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It’s been seven months. This is absolutely ridiculous and has everything to do with the lack of leadership and willful negligence of US gov’t.

throwaway894345 6y ago
I agree. Early on, people were blaming Trump because the CDC was caught with their pants down on their one job--I argued that Trump (for all his incompetence) can't be blamed for this--CDC should have had plans for this after SARS and MURS (well before his presidency). But that defense no longer applies after 7 months. Trump has earned his criticism, as he is apparently determined to do (however, there are also many in the media who are determined to beclown themselves by using misleading metrics to exaggerate the impact of his incompetence, which of course doesn't constitute valid criticism).
souljourner 6y ago
Why do you expect the "US gov't" to do this? What exactly is it that you think any government can do for you? The government can only be as competent as the people it is made up of, and that assumes an otherwise functioning system. I know that people want to lay this all at the feet of the current President, but reality is that it's the bureaucracy and the Legislature that is failing here, not the Executive. The President cannot force anyone to make masks, nor can he magically generate industrial capacity that was disassembled decades ago. If you want to look for failure in government, look to the Legislature and unelected and unaccountable Bureaucracy (it may as well be capitalized as the fourth, most powerful and permanent branch of government) that has led us to this point and now again totally failed … yet again. All the masks and ventilators that were not needed because government "experts" got everything wrong, were produced by private enterprise and efforts that mostly had very little to do with the government. We even started exporting the ventilators to other countries that were not as quick to adapt. But I know, it is easy to point and blame others instead of contributing and doing. We have a lack of leadership because we no longer have leaders in government and the government is no longer composed of competent individuals, let alone accountable to the people that it is farther away from than ever before. It's just an anecdote, but I was on the Hill recently and it struck me that Americans could just walk up to and into Congress because they were citizens and it was the people's house and they had the right to; today, Congress is gated by a ~200' perimeter and officers every 100' on the perimeter and lingering in the shadows … due to the pollution of the society. If you want to complain about government, again, look to the utterly incompetent Bureaucracy and those responsible for it, Congress/the Legislative. A President, any President, can only execute what he has at his disposal and is provided by the Legislature. That is how the US government works. If Congress and it's vampire squid masters gutted the industrial, technical, logistical, etc. capacity of the USA for the last 50 years, there is nothing that the President can do to change that. Hence, why we have been buying our stuff from China during the pandemic … the authoritarian, totalitarian, dystopian regime source of the very virus/pandemic. Remember all the outcry about how we should have the capacity to produce our own emergency medial supplies? well, you can't undo 40+ years of "offshoring" or "de-industrialization" or whatever you want to call making yourself totally dependent on others who are your enemy, in a matter of two or even 10 months. The irony of it all is that globalism may very well not only have been the viral weapon delivery system, but also likely will have left us totally incapacitated to deal with it. History is replete with examples of civilizations and empires being take down by a pandemic that simply exposed all the rot under the surface. We'll see if this is any different. But at least we know that the alternative powers that stand at the ready to take over are far better than the USA, right?

throwaway894345 6y ago

I agree. Early on, people were blaming Trump because the CDC was caught with their pants down on their one job--I argued that Trump (for all his incompetence) can't be blamed for this--CDC should have had plans for this after SARS and MURS (well before his presidency). But that defense no longer applies after 7 months. Trump has earned his criticism, as he is apparently determined to do (however, there are also many in the media who are determined to beclown themselves by using misleading metrics to exaggerate the impact of his incompetence, which of course doesn't constitute valid criticism).

souljourner 6y ago

Why do you expect the "US gov't" to do this? What exactly is it that you think any government can do for you? The government can only be as competent as the people it is made up of, and that assumes an otherwise functioning system. I know that people want to lay this all at the feet of the current President, but reality is that it's the bureaucracy and the Legislature that is failing here, not the Executive. The President cannot force anyone to make masks, nor can he magically generate industrial capacity that was disassembled decades ago. If you want to look for failure in government, look to the Legislature and unelected and unaccountable Bureaucracy (it may as well be capitalized as the fourth, most powerful and permanent branch of government) that has led us to this point and now again totally failed … yet again. All the masks and ventilators that were not needed because government "experts" got everything wrong, were produced by private enterprise and efforts that mostly had very little to do with the government. We even started exporting the ventilators to other countries that were not as quick to adapt. But I know, it is easy to point and blame others instead of contributing and doing. We have a lack of leadership because we no longer have leaders in government and the government is no longer composed of competent individuals, let alone accountable to the people that it is farther away from than ever before. It's just an anecdote, but I was on the Hill recently and it struck me that Americans could just walk up to and into Congress because they were citizens and it was the people's house and they had the right to; today, Congress is gated by a ~200' perimeter and officers every 100' on the perimeter and lingering in the shadows … due to the pollution of the society. If you want to complain about government, again, look to the utterly incompetent Bureaucracy and those responsible for it, Congress/the Legislative. A President, any President, can only execute what he has at his disposal and is provided by the Legislature. That is how the US government works. If Congress and it's vampire squid masters gutted the industrial, technical, logistical, etc. capacity of the USA for the last 50 years, there is nothing that the President can do to change that. Hence, why we have been buying our stuff from China during the pandemic … the authoritarian, totalitarian, dystopian regime source of the very virus/pandemic. Remember all the outcry about how we should have the capacity to produce our own emergency medial supplies? well, you can't undo 40+ years of "offshoring" or "de-industrialization" or whatever you want to call making yourself totally dependent on others who are your enemy, in a matter of two or even 10 months. The irony of it all is that globalism may very well not only have been the viral weapon delivery system, but also likely will have left us totally incapacitated to deal with it. History is replete with examples of civilizations and empires being take down by a pandemic that simply exposed all the rot under the surface. We'll see if this is any different. But at least we know that the alternative powers that stand at the ready to take over are far better than the USA, right?