This is one of the many paths they are taking toward “basic income”.
In my ideal, “basic income” would come entirely from charity. I have no problem with Bezos personally giving $80/year to every medicaid recipient to buy amazon prime or even giving them prime for free. I would praise him for doing it. If he could support 10-20% of the country (the upper-lower-class) to live a reasonable life without working and without government that’s a huge accomplishment (if that’s what he wants) I’ll buy him a beer (or whatever he wants for me to show appreciation).
But, in their ideal, the “income” would come entirely from MY taxes (Bezos has an accountant to avoid the taxes or transfer them directly to “medicaid recipients” or whoever he favors this year so I pay this “income” and he deducts it from his taxes)
Their eventual goal is that everyone gets enough government money plus private services/products so that nobody HAS to work. Their private services/products are written off in tax deductions, so the middle class pays for part of the lower class to live without working, and encourages the growth of that part of the lower class that could work but would have a lower standard of living if they got a paycheck instead of Bezos’s discount. The middle class has to work much more because we are footing the bill for everyone Bezos wants to help - either through taxes, or through payments to Bezos companies that given free stuff to the lower class.
Lord forbid they offered the same deal to medicare recipients - retired people who paid into the system for ~45 years and provided for their own living standards -
and those medicare resipients probably vote for deplorables...
Bayzo (alkie) I mean, Bezos, is pulling the big con on the gov’t..
not to mention, they are collecting more metadata on future ‘voters’..