Jeff Bezos Chooses Capitalism

Is one of the richest men in the world turning into the next Elon?

In an interview last week, Jeff Bezos went full populist, arguing for slashing government spending and government control, and ending all taxes for anyone who makes under $75,000.

He praised President Donald Trump as “mature and disciplined,” framing support for the president as being “on the side of America,” and giving a full-throated endorsement of capitalism versus socialism.

Now, Bezos has been moving in this direction for a while; he was rabidly anti-Trump in his first term but has since warmed not just to the president, but to populism.

He already moved to Florida for the taxes. Last year, he announced the Washington Post, which he owns, would henceforth advocate “free markets and individual liberties” as opposed to the communist Deep State the Post used to advocate.

He infuriated the Post’s liberal readers by refusing to endorse anyone in the 2024 election — which they took as a rebuke of Kamala.

This is all risky in Silicon Valley, where saying nice things about Trump can end your career and certainly end the dinner-party invites. But being worth more than $200 billion gives you some leeway.

And it matters because it would be splendid to have another Elon Musk.

Bezos kicked off his interview by correctly noting that we’ve got two economies — some call it a K-shaped economy — with lots of people doing great but millions suffering.

But the kicker is that, unlike socialists who want more government control — and more taxes — Bezos wants less.

He would start by ending taxes on anybody making less than $75,000 a year, which would cost shockingly little, just 3% of federal revenue. He rejects hiking taxes on billionaires to cover it — as you’d expect — saying the government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Then he went after that spending side, with its regulations and crony handouts.

Bezos cited housing, where federal policy drives up prices through mortgage subsidies while strangling supply with zoning and building regulations.

And education, noting New York schools spend $44,000 per student, yet half of the pupils would require remedial courses to go to college.

And crony capitalism, citing the 10,000-page tax code lovingly bought by corporate lobbyists and the billions Washington hands to corporations.

He didn’t get into the non-governmental organization industrial complex that siphons your life savings to Left-wing rioters and “Learing Centers,” but he did note that for-profit businesses do much more for the world than most charities.

After all, to build a successful business, you must make people’s lives better, whether it’s McDonald’s, Walmart, Amazon, or SpaceX. But to build a successful charity, you have to grab enough money and not fix the problem — that would cause your donations to dry up.

Jeff Bezos: “If I do my job right, the value to society and civilization from my for-profit companies will be much, much larger than the good that I do with my charitable giving.” pic.twitter.com/3svJ1onmAr

— CNBC (@CNBC) May 20, 2026

Bezos is now the latest convert to the Elon bundle — free enterprise, small government, less corruption, and less government control.

Dozens of billionaires — many formerly Left-wing — have now come on-side, including internet pioneer Marc Andreessen, who was terrified by government control of AI, Larry Ellison, who just bought Paramount and CNBC, and a dozen others who worry more about the economy than pronouns.

We’ll see if Bezos gets as hands-on as Elon. But it’s encouraging that billionaires are finally turning against the communists who would hang them from a lamp-post.

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Peter St. Onge, Ph.D., is a senior economist at the Heritage Foundation.