Depending on Billionaires to Save Us: Vox

Inequality has widened as governments rely on tax cuts for the wealthy and delay investment in infrastructure, disaster preparedness, education or other social programs that benefit entire societies. Starved of revenues, many governments fail in their pandemic response. “The US government has repeatedly proven to be sluggish at best and impotent at worst at controlling the carnage of the coronavirus crisis,” explains Theodore Schleifer for Vox. During the pandemic, many communities depend on the charity of tech billionaires for food and basic supplies. Large donations reflect generosity, but the largesse reflects a power imbalance that erodes trust in government. Many have long warned that taxation in a democratic system provides broad, fair and just distribution rather than philanthropy’s hodgepodge approach. Large, splashy, narrowly targeted donations catch far more attention than the steady grind of distributing resources to every citizen. Schleifer describes four spheres of influence for tech billionaires: philanthropy, corporate controls, political power and personal brands. Donations during a crisis reinforces the power imbalances among those four spheres. – YaleGlobal