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That's mostly because politicians are stupid. This exact scenario has happened before, with masks (I think during SARS? there was an article on HN recently) -
by tomp 7y ago
That's mostly because politicians are stupid.
This exact scenario has happened before, with masks (I think during SARS? there was an article on HN recently) - companies were ordered to produce more, then the crisis fizzled out and the orders were cancelled, making some companies almost go out of business.
Instead, politicians should simply commit to buying said quantities of widgets, and then respect those commitments regardless of the outcomes (widgets are needed or not at all). It's unfair (and sets a bad precedent) to expect companies to take the loss for public good.
- csours 7y agoI think that's right. I think most politicians don't care or understand, and the ones that do have a hard time explaining things like this to their constituents.
- downrightmike 7y agoThe US Gov does do this in the case of vaccines because they use 900,000 eggs a day to produce vaccines, that if there wasn't the Gov buying the vaccines, there wouldn't be any production or stock when it was needed. Good article on it: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/13/815307821/planet-money-why-the-market-for-emergency-vaccines-is-like-no-other https://www.npr.org/2020/03/13/815307821/planet-money-why-th... https://www.phe.gov/about/barda/Pages/default.aspx https://www.phe.gov/about/barda/Pages/default.aspx