Indeed, businesses are stepping up to help with the current crisis, which is laudable. Generally I don’t like to idealize nor vilify anyone/anything. However, the responsibility of a business is towards their stakeholders, while governments is towards their people.

I feel the criticism towards corporations is that generally they place profits over people. Here is an interesting article from the NY Times about how the U.S. failed to secure cheaper ventilators for situations like the ones we are facing now.

You mentioned in your piece that “It does not matter how well-stocked a government is,” however part of the problem with the current situation is that the government was not properly supplied. Nor many of the hospitals were excess capacity is the biggest problem.

Again, corporations deserve praise for helping to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. I hope they are doing it with the spirit of a greater good in mind. Which would be expected, because at the end of the day their survival depends on the survival of their customers.

Governments have failed at being stewards for the whole of the population. They allow the free sale of cheap food such as caffeinated beverages that promote diseases like Diabetes Type 2, which at least in the U.S. are widely consumed.

Corporations have raised as strong alternatives, and I will agree with anyone about the fact that if you work for Google or a big company such as that, you will be well taken care of. However the corporation has accountability towards the stakeholder, not towards the whole of the population. I am hesitant about placing my hope in companies that are more concerned about the next quarter than the next 20 years.

Bottom line, I don’t think they are saving the day. They are, like anyone else, hoping for survival.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/business/coronavirus-us-ventilator-shortage.html