“The modern ultra-billionaire is someone who feels a right, in many cases, to privately govern the people of the United States,” said Anand Giridharadas, author of “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World,” an influential critique of billionaire philanthropy.
Gates’s generosity and activism during the pandemic has earned him widespread praise, but it’s also attracted conspiracy theorists suspicious of his motives. A YouGov and Yahoo News poll found that 44% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats believed Gates wanted to use vaccinations to give people tracking implants.
The criticism of Bezos also hasn’t let up, even as his giving increased recently with a $10 billion commitment in February to fight climate change and a $100 million donation in April to the nonprofit Feeding America. When he made the announcements, his wealth had already grown by significantly more than those amounts this year. He hasn’t signed the Giving Pledge.
Signed Pledge
MacKenzie Scott, Bezos’s ex-wife, signed the pledge not long after the two announced their split. Scott said Tuesday that she has since donated $1.7 billion to several causes including racial equity, climate change and public health.
“There’s no question in my mind that anyone’s personal wealth is the product of a collective effort, and of social structures which present opportunities to some people, and obstacles to countless others,” she said.
Big Tech companies have earned some grudging respect, even from critics, during the pandemic.
“We have been fortunate to have these digital technologies,” said MIT’s Acemoglu. “Without them, the fallout from the lockdowns and social distancing would have been worse.”
That may come with a cost: “This is going to make the domination of tech companies over the economy and our social lives much worse, and it’s going to significantly accelerate the trend toward greater automation,” Acemoglu said. He warns that tech’s rapid ascent may deepen inequality, shrink the number of good jobs, and weaken democracy.
Such concerns could help shift Big Tech and its billionaires into the crosshairs of governments whose finances have been devastated by the pandemic. Heading into this year’s U.S. presidential race, Elizabeth Warren and Sanders proposed wealth taxes on billionaires, an idea that polled well with voters.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, hasn’t embraced the wealth tax, but he’s campaigning on higher rates on the rich and corporations, as well as the closing of estate-tax loopholes.