4 ms·

I agree with you in principle, but I would point out that our long, precarious supply chains are the exact result of most professionals earning money to outsour

by ksdale 7y ago

I agree with you in principle, but I would point out that our long, precarious supply chains are the exact result of most professionals earning money to outsource things. I'm sure it's still a good deal, but it's less of a good deal than it looked like before supply chains started breaking left and right.

klipt 7y ago
Those supply chains will recover after this once-per-century risk is over (eg we find a vaccine). For now I'm still way better off as a professional who can work from home and order food online, than I would be as a subsistence farmer somewhere. And remember, being subsistence farmers without long supply chains didn't help the native Americans when Europeans arrived with a new plague they weren't immune to.
- ksdale 7y ago
  I didn't say you should become a subsistence farmer. Mine is more of a general argument about the costs of specialization. And do you think the Native Americans were more or less specialized than the Europeans?
tathougies 7y ago
But the supply chains are not precarious at all, given what we've seen here. They're quite robust.
- ksdale 7y ago
  I live in western Washington, where the stores have been more or less out of toilet paper for weeks, and as far as I can tell, this thing is months from being over in the US. The supply chains haven't broken entirely yet, which is excellent and impressive, but in my personal opinion, the jury is still out on whether they're robust.
  - tathougies 7y ago
    Toilet paper is scarcer here in Portland Oregon, but according to nextdoor, there is basically at least one store that has some everyday, and there are typically multiple.
    - ksdale 7y ago
      This just doesn't feel like robustness to me, I guess. It feels precarious, and as far as I know, we haven't yet had time to feel the ripples from electronics supply chain disruptions in China, or the pharmaceutical supply chain disruption due to India understandably limiting exports. I don't want to sound like all sour grapes, I've been hugely impressed with certain industries shifting production to make PPE on such short notice. If this was all going to be over in two weeks, I'd say supply chains passed with flying colors, but it seems like this is just the beginning.

by ksdale 7y ago

klipt 7y ago

Those supply chains will recover after this once-per-century risk is over (eg we find a vaccine). For now I'm still way better off as a professional who can work from home and order food online, than I would be as a subsistence farmer somewhere. And remember, being subsistence farmers without long supply chains didn't help the native Americans when Europeans arrived with a new plague they weren't immune to.

ksdale 7y ago
I didn't say you should become a subsistence farmer. Mine is more of a general argument about the costs of specialization. And do you think the Native Americans were more or less specialized than the Europeans?

tathougies 7y ago

But the supply chains are not precarious at all, given what we've seen here. They're quite robust.

ksdale 7y ago
I live in western Washington, where the stores have been more or less out of toilet paper for weeks, and as far as I can tell, this thing is months from being over in the US. The supply chains haven't broken entirely yet, which is excellent and impressive, but in my personal opinion, the jury is still out on whether they're robust.
- tathougies 7y ago
  Toilet paper is scarcer here in Portland Oregon, but according to nextdoor, there is basically at least one store that has some everyday, and there are typically multiple.
  - ksdale 7y ago
    This just doesn't feel like robustness to me, I guess. It feels precarious, and as far as I know, we haven't yet had time to feel the ripples from electronics supply chain disruptions in China, or the pharmaceutical supply chain disruption due to India understandably limiting exports. I don't want to sound like all sour grapes, I've been hugely impressed with certain industries shifting production to make PPE on such short notice. If this was all going to be over in two weeks, I'd say supply chains passed with flying colors, but it seems like this is just the beginning.