He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus

[millefleur 5,046]

2 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  We have them, but from what I can tell, they spend most of the time looking at ways we might get sued and trying to prevent that.

Well, no doubt they will be sued even more now because of the pandemic situation. Good job, hospital admin! 

 

Why is it that no matter what the situation, it always seems like it's the lawyers who benefit? Most stable profession ever, especially since so much of what they do is work-from-home friendly.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

17 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Well, no doubt they will be sued even more now because of the pandemic situation. Good job, hospital admin! 

 

Why is it that no matter what the situation, it always seems like it's the lawyers who benefit? Most stable profession ever, especially since so much of what they do is work-from-home friendly.

 

    Nursing and support staff certainly might sue in some places, since they are being asked to work in a high risk area without adequate PPE. 

[cyclone27 710]

Well one good thing that has come out of this - no one will trust China again. 
 

Even if we pay more for medical supply chains they will return to the US.

Edited April 12, 2020 by cyclone27

[millefleur 5,046]

2 minutes ago, cyclone27 said:

Well one good thing that has come out of this - no one will trust China again. 
 

Even if we pay more medical supply chains will return to the US.

I'm not so sure it'll be an overnight change. China literally sacrifices lives to get where they are today in being the number one manufacturer for the globe and American workers demand a fair wage and benefits. I'm not so sure CEO's here are willing to go that far to give up their profits. I'm sure China will come out on top again because their endgame is to sacrifice whatever it takes, they play a very hard game of competition that is too tempting for CEO's who like fat paychecks and bonuses.

 

American workers can also vote to make labor laws go in their favor, not to mention lawsuits. Chinese workers have zero influence over the cooperations from a legal perspective here, so I don't see CEO's and company owners giving up that freedom anytime soon.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

3 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I'm not so sure it'll be an overnight change. China literally sacrifices lives to get where they are today in being the number one manufacturer for the globe and American workers demand a fair wage and benefits. I'm not so sure CEO's here are willing to go that far to give up their profits. I'm sure China will come out on top again because their endgame is to sacrifice whatever it takes, they play a very hard game of competition that is too tempting for CEO's who like fat paychecks and bonuses.

 

American workers can also vote to make labor laws go in their favor, not to mention lawsuits. Chinese workers have zero influence over the cooperations from a legal perspective here, so I don't see CEO's and company owners giving up that freedom anytime soon.

 

   Comes down to dollars on our end too. For something like N95's, we may start manufacturing them here in the US, but if they cost 3x more, will companies that need them buy them at that price, or will they still look elsewhere for cheaper suppliers. Manufacturers can only stay in business here if we are willing to support them.

 

   I just don't think people will pay more when all is said and done. I imagine hospitals will buy more of the cheaper version and try to stockpile 3x as much.

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,370]

2 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Ok, there are 50 governors that have way more power than President Trump related to public health emergencies.  I suppose we can spread around the blame.

The same reason this was Bush's fault

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/school-buses-are-shown-in-flood-waters-from-hurricane-news-photo/55729429

[Neonred 3,562]

33 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   Comes down to dollars on our end too. For something like N95's, we may start manufacturing them here in the US, but if they cost 3x more, will companies that need them buy them at that price, or will they still look elsewhere for cheaper suppliers. Manufacturers can only stay in business here if we are willing to support them.

 

   I just don't think people will pay more when all is said and done. I imagine hospitals will buy more of the cheaper version and try to stockpile 3x as much.

Very true.  Looks like we need tariffs on these products to help encourage/protect production in the US, but there seems to be a large group that don't like tariffs of any kind.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

2 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

 

  What about people like Rush, telling the 42 million faithful that Covid-19 was just the common cold. Do people like that share any of the responsibility?

Well, a couple of months ago, I would have agreed with him.  In fact, I am on record here as saying it's pretty much like the flu, as far as the death toll goes.  As each day goes by, that fades, obviously.  We have already doubled my guess at where the death toll was going to peak (thanks for lying, China).  No one in January or early February could have known it would get this bad.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

1 hour ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  We have them, but from what I can tell, they spend most of the time looking at ways we might get sued and trying to prevent that.

A HUGE problem in America today.  More effort is spent on saying the right words than taking any sort of action, sadly.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

20 minutes ago, Neonred said:

Very true.  Looks like we need tariffs on these products to help encourage/protect production in the US, but there seems to be a large group that don't like tariffs of any kind.

 

   Tariffs (or other measures) to encourage items we need to have produced here are acceptable to me. I don't like to see tariffs applied unilaterally, to where they are basically becoming a use tax. I'd also rather see measures targeted more specifically against countries that have abusive trade practices and not just because something is legitimately cheaper, and especially not for political reasons. 

 

  Ultimately we still have to be willing to pay more for some of those products though.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

16 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

A HUGE problem in America today.  More effort is spent on saying the right words than taking any sort of action, sadly.

 

   Compared to back when I started, I don't think I'm exaggerating to say we have 10X more people in leadership, management and administrative positions nowadays relative to the number of clinical staff than we used to have. Somehow it still takes forever to get something simple approved, and now it actually takes longer because you never know who you actually have to call to get anything, and I'm pretty sure there is an artificial bureaucracy built in there just to justify the number of jobs in the manager chain. 

 

  

 

   

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Just now, Steeleballz said:

 

   Compared to back when I started, I don't think I'm exaggerating to say we have 10X more people in leadership, management and administrative positions nowadays relative to the number of clinical staff than we used to have. Somehow it still takes forever to get something simple approved, and now it actually takes longer because you never know who you actually have to call to get anything, and I'm pretty sure there is an artificial bureaucracy built in there just to justify the number of jobs in the manager chain.

It's the same everywhere, my friend.  I see it where I work as well.  And I have a couple of police friends who have talked about this as well.  We are "politically correcting" ourselves into an inability to function logically.

[millefleur 5,046]

1 minute ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   Compared to back when I started, I don't think I'm exaggerating to say we have 10X more people in leadership, management and administrative positions nowadays relative to the number of clinical staff than we used to have. Somehow it still takes forever to get something simple approved, and now it actually takes longer because you never know who you actually have to call to get anything, and I'm pretty sure there is an artificial bureaucracy built in there just to justify the number of jobs in the manager chain.

Sounds Kafka-esque. I often wonder how many management/bureaucratic positions are just "jobs programs" for political engineering.

 

Reminds me of the "Yes Minister" episode about the hospital with no doctors but only medical admin and maintenance staff (which was based on a true story in the UK!). 

 

 

[TBoneTX 45,273]

2 hours ago, millefleur said:

it's the lawyers who benefit

Man pokes his head into a lawyer's office and asks, "How much do you charge for a consultation?"

"$900 for 3 questions," says the lawyer.

"$900?!  Isn't that a little steep?" asks the man.

"I don't think so," said the lawyer.  "And what is your third question?"

[millefleur 5,046]

3 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Man pokes his head into a lawyer's office and asks, "How much do you charge for a consultation?"

"$900 for 3 questions," says the lawyer.

"$900?!  Isn't that a little steep?" asks the man.

"I don't think so," said the lawyer.  "And what is your third question?"

No offense to any lawyers on the forum, but I wish they were that clear and direct in real life, lol.