First we have delays on realizing the extent of the pandemic and what it will do to the medical equipment supply chain.
And then we have the federal government ignoring the fact that they have a strategic hoard of medical supplies for just such a situation. And then begrudgingly they slowly start distributing it. But it seems like red states are getting larger percentages of their requests fulfilled.
And then we have a president who tells the states that they are on their own…we are not shipping clerks.
Some of this stuff was previously outlined here on Blogging Blue!
And then there are numerous reports of the states being outbid by the federal government for the very items they need and were told to find on their own.
And then we have the president’s special advisor, his son-in-law, telling us the strategic supply is ‘our’ strategic supply and not the states supply to use…ignoring that the ‘our’ is the American taxpayer who bought and paid for all of that stuff and the states where they reside.
And then things looked a little better when the president put a military logistics expert in charge, an admiral, who for some reason decided not to disrupt the civilian supply chain. THIS IS EXACTLY THE TIME TO DISRUPT THE CIVILIAN SUPPLY CHAIN. And we are just using six or seven commercial distributors. And we are back at the top.
And just yesterday the governor of Wyoming was complaining about lack of supplies and his requests have been fairly small compared to New York or California or Louisiana. He complained about lack of direction of support from the feds and lack of direction from the feds…and still getting outbid when trying to purchase supplies on the open market.
And now White House nabobs and Congressional leadership are looking at another federal financial support package…one that will include funds granted to hospitals and medical clinics to purchase the supplies and equipment they need.
THIS IS STUPID…and it isn’t even that hard.
Cut out the middle man. Distribute items from the strategic supply to where ever they are needed while getting the supply chain ramped up. Then actually use the Defense Production Act to insure the necessary items are manufactured post haste. Use the DPA to purchase, at the federal level, all of the needed items immediately at the prevailing prices prior to the pandemic. And then use the our military logistics experts to disburse the materials to where they are needed. I mean our military moves tons of materials around the globe in a matter of days when they need to. This should be a simple matter…I have no idea why the current admiral seems so inept (well I have an idea but I don’t want to disparage someone…directly).
Don’t dither around giving money to hospitals to buy the stuff. Don’t waste the time of their staff and their limited resources. They got enough on their hands. Just buy the stuff and hand it out as needed. In terms of time and money it is the most economical way. And don’t worry about the private sector right now…this is an emergency, lets stop treating it like a cookie jar.
What did I leave out?
With trump’s son in law in charge what did you expect.