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Not really. The proposed CDC funding cuts have been overruled by Congress. In fact the CDC gets more funding now than at any point under Obama (who BTW, also tr
by m0zg 7y ago
Not really. The proposed CDC funding cuts have been overruled by Congress. In fact the CDC gets more funding now than at any point under Obama (who BTW, also tried to cut the budget several times; e.g. 2015 CDC budget is $243M less than 2014), and this year's budget is larger than last year. It's not the lack of funds. It's total mismanagement.
$7B+/yr and we get 70 people tested per day as thousands are being infected, and hundreds are about to die.
IMO their funding should be cut to zero for this, and reallocated to people who know how to do this kind of thing. You can find such people at WHO.
https://apnews.com/d36d6c4de29f4d04beda3db00cb46104 https://apnews.com/d36d6c4de29f4d04beda3db00cb46104
- pengaru 7y agoThere's a complete lack of leadership in handling this pandemic in large part because this incompetent administration disbanded the national security team global health security and biodefense directorate. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/0...
- m0zg 7y agoCare to explain why there was lack of leadership in 2009 when 57 million Americans got infected with H1N1? Or why Ebola response was also botched? There seems to be a long history of incompetence here. You can't fix incompetence by giving the incompetent more money or keeping them around.
- bildung 7y agoH1N1 was literally just the regular flu. And there were only 4 confirmed Ebola cases in the US.
- geofft 7y agoNeither of those responses were botched, sorry. And yes, you can in fact fix incompetence by giving the incompetent organization more money. Organizations are made up of people, and those people have varying levels of competence, and the set of people isn't fixed, either. Sometimes you have competent ICs begging for funding and incompetent managers who can't present the case for it. Sometimes you have competent managers who don't have enough budget to hire competent ICs at salaries competitive with industry. Sometimes everyone is competent but too afraid of risking their job to speak out against structures or processes that prevent them from doing their best work. If you think there's corruption, that's a different matter, but if it's just incompetence, throwing more money at the problem sounds like a fantastic plan.
- m0zg 7y agoAh, but you see, the CDC took it upon itself to fight Ebola in Africa. And that part went as well as you'd expect after seeing their current performance: they're still dealing with it, years later.
- pengaru 7y agoThe office Trump's administration disbanded was formed after the 2014 Ebola outbreak handling was botched, precisely to address the shortcomings you're bringing up. Edit: It's being reported on currently: https://www.newsweek.com/former-head-white-house-pandemic-office-says-united-states-less-prepared-after-closure-1492337 https://www.newsweek.com/former-head-white-house-pandemic-of...
- bluGill 7y agoI don't know, it appears to me that we are running a long in place plan. (Other than troubles with testing kits which can be blamed on a one time case, but there is surely mismanagement in there). We are not panicking, as things prove to be getting worse we are seeing more and more action. By long in place, I mean first made many years ago and updated regularly as things change. That is the CDC's job. It is tempting to want instant actions, but they often turn out to be knee jerk and wrong.
- grey-area 7y agoWas it part of the plan for the president to talk about hoaxes, a 'foreign' virus, and deny there is a problem?
- bluGill 7y agoI'm talking about the execution of what is happening on the ground. The President has a long history of overstating things and otherwise words not matching actions.
- m0zg 7y ago>> The President has a long history of overstating things Also known in negotiation as "anchoring" - you give people a crazy, exaggerated version of what you want, then you tone it down and easily get what you really wanted to begin with. Anyone who ever participated in any kind of a business negotiation would recognize this immediately. But 99.99% of people haven't negotiated anything ever in their lives, so they don't. People treat Trump as this linear simpleton, and he plays along, but he's not.
- aldoushuxley001 7y agowell you clearly have an axe to grind eh