4 ms·

If only CDC allowed "non official" tests.

malandrew 7y ago
This is the real problem. Both the CDC and the FDA stopped everyone else from making progress on testing and we only started getting more tests when labs decided to disobey them. Cockups like this really should lay to rest the idea some people have that the federal government is a panacea for everything. This is very similar to one of Warren Buffett's quote about investing in companies: “I try to invest in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.” The truth is that federal government is far from being able to be wonderful when run by idiots. The best thing to do is try things out at the state level and if it proves to be so wonderful, only then do you try to scale it to two states, then three until it is so wonderful that it can be done at the federal level.
- gameswithgo 7y ago
  The problem I have with this attitude, as it plays out in the United States, is that people accept this idea as true, and so then they de-fund things until they operate poorly, they vote with apathy so you end up with idiots in control, and basically the prophecy fulfills itself. All these things about idiots being in charge is, as Buffet said, true of companies as well. Nothing is a panacea.
  - malandrew 7y ago
    You can have many companies to choose from in the market and can choose to avoid the one run by idiots. You only have one government, so if it is full of idiots, you're pretty much screwed. I'm not every talking about government funding. I'm talking about government having too much power and control. That said, just throwing more money at the government gives zero guarantee that it will run any better. It usually will run just as poorly, but wasting more money than before.
- yongjik 7y ago
  > Cockups like this really should lay to rest the idea some people have that the federal government is a panacea for everything. IMHO, a major reason South Korea improved so much in recent decades is, when we had idiotic/evil leaders, we didn't say "What did you expect from the government? The government can and will be run by idiots, so you should not depend on it." Instead, we said "How come our government is run by these murders and idiots? This is unacceptable! We demand a government we can depend on!" You keep saying the government is run by idiots, you get your government run by idiots. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is the real problem. Both the CDC and the FDA stopped everyone else from making progress on testing and we only started getting more tests when labs decided to disobey them. Cockups like this really should lay to rest the idea some people have that the federal government is a panacea for everything. This is very similar to one of Warren Buffett's quote about investing in companies: “I try to invest in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.” The truth is that federal government is far from being able to be wonderful when run by idiots. The best thing to do is try things out at the state level and if it proves to be so wonderful, only then do you try to scale it to two states, then three until it is so wonderful that it can be done at the federal level.

gameswithgo 7y ago
The problem I have with this attitude, as it plays out in the United States, is that people accept this idea as true, and so then they de-fund things until they operate poorly, they vote with apathy so you end up with idiots in control, and basically the prophecy fulfills itself. All these things about idiots being in charge is, as Buffet said, true of companies as well. Nothing is a panacea.
- malandrew 7y ago
  You can have many companies to choose from in the market and can choose to avoid the one run by idiots. You only have one government, so if it is full of idiots, you're pretty much screwed. I'm not every talking about government funding. I'm talking about government having too much power and control. That said, just throwing more money at the government gives zero guarantee that it will run any better. It usually will run just as poorly, but wasting more money than before.
yongjik 7y ago
> Cockups like this really should lay to rest the idea some people have that the federal government is a panacea for everything. IMHO, a major reason South Korea improved so much in recent decades is, when we had idiotic/evil leaders, we didn't say "What did you expect from the government? The government can and will be run by idiots, so you should not depend on it." Instead, we said "How come our government is run by these murders and idiots? This is unacceptable! We demand a government we can depend on!" You keep saying the government is run by idiots, you get your government run by idiots. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.