p.h.
The G700 also boasts 20 panoramic windows and “whisper-quiet cabin with 100% fresh, plasma-ionized air replenished every two to three minutes.”
Last Sunday, the G700 took off from Ibiza.
At around the same time, Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sánchez were photographed on the island near the mogul’s $500 million superyacht.
Yup. That’s right. They have a superyacht, too. Four business jets and a superyacht. And here’s the really rich part: This is an airplane that Goldman Sachs just decided they can’t afford.
In March of last year, it was reported that Goldman Sachs abandoned plans to buy the G700, which comes equipped with a private shower, as part of a cost-cutting measure.
That’s right. Goldman Sachs. They couldn’t afford it.
Still, it’s not that Bezos can afford this jet while one of the world’s largest investment banks can’t. No, what I’m wondering is what the carbon footprint of a plane like this is. Oh, wait – all we have to do is look further down the page!
Publicly available flight data showed that Bezos’ plane made 28 flights in 39 days — leaving a carbon footprint of 264 tons, or 17 times what the average American emits in a year.
Bezos apparently tried to keep his acquisition of the plane out of the public eye by using the Federal Aviation Administration’s program that allows jet owners to keep information about their aircraft private.
The FAA Privacy ICAO Aircraft Address (PIA) program allows aircraft owners to use temporary, randomized addresses that changes the aircraft’s identity numbers so as to make flights less traceable by the public.
So, not only is Bezos – just with this airplane alone – putting out roughly the carbon footprint of Belize, 17 times what we SUV-driving Americans put out in a year – but he’s also using legal folderol to hide it from the public. What a clown – a hypocritical, virtue-signaling clown.
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Look, if Jeff Bezos was just living the lifestyle of the rich and famous and keeping his mouth shut about what the rest of us do, I wouldn’t begrudge him one square inch of the rich Corinthian leather (Corinth is famous for its leather!) on the aftmost seat in that Gulfstream jet. It’s his money, and he can do as he likes with it.
But it’s the finger-wagging at the rest of us about our carbon footprints that makes this intolerable. He even lectured the Pope – who appears to agree with him.
Pope Francis met with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, at the Vatican to discuss climate change.
Sánchez posted photos of the meeting at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the residence where Fancis (sic) lives, in an Instagram post Aug. 15, saying that the pope’s “wisdom, warmth, and humor were deeply touching.”
Now, defenders of Jeff Bezos – I’m sure there must be some – will tell you of the Bezos Earth Fund, which Bezos is funding to the tune of $60 million. As a percentage of his net worth, that amount would be equivalent to most of us super-sizing a french fry order. But that doesn’t in any way minimize Bezos’s overweening hypocrisy in his jet-setting, mega-yachting lifestyle.
Honestly, it would serve the guy right to have a bunch of climate-protesting nitwits super-glue their hands to his new airplane. That would not only be funny, it would be a nice little serving of karma for an outrageous hypocrite.
Fly coach, Jeff. Or, hell, even first class in a regular airliner. Then, at least, you won’t be such a hypocrite.
