Coronavirus has disrupted supply chains for nearly 75% of U.S. companies • Hacker News Board

Re: Coronavirus has disrupted supply chains for nearly 75% of U.S. companies

#271

Post by esarbe » Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 10:37 AM UTC

azinman2 wrote: post #3

brink wrote: post #2

On the bright side, a disruption in supply may teach us what we really need, and what we don't need. Maybe after this breakout we'll realize the importance of slowing down, consuming less, and resting more.

Which will lead to massive layoffs, starting with the most vulnerable (small businesses, hourly workers, etc)

So, your argument for continuing the current, unsustainable, unfair and in the long run suicidal economic model is that the most vulnerable - given the current economic system - would suffer?

To me it sounds like a perfect reason to rethink the current economic model.

Re: Coronavirus has disrupted supply chains for nearly 75% of U.S. companies

#272

Post by astronautjones » Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 12:56 PM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #237

tmpz22 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't admittance or treatment the problem is the bill that comes in the mail 6 months later, as well as massive decline in spending, decline in social interactions, decline in nutritional choices, and the injection of the 2020 political circus towards the end of the year (in the US).

All solvable problems. Even in a recession. With political will...

> All solvable problems. Even in a recession. With political will...

I have some bad news.

Re: Coronavirus has disrupted supply chains for nearly 75% of U.S. companies

#273

Post by Fjolsvith » Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 9:42 PM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #232

baq wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

taxes and tariffs are there to shape the market, not to make entrepreneurs poorer.

Iunno, taxes seem to encourage being born into wealth, and otherwise punish working the most severely. And if you have to spend most of your income on stuff, you too proportionately pay more sales tax than someone with excess to invest.

The fix to this is to increase your income.

Re: Coronavirus has disrupted supply chains for nearly 75% of U.S. companies

#274

Post by handedness » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 8:16 AM UTC

blackoil wrote: post #270

handedness wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of where lines are draws on maps, yes. Regardless of a whole host of other factors, not at all. This particular pandemic was entirely avoidable in the first place. Food markets in developing nations frequently cause local health problems, and have all the ingredients to make a global one (as it seems to have in this case).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic -- North America, .7 - 1.4 billion affected, 150,000–575,000 died. COVID-19 may be from China, but a pandemic can come from anywhere and will come again. You can taking chance on its virality/mortality.

The likelihood of it coming from any particular country is not evenly distributed, and there are reasons behind that uneven distribution.

Re: Coronavirus has disrupted supply chains for nearly 75% of U.S. companies

#275

Post by semerda » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 8:32 AM UTC

zkms wrote: post #137

CSSer wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who thinks both parent comments have a point, I don’t really think they’re putting words in OP’s mouth at all. I think the interpretation that OP really seemed to suggest that we should bring it all home is a valid one. And I get it. I agree with you. There’s probably some things we should make here that we don’t. It’s becoming very clear that wholly interdependent Globalism isn’t a cure all, utopian desti…

> I think the interpretation that OP really seemed to suggest that we should bring it all home is a valid one. "Bring" is the wrong word here, because building up industrial capacity in US for critical sectors (including but not limited to pharmaceuticals and electronic components / semiconductors) doesnt mean destroying the capacity that exists abroad. But yes, I do believe there should be sufficient manufacturing c…

Spot on! and it's not like drugs got any cheaper by outsourcing them to China. They are bloody expensive and of much lower quality than locally produced. The book "Bottle of Lies" exposes the low quality of all generics which make up 90% of the US supplies coming in from China.