Barrons has an interesting take on: “Charitable Giving Critical to Pandemic Relief”.
The massive struggle with Covid-19 continues with a disturbing growth in cases, deaths, and a lagging economy. A rise in income inequality has led to three in four households globally suffering declining income, with 82% of poor households affected. But there is a bright light — a robust stock market. After a slight decline at the pandemic’s onset, stock prices made a speedy recovery, yielding a combined 28% increase of $850 billion for U.S. billionaires, whose total wealth now approaches nearly $3.8 trillion — more than 60% of the wealth of the entire global population. As the giving season nears, these strong investment returns are an opportunity to think seriously about the role of philanthropy in the age of Covid-19 and the number of ways to use robust stock gains to limit the pandemic’s impact on those at the bottom of the pyramid still struggling to survive.
