(Vox) What Silicon Valley billionaires decide to do with their money and power from now on in the Covid-19 crisis matters. It could affect the amount of suffering the US experiences in a recession and the amount of time before things return to normal. It might even have an impact on the number of people who will die from the coronavirus.
So this moment is a test for the nation’s billionaires, who tend to point to their philanthropy as a riposte against calls for higher taxes. If ever there were a moment for the nation’s wealthiest to part with considerable amounts of their net worth to solve a social problem, it is now.