4 ms·

Maybe it's just me, but generally I would expect a higher level of competence from the leaders of our public and private institutions, than "throw bodies and mo

Maybe it's just me, but generally I would expect a higher level of competence from the leaders of our public and private institutions, than "throw bodies and money at the fire" would imply. If there had been any sort of long term planning or disaster preparedness, we wouldn't be forced to choose between our personal wellbeing and the continued operation of our economy. Unfortunately, that long term thinking fell outside the scope of next quarter's earnings. The fact of the matter is, the emperor has no clothes.

meddlepal 6y ago
I don't know why anyone expects competence from public elected officials who just collectively represent our own stupidity since they're elected by the general population.
culturestate 6y ago
> generally I would expect a higher level of competence from the leaders of our public...institutions Speaking from the American perspective, I think people broadly assume a level of competence in elected leaders but either aren't able or simply don't care to seek out and identify leaders who meet the standard. There are a lot of factors in play here - time, attention span, media, political polarization, etc - but at the core it feels like there are huge numbers of voters today who simply don't appreciate how hard it actually is to do these jobs well. There's a quote from the West Wing that sums this up pretty nicely: "Yeah, but a funny thing happened when the White House got demystified. The impression was left that anybody could do it."
- pdonis 6y ago
  > there are huge numbers of voters today who simply don't appreciate how hard it actually is to do these jobs well. I would put it a bit differently: there are huge numbers of voters today who simply don't appreciate that nobody can do these jobs well. Not with the expectations voters currently have of them. The solution is to lower expectations: stop demanding that the government solve all problems, and limit it to the few proper functions that it can actually perform decently.
  - nerdponx 6y ago
    Nice "small government" propaganda. Surely the private sector can do these jobs better, right?
    - apatters 6y ago
      You obviously want to grind an axe and assume the worst about other people, but these are all alternative answers: - Local governments - Communities - Nonprofits/charities - Individuals Time was when didn't all just piss and moan for some big party boss to save us, we acted like adults and did it ourselves.
      - mindslight 6y ago
        None of those organizations (or even state governments for that matter) have a large amount of resources, either through direct taxation or money printing. I'm all for advocating decentralization, but it's only a solution if DC stops sucking most of the resources upwards and squandering them.
        pdonis 6y ago
        > it's only a solution if DC stops sucking most of the resources upwards and squandering them In other words, we should limit each level of government to the few functions it can realistically perform. Exactly.
  - culturestate 6y ago
    > limit it to the few proper functions that it can actually perform decently. I have many thoughts on this subject and HN isn't really the best venue in which to articulate them, so let me just say this: in democracies, people tend to get all the government they deserve. An engaged electorate which values competent administration, interrogates candidates on their qualifications, and votes according to merit will probably get a highly effective - though perhaps mildly sociopathic - government. An apathetic electorate which dismisses qualifications, abhors nuance, demands ideological purity, and votes (or doesn't!) emotionally, well...
koonsolo 6y ago
> If there had been any sort of long term planning or disaster preparedness. Any politician that would have said "hey, we need to prepare for a global pandemic" would have been a laughing stock. Bill Gates knew (see ted talk), the rest of us didn't. I think the only teacher we accept is a pandemic itself. Therefore I'm very happy it's Covid19 and not something worse. Let's hope we learned our lesson and are prepared next time.
- chroem- 6y ago
  It's not just the politicians though: the private sector deserves just as much of the blame. Watching this unfold from inside BigCorp has been truly eye opening. In a company of 100k people, nobody thought about preparedness or risk management. Instead, BigCorp bought its own stock on margin, and now it has to throw thousands of human beings at a worsening viral pandemic in order to generate cashflow. People are going to die so that the company can stay in business.
  - fit2rule 6y ago
    I have to say, my opinion of Elon Musk has lowered as a result of how he's handling this situation. If he can't get things sorted here on Earth with regards to a pandemic response, how is it going to work out in 10 years when he has a Mars colony to govern? Is there even any plan for how a Mars society is going to proceed in these conditions? I guess its time to dust off the ol' Zubrin material and catch up with where things are these days, vis a vis the human factors of a Mars colony, but the seriously feudal rants of Musk lately are disheartening to say the least ..
  - koonsolo 6y ago
    I don't know if you are running your own business, but it's just so hard to take into account all kinds of possible risks. It's just impossible to work like that. Most of the time you gamble which resources to put where. Else you end up in analysis paralysis.
    - pbhjpbhj 6y ago

meddlepal 6y ago

I don't know why anyone expects competence from public elected officials who just collectively represent our own stupidity since they're elected by the general population.

culturestate 6y ago

> generally I would expect a higher level of competence from the leaders of our public...institutions Speaking from the American perspective, I think people broadly assume a level of competence in elected leaders but either aren't able or simply don't care to seek out and identify leaders who meet the standard. There are a lot of factors in play here - time, attention span, media, political polarization, etc - but at the core it feels like there are huge numbers of voters today who simply don't appreciate how hard it actually is to do these jobs well. There's a quote from the West Wing that sums this up pretty nicely: "Yeah, but a funny thing happened when the White House got demystified. The impression was left that anybody could do it."

pdonis 6y ago
> there are huge numbers of voters today who simply don't appreciate how hard it actually is to do these jobs well. I would put it a bit differently: there are huge numbers of voters today who simply don't appreciate that nobody can do these jobs well. Not with the expectations voters currently have of them. The solution is to lower expectations: stop demanding that the government solve all problems, and limit it to the few proper functions that it can actually perform decently.
- nerdponx 6y ago
  Nice "small government" propaganda. Surely the private sector can do these jobs better, right?
  - apatters 6y ago
    You obviously want to grind an axe and assume the worst about other people, but these are all alternative answers: - Local governments - Communities - Nonprofits/charities - Individuals Time was when didn't all just piss and moan for some big party boss to save us, we acted like adults and did it ourselves.
    - mindslight 6y ago
      None of those organizations (or even state governments for that matter) have a large amount of resources, either through direct taxation or money printing. I'm all for advocating decentralization, but it's only a solution if DC stops sucking most of the resources upwards and squandering them.
      - pdonis 6y ago
        > it's only a solution if DC stops sucking most of the resources upwards and squandering them In other words, we should limit each level of government to the few functions it can realistically perform. Exactly.
- culturestate 6y ago
  > limit it to the few proper functions that it can actually perform decently. I have many thoughts on this subject and HN isn't really the best venue in which to articulate them, so let me just say this: in democracies, people tend to get all the government they deserve. An engaged electorate which values competent administration, interrogates candidates on their qualifications, and votes according to merit will probably get a highly effective - though perhaps mildly sociopathic - government. An apathetic electorate which dismisses qualifications, abhors nuance, demands ideological purity, and votes (or doesn't!) emotionally, well...

koonsolo 6y ago

> If there had been any sort of long term planning or disaster preparedness. Any politician that would have said "hey, we need to prepare for a global pandemic" would have been a laughing stock. Bill Gates knew (see ted talk), the rest of us didn't. I think the only teacher we accept is a pandemic itself. Therefore I'm very happy it's Covid19 and not something worse. Let's hope we learned our lesson and are prepared next time.

chroem- 6y ago
It's not just the politicians though: the private sector deserves just as much of the blame. Watching this unfold from inside BigCorp has been truly eye opening. In a company of 100k people, nobody thought about preparedness or risk management. Instead, BigCorp bought its own stock on margin, and now it has to throw thousands of human beings at a worsening viral pandemic in order to generate cashflow. People are going to die so that the company can stay in business.
- fit2rule 6y ago
  I have to say, my opinion of Elon Musk has lowered as a result of how he's handling this situation. If he can't get things sorted here on Earth with regards to a pandemic response, how is it going to work out in 10 years when he has a Mars colony to govern? Is there even any plan for how a Mars society is going to proceed in these conditions? I guess its time to dust off the ol' Zubrin material and catch up with where things are these days, vis a vis the human factors of a Mars colony, but the seriously feudal rants of Musk lately are disheartening to say the least ..
- koonsolo 6y ago
  I don't know if you are running your own business, but it's just so hard to take into account all kinds of possible risks. It's just impossible to work like that. Most of the time you gamble which resources to put where. Else you end up in analysis paralysis.
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago