Short Blog: Should women get rich from divorce?
So I just saw that Jeff Bezos' wife now has $36 Billion dollars mostly via divorcing the wealthiest man in the world. As I gather it, he just wanted to date their neighbor and was okay with the split. He had no issue cheating, etc. Honestly she will just continue to invest and the wealth will grow. Seems like a huge ego boost for the neighbor. This guy gave up a lot of money to date you. But Jesus would remind us that it wasn't that much for Bezos. He still has 60B and will his life really be affected. Jesus said the widow who put in two small coins gave more than everyone else.
But some of the arguments I've read online are interesting. Some say that it isn't right for one of the wealthiest women in the world to have her money via divorce. And that seems right because it's such a bad message to send out. Of course most of the wealthiest people in the world inherited their money and a lot of people have a problem with that too, which is a totally different question.
But on the other hand some argue that she deserved this money because
1)He cheated on her and they have proof
2)She raised their 4 kids
3)She helped him make that money
I have to admit that these arguments fall pretty flat to me. I know mothers who do fantastic jobs raising 4 and even more kids. And their husbands don't turn that free time into 90Billion. So clearly the difference between Bezos and these other less successful men was not the fact that his wife was a good mother. For many men have just such a wife and make far less. Some men become millionairs with such support. Some live in trailers. Bezos became the wealthiest man to ever live. So she didn't "earn" the money. Furthermore, motherhood, (also fatherhood) is a duty in my book. It's priceless and non negotiable. Those children have a right to a good mother and father and there literally is no dollar value that can be placed on that.
The real issue is the fact that he cheated on her. It seems painfully clear that the man has to pay. And what he must pay should be something significant for him. There really appears to be no way around it. Losing a third of his money does seem justified for what he did. But should it go to her? Again, she did what she was supposed to do, raising the children. But many women do fantastic jobs as mothers. Where are their billions? If Bezos' wife deserves 30B, then why don't all good mothers deserve it?
So perhaps he should be forced to give the money away? The problems with such a settlement are many. Being fined in this way transforms the legal situation from civil case into a criminal case. In other words, is this man a criminal who has committed a crime against humanity? If you think so, then you think adultery is itself an evil that our society must be purged of. He hasn't only committed a crime against her, but against the community itself. At this point in history, most people don't view adultery as a criminal matter. In the past, they may have stoned you. Furthermore, the billions of dollars are really just the value of his company, Amazon. So it would be really bad for a ton of people if he just transferred a third of the company into cash and gave it to the homeless or even worse, the government via fines. Perhaps the money could be transferred to the other stockholders etc, but they may run the business into the ground. Honestly it makes the most sense to give the money to someone you trust to take care of the company you've built. The person doing a good job raising your children seems like a good choice?
But doesn't he owe her something? Yes, it's unreasonable to suggest that she earned 30B by doing what so many mothers do all the time. But it's also unreasonable to suggest that she should get nothing. Basically she had an agreement with her former husband that he'd support her financially. Now he wants to back out of other parts of the marriage. Nevertheless continuing some of the promises seems reasonable. But how much money does it take to support her? It depends on the situation. He could giver her one million dollars, and then she could draw interest on it easily over 6 figures a year. Plenty of women would consider that plenty of support! But her situation may have other issues. For example, if he gives her a large home, then the upkeep could be quite a bit. That's just an example but it's clear there would have to be some number there.
And then there's all the men out there making really bad counter arguments. We can't leave them out. For example, they say that if you have a lot of money, then never get married because evil women will come just to get your money. The more you have, the more you will draw out the truly experts in digging for gold. I don't buy that argument for a second. When you marry someone, that person now has immense power to destroy your life without taking a cent from you. The trauma and abuse both physical and mental to you as well as your children could be catastrophic. It makes zero sense to marry unless you trust this person. So if you're in for a penny then you're in for a pound.
Another bad argument is this. Well if you really love each other then why get married? If she really loves me then why does she even need the paper work? That bat swings both ways. For if you really love her, then why not sign the paperwork? Basically she shouldn't require you to sign it. You should offer to do so without being asked. And she should be okay with you not signing it. In other words the idea is each person putting the other person first. I used to listen to a Christian radio question and answer program. The caller wanted to argue why on earth he and his girlfriend needed to get married. He said that the paperwork proved nothing. It's just a piece of paper and what really matters is their love. The radio hosts struggled for a while to answer the man and basically failed. Then as they were about to move on, one of them asked him this. "Why not just get the paperwork if it's no big deal anyway?" The caller said that his girlfriend received alimony payments from her ex husband and that would be cut off if she remarried. Suddenly it seemed that the piece of paper did mean something. And that makes me wonder. If Bezos' wife gets remarried, should she give the money back? I don't think so. It's not alimony it's a settlement that's basically a monetary punishment for him. That is all.
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