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> Only a government can and should be preparing for really bad things that might never happen. How can a govt predict and stock up all the unforeseen events.

> Only a government can and should be preparing for really bad things that might never happen. How can a govt predict and stock up all the unforeseen events. Wouldn't there be an opportunity cost to for these preparations just like to a private institution. Govt also has limited set of resources, ppl would probably probably choose to fund better roads than prepare for once in a lifetime event. I cannot imagine any politician being able to sell idea of making huge investments for things that might never happen. Govt also runs on the idea of "profit" , profit in terms on demonstrable results. Otherwise ppl get voted out.

JoeAltmaier 7y ago
Stockpiling medical supplies is a pimple on the US federal budget. Its a strawman to suggest its 'huge investments'. Its a decision to make, and the US decided to 'go commando' to save a few bucks. Because it was politically expedient. Because the politicians are gambling with our lives to advance their careers. Instead of, you know, doing the right thing. Foolish folks who blindly label everything "huge investments" are the issue here. Yes its maybe $100,000,000. A big number to the rank and file. But its 100 miles of road for instance. America has a million miles - which was deemed worthwhile. Labelling every public health and safety issue as a 'waste of money' is the tragedy here. Its shortsighted and stupid.
- dominotw 7y ago
  > Stockpiling medical supplies is a pimple on the US federal budget. We aren't just lacking medical supplies though. We also lack hospital capacity. > . Its a strawman to suggest its 'huge investments'. I was responding to parent comment that said "really bad things that might never happen." Surely just medical supplies don't cover all bad things that might ever happen? > you know, doing the right thing. You mean ppl don't have suffiencnt information to judge if a politician is doing the right thing? also, whats with all the name calling. Ok maybe its not "huge" investment, I don't know what the level of investment is to prepare for all things, but neither do you. "stupid people" vote too.
  - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
    Sorry, isolation is making me owly.
    - dominotw 7y ago
      hehe, me too. All good. cheers.
basch 7y ago
What's most likely to deprive other people of life at large scales: famine, disease, war, weather the biggest 4? Govt has plenty of contingency plans, but those three should be towards the top of the list.
tathougies 7y ago
Yup, I am surprised at the numebr of people here who think government should have stocked up on ventilators. Ventilators are not such a common requirement to defeat a virus. How do we know what virus will emerge next? COVID-19 needs a ventilator to mitigate side effects. But does it really make sense to stock up on hundreds of thousands of ventilators, when you only really need a few thousand in any given year? What if the next virus is an hemmorhagic fever, or something completely novel? How do you prepare reasonably and with finite resources for something we do not know? No one can answer these questions. The fact is that if we had bought hundreds of thousands of ventilators and not enough fluid replacement (for Ebola for example) and Ebola was the pandemic, not COVID-19, then everyone would blame the government for preparing the wrong thing. How can anyone know?
- pwinnski 7y ago
  We are not prepared for anything right now, though. We have literally closed the government agency focused on things like Ebola or COVID-19, and we lack even the stockpiles of general supplies we had in 2009. To have prepared for the wrong thing would be unfortunate. To be prepared for nothing should be criminal.
  - tathougies 7y ago
    > We have literally closed the government agency focused on things like Ebola or COVID-19, and we lack even the stockpiles of general supplies we had in 2009. Can you please cite what you are talking about? Neither the CDC nor FDA are closed. W.r.t the masks, I completely agree. This has been a decade's worth of failure. Why weren't the masks replaced in 2010? There should be an investigation for sure.
    - pwinnski 7y ago
      I don't have any links that don't read like partisan snipes, and I'm not trying to start a partisan squabble. After Ebola, we established the National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense. In recent years, it was closed down.
ragebol 7y ago
Do you have insurance?
- dominotw 7y ago
  yes but it doesn't cover all unseen future events. Only a specific predefined set. Yours does?

JoeAltmaier 7y ago

Stockpiling medical supplies is a pimple on the US federal budget. Its a strawman to suggest its 'huge investments'. Its a decision to make, and the US decided to 'go commando' to save a few bucks. Because it was politically expedient. Because the politicians are gambling with our lives to advance their careers. Instead of, you know, doing the right thing. Foolish folks who blindly label everything "huge investments" are the issue here. Yes its maybe $100,000,000. A big number to the rank and file. But its 100 miles of road for instance. America has a million miles - which was deemed worthwhile. Labelling every public health and safety issue as a 'waste of money' is the tragedy here. Its shortsighted and stupid.

dominotw 7y ago
> Stockpiling medical supplies is a pimple on the US federal budget. We aren't just lacking medical supplies though. We also lack hospital capacity. > . Its a strawman to suggest its 'huge investments'. I was responding to parent comment that said "really bad things that might never happen." Surely just medical supplies don't cover all bad things that might ever happen? > you know, doing the right thing. You mean ppl don't have suffiencnt information to judge if a politician is doing the right thing? also, whats with all the name calling. Ok maybe its not "huge" investment, I don't know what the level of investment is to prepare for all things, but neither do you. "stupid people" vote too.
- JoeAltmaier 7y ago
  Sorry, isolation is making me owly.
  - dominotw 7y ago
    hehe, me too. All good. cheers.

basch 7y ago

What's most likely to deprive other people of life at large scales: famine, disease, war, weather the biggest 4? Govt has plenty of contingency plans, but those three should be towards the top of the list.

tathougies 7y ago

Yup, I am surprised at the numebr of people here who think government should have stocked up on ventilators. Ventilators are not such a common requirement to defeat a virus. How do we know what virus will emerge next? COVID-19 needs a ventilator to mitigate side effects. But does it really make sense to stock up on hundreds of thousands of ventilators, when you only really need a few thousand in any given year? What if the next virus is an hemmorhagic fever, or something completely novel? How do you prepare reasonably and with finite resources for something we do not know? No one can answer these questions. The fact is that if we had bought hundreds of thousands of ventilators and not enough fluid replacement (for Ebola for example) and Ebola was the pandemic, not COVID-19, then everyone would blame the government for preparing the wrong thing. How can anyone know?

pwinnski 7y ago
We are not prepared for anything right now, though. We have literally closed the government agency focused on things like Ebola or COVID-19, and we lack even the stockpiles of general supplies we had in 2009. To have prepared for the wrong thing would be unfortunate. To be prepared for nothing should be criminal.
- tathougies 7y ago
  > We have literally closed the government agency focused on things like Ebola or COVID-19, and we lack even the stockpiles of general supplies we had in 2009. Can you please cite what you are talking about? Neither the CDC nor FDA are closed. W.r.t the masks, I completely agree. This has been a decade's worth of failure. Why weren't the masks replaced in 2010? There should be an investigation for sure.
  - pwinnski 7y ago
    I don't have any links that don't read like partisan snipes, and I'm not trying to start a partisan squabble. After Ebola, we established the National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense. In recent years, it was closed down.

ragebol 7y ago

Do you have insurance?

dominotw 7y ago
yes but it doesn't cover all unseen future events. Only a specific predefined set. Yours does?