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Care 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 t

by m0zg 7y ago

Care 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 ago
H1N1 was literally just the regular flu. And there were only 4 confirmed Ebola cases in the US.
geofft 7y ago
Neither 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 ago
  Ah, 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 ago
The 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...

by m0zg 7y ago

bildung 7y ago

H1N1 was literally just the regular flu. And there were only 4 confirmed Ebola cases in the US.

geofft 7y ago

Neither 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 ago
Ah, 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 ago

The 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...