Re Jack Ma's donation

[matt819]

Jack Ma has donated masks and testing kits. I think they’re on the way. He spent his own money, but in the future Chinese children will be urged to look after their health because American children do t gave any health care.

Ok, this may not be seemly, but why don’t the American billionaires get some money together - maybe pocket change or what’s fallen between the sofa cushions - and buy a few million test kits and masks and glove for, you know, their fellow Americans. And here’s an idea. Lead by example. Allow as many employees as possible work from home. Reduce quotas for warehouse workers. Pay for sick leave.

Sure, we’ll still hate you, but at least you would have done the right thing. How many respirators csn $1 billion but? Masks? Testing kits? Think of it as the taxes you’ve evaded for decades.

[Ohiogal]

1. Amen.

[Brainfodder]

2. To reach B status, you have to be a lucky scoundrel to begin with?

n/t

[greymattermom]

3. Are there respirators for sale?

Maybe they need to buy the factory and increase output.

[empedocles]

4. Where is Bezos?

[lunasun]

5. His donations are on the way

Link to tweet

?s=21

Thank you Jack Ma & friends working to get them here

[Wounded Bear]

6. How billionaires are reacting...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2020/03/15/how-billionaires-are-reacting-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic/#51f3b3eb2e22

Amid the growing spread of the novel coronavirus, Forbes has been monitoring billionaire reactions to the pandemic. We highlight some of the biggest news - and checked in with some billionaires directly to see what it means for their businesses, their employees and their expectations.

Some of the world’s richest are donating to help countries hardest hit by the disease. Bill Gates, the world’s second-richest person, announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would commit $100 million to aid global detection, isolation and treatment of the virus. Alibaba founder Jack Ma, the second-richest person in China, pledged $14 million from his foundation to help develop a coronavirus vaccine and said on Friday he would donate 500,000 testing kits and one million face masks to the U.S.

[matt819]

7. Ok

No question. Bill gates takes the long view, and that’s great.

But there are immediate needs that should be addressed by the government. But we don’t have a functioning government and so depend on the private sector. Someone needs to order ventilators and gloves and masks and syringes and whatever. Okay, it’s not weapons of war, but surely we have the capacity to do this. Even if they’re made in China. Negotiate with China to get it done. (Btw, this is why trade wars are bad - sometimes you need stuff that your trade adversary has.). If they’re made in the us, pay a premium if you must, but get them ordered. You get the idea. Thus is what the pandemic response group would have dealt with and its what a leader would have done in January or early February. A real president would not have Had a press conference with the retailers backing him up, but he would’ve had medical manufacturers backing up and committing publicly to meeting the demands of this virus has created.

But back to my original point. We don’t have a real president and we don’t have a real plan as government. But billionaires can become billionaires because they sat back and waited for things to happen. They did stuff, and now it’s time for them to do stuff now. Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Buffett. Add it all up, and there’s about $400 billion among them. Yes, it’s obscene. Oh that kind of financial power brought to bear, stuff can get done.

[uponit7771]

8. America's billionaires don't do the whole help other people our shit, that's for humans