Note from a retired Manufacturing Professional.
The amazing thing , to me ,is before the epidemic none of the critical medical supplies like Masks,Gloves, surgical gowns were still being domestically manufacturing.
I‘m not sure if 3m even had much US production of N95 masks used in the construction industry. To compound the problem China diverted some of their normal export production to domestic use early in the year.
Heck I was amazed to discover there wasn’t even any massed produced vitamin C in US.
To me invoking the defense production act with few exceptions is like beating a dead horse. It’s no longer , 1952 , or even 1992.
Take for instance the GM plant in Kokomo IN a plant I‘ve actually visited. Thats we’re they are making ventilators In a joint effort with a medical company who is providing the Engineering. They shutdown that plant for automotive electronic components hired and trained 1000 new people. However since we’re in the middle of a pandemic. They had to take steps to ensure the safety of the workers or create a “clean plant”. The good news is GM can transfer what they learned to other plants when they resume production. I know real thinking is in short supply but the same people complaining about shortages are the same people who want everyone locked in their house. That kind of hypocrisy is mind boggling.
We have killed our industrial base and are suffering the consequences of that greed.
(I really like my financial planner but we have had this running argument about the need for an industrial base. He is of the belief which seems to be a almost a universally held opinion in the financial and marketing communities that industry is not needed.
Hopefully even the bean counters of the US are waking up to reality.)
Thank god we protected our defense related industries or there would be zero skills to recreate a semblance of what we once had.
Unfortunately we learned the hard way that national security includes much more than military hardware.
PS in AZ golf is an essential business,as it landscaping,and pest control, barb
I can’t wait to get a haircut , a ponytail with a bald spot isn’t a good look.
i‘m starting to look like a Sedona Cult leader.
Some interesting numbers from France on Hydroxychloroquine/Azithromycin intervention. Dr Raoult released the results of his latest test on 1061 patients treated with the combination. The most basic result is he saw 5 deaths out of the 1061 patients, a death rate of 0.47%.
For those concerned he did not use a control group consider the rest of France. Which has recorded 129,644 confirmed cases and 13,832 deaths. A death rate of 10.67%.
Just saying.
There 50 companies with alleged cures all just waiting for millions from the US government to move forward and you expect a cheap generic drug to be accepted by the medical establishment That would be like killing the goose who lays golden eggs.