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I think this is one of the great side tragedies of the coronavirus. The US generally had a lot of trust in these federal agencies. They've always been susceptib

I think this is one of the great side tragedies of the coronavirus. The US generally had a lot of trust in these federal agencies. They've always been susceptible to political interference, as demonstrated now. But it's never (?) gotten to the point it has now, where you simply can't trust the CDC to provide accurate information, or information that every other country has accepted months ago. Will the next administration provide a V-shaped recovery in trust? Or is it just gone forever?

bsder 6y ago
> Will the next administration provide a V-shaped recovery in trust? Or is it just gone forever? The big problem is that in order to fix trust, you will need to purge a lot of the senior bureaucrats who decided that keeping their job was more important than serving the public. If you don't do this, then you have sent the signal that being a political operator is more important than doing your actual job.
- teddyh 6y ago
  Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration. Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc. The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization. — https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html
tridentlead 6y ago
It's not the administration. It's just the general ineptitude of many government processes. The current crisis has just laid inadequacies bare.
- throw-away_42 6y ago
  It is this Republican administration. They were left a playbook for this scenario. They threw it out, and then lied about it. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/12/fact-check-obama-left-trump-a-pandemic-response-playbook/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/12/fact-check-obama-left...
rayhendricks 6y ago
Yeah it’s readily gotten bad. University of Washington/Seattle flu study actually had to start testing people for Covid first.

bsder 6y ago

> Will the next administration provide a V-shaped recovery in trust? Or is it just gone forever? The big problem is that in order to fix trust, you will need to purge a lot of the senior bureaucrats who decided that keeping their job was more important than serving the public. If you don't do this, then you have sent the signal that being a political operator is more important than doing your actual job.

teddyh 6y ago
Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration. Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc. The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization. — https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html

tridentlead 6y ago

It's not the administration. It's just the general ineptitude of many government processes. The current crisis has just laid inadequacies bare.

throw-away_42 6y ago
It is this Republican administration. They were left a playbook for this scenario. They threw it out, and then lied about it. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/12/fact-check-obama-left-trump-a-pandemic-response-playbook/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/12/fact-check-obama-left...

rayhendricks 6y ago

Yeah it’s readily gotten bad. University of Washington/Seattle flu study actually had to start testing people for Covid first.