Routine supplies for a small medical office. Imagine what a hospital requires.
Everyone is looking for someone to blame for the lack of ventilators and other medical equipment items available as the CoronaVirus saga continues to unfold. The media, of course, looking for a crisis in everything involving the President. quickly reaches the conclusion that Trump and the Administration were not ready and I will agree there is some truth to that. As a matter of fact, the truth is that no one was ready, not the federal government, not state governments, not local governments and not even we, the citizens. When things are going well, we Americans are so busy looking at how to maximize our personal situation that we naturally forget about the "what if" things that we don't like to think about. We live on the coast and yet we are woefully prepared for hurricanes and their aftermath. We live in crowded cities and never think about what happens when the power goes out for more than minutes and the list can be endless. But notice how when the President shows great transparency in dealing with this situation, the media comes back with every bit of negativity that they can throw at him, claiming it is all his fault. I even have read one pundit who said this wouldn't have happened if Hillary was President. Pardon me if I feel ill at that thought. So, let's take a look at some of the key players also involved, particularly the states as well as former federal leaders and we can get a much better picture of the truth.
No state could be better as an example of this than New York and I say this not to criticize the Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who has greatly surprised me by the ways he is taking on the problem in his state full on and he and the President have forged a good working relationship on this issue. He is to be congratulated for that. But, looking at the big picture, his state was woefully unprepared for a situation like this in his main constituency, New York City, and he shouldn't have been unaware. Actually, he wasn't as state records show a senior official advised him that New York was woefully under stocked in ventilators in 2015 . He requested restocking to the level of sixteen thousand on hand which was the level recommended for a pandemic. It was ignored. Likely, the Governor had what he considered higher priorities on his mind, like overloading New York schools with illegal alien children and the costs of such an endeavor.
The federal government wasn't blameless either as the Obama Administration depleted most of the stock on hand in respirators during the H1N1 epidemic of 2009. No effort was made to replenish federal stock either and now, as we see, the state governments themselves are partially to blame. We can say that Donald Trump should have realized that but, think about that for a minute. Trump is not a politician and he had trusted subordinates working for him in the Trump organization and he likely assumed that those in the bureaucracy would act the same way. The federal government is a behemoth where waste is not unusual and money gets spent for many things not expected. Trump is now realizing what it is after trying to work within the system that is dysfunctional and I know he is not happy with those who weren't doing their jobs in the past. So, technically he is responsible, but realistically no one man can be personally responsible for every action deep within the bureaucracy, yet that is exactly what the media is trying to do. They want to blame Trump for every action taken by the whole of government right down to the warehouse. And by the way, if you think local government is any better, next time you go down to the courthouse or administration building in your town, take a close look at what is happening all around. It might surprise you.
Lastly, we citizens play a part in the blame as well. With regard to this pandemic, if we hadn't made price the almost sole basis for making purchase decisions, we wouldn't have enriched China like we have. Why did corporations move so much of their operations to China? They did so for cheap labor and low overhead and by doing so, we all loved the lower prices. Maybe we have to finally come to grips that we get what we paid for. Often it's because we don't think of the unintended consequences, like the use of slave labor or that of peasants for pennies on the hour just trying to survive. And now we can add the cost of a virus that has impacted our country in ways we could never have thought possible. Let's end the madness and use our talents to find ways to beat them at their own game, only in ways that allow a decent wage and a satisfied workforce proud of their work. America can do anything she sets her mind to. Let's use this situation as a start point for doing so. 'Nuff said.
No state could be better as an example of this than New York and I say this not to criticize the Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who has greatly surprised me by the ways he is taking on the problem in his state full on and he and the President have forged a good working relationship on this issue. He is to be congratulated for that. But, looking at the big picture, his state was woefully unprepared for a situation like this in his main constituency, New York City, and he shouldn't have been unaware. Actually, he wasn't as state records show a senior official advised him that New York was woefully under stocked in ventilators in 2015 . He requested restocking to the level of sixteen thousand on hand which was the level recommended for a pandemic. It was ignored. Likely, the Governor had what he considered higher priorities on his mind, like overloading New York schools with illegal alien children and the costs of such an endeavor.
The federal government wasn't blameless either as the Obama Administration depleted most of the stock on hand in respirators during the H1N1 epidemic of 2009. No effort was made to replenish federal stock either and now, as we see, the state governments themselves are partially to blame. We can say that Donald Trump should have realized that but, think about that for a minute. Trump is not a politician and he had trusted subordinates working for him in the Trump organization and he likely assumed that those in the bureaucracy would act the same way. The federal government is a behemoth where waste is not unusual and money gets spent for many things not expected. Trump is now realizing what it is after trying to work within the system that is dysfunctional and I know he is not happy with those who weren't doing their jobs in the past. So, technically he is responsible, but realistically no one man can be personally responsible for every action deep within the bureaucracy, yet that is exactly what the media is trying to do. They want to blame Trump for every action taken by the whole of government right down to the warehouse. And by the way, if you think local government is any better, next time you go down to the courthouse or administration building in your town, take a close look at what is happening all around. It might surprise you.
Lastly, we citizens play a part in the blame as well. With regard to this pandemic, if we hadn't made price the almost sole basis for making purchase decisions, we wouldn't have enriched China like we have. Why did corporations move so much of their operations to China? They did so for cheap labor and low overhead and by doing so, we all loved the lower prices. Maybe we have to finally come to grips that we get what we paid for. Often it's because we don't think of the unintended consequences, like the use of slave labor or that of peasants for pennies on the hour just trying to survive. And now we can add the cost of a virus that has impacted our country in ways we could never have thought possible. Let's end the madness and use our talents to find ways to beat them at their own game, only in ways that allow a decent wage and a satisfied workforce proud of their work. America can do anything she sets her mind to. Let's use this situation as a start point for doing so. 'Nuff said.
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