Brazilian government creates donation platform

Brazil’s federal government has launched the “All for All” platform (Todos por todos), allowing companies, organizations, and individuals to donate services and products to help citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We seek ways to bring together everyone who might help those who need the most. Restrictions imposed by the novel coronavirus make platforms like this necessary,” said Luis Felipe Monteiro, the Digital Government Secretary at the Economy Ministry.

According to officials, the platform will serve as a bridge between donors and those who are in need. The government will screen all offers before making them available on the website.

Wartime situation

In a televised speech, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the moment a wartime situation. “Since German reunification, actually, since World War II, there has never been a challenge for our country in which acting in solidarity was so very crucial.”

Economist Monica de Bolle, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington D.C., agrees with the assessment. She believes that Congress must pass a bill enacting higher taxes on big fortunes and companies’ dividends as a way of financing this “war effort” without crippling the middle class’ purchasing power.

Otherwise, they will not be able to prepare themselves for the “very long crisis ahead,” she wrote on Twitter.

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