RE: COVID-19 & US healthcare system - thread relapse
04-23-2020, 08:05 PM (This post was last modified: 04-23-2020, 08:07 PM by SilverFang01.)
04-23-2020, 08:05 PM (This post was last modified: 04-23-2020, 08:07 PM by SilverFang01.)
This is a piece on why America has so much trouble building things. The short answer is that all institutions -- including
private sector ones -- have become "vetocracies." Power is dispersed in a way that makes it easy for any of a widely distributed group of actors
to veto any significant initiative. These factors all existed before, but have grown radically over the last 40 years. Some of this is in
reaction to previous abuses, and not all vetoes are bad. But the combination of vetoes taken together becomes overwhelming.
https://www.vox.com/2020/4/22/21228469/m...oronavirus
private sector ones -- have become "vetocracies." Power is dispersed in a way that makes it easy for any of a widely distributed group of actors
to veto any significant initiative. These factors all existed before, but have grown radically over the last 40 years. Some of this is in
reaction to previous abuses, and not all vetoes are bad. But the combination of vetoes taken together becomes overwhelming.
Quote:In a viral essay, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen makes a simple exhortation: It’s time to build. Behind the coronavirus crisis, he writes, lies “our widespread inability to build.” America has been unable to create enough coronavirus tests, or even enough cotton swabs to fully utilize the tests we do have. We don’t have enough ventilators, ICU beds, personal protection equipment. The government hasn’t built the capacity to quickly get money to people or businesses who need it.
https://www.vox.com/2020/4/22/21228469/m...oronavirus
“We can never undo what we have done. We can never go back in time. We write history with our decisions and our actions. But we also write history with our responses to those actions. We can leave the pain and the damage in our wake, unattended, or we can do the work of acknowledging and fixing, to whatever extent possible, the harm that we have caused.”
— On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg
— On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg