I worked in research for decades - no idea where you get that $20,000 number from. Also, I cannot follow this argument of "only the rich can do science", this seems to bear any relation to reality.
These people cannot access science that is behind a paywall. The fact that they cannot is a failure. Whether its a moral failure, or an economic or a societal one, I'm not sure, but I do believe that providing free access to scientific advancements it the right thing to do.
I don't have an example of a $60 paper (I don't keep a list) but below is a $42 paper and a $35 paper that I came across very recently.
https://library.seg.org/doi/epub/10.1190/geo2023-0525.1
https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/52034eb04b657aea,442...
This is prohibitively expensive for the majority of the world.
Remember that the global average annual salary is around $18,000 (https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17512040).
These people cannot access science that is behind a paywall. The fact that they cannot is a failure. Whether its a moral failure, or an economic or a societal one, I'm not sure, but I do believe that providing free access to scientific advancements it the right thing to do.