The handwaving arguments in this letter are not convincing (especially the "You do also understand that, as long as the rate of increase is exponential, no linear solution to contrast it will work (I.e. increasing x times the number of ICU machines, etc.)" nonsense). The stats in this very letter indicate that 10% of patients require ventilators, which cost about $4000. So even if the entire population were sick at t…
If you take every potential apocalyptic scenario and stockpile supplies. It’d add up to much more than 400$/resident. The real shame is globalization. If manufacturing occurred in Europe. In North America...etc. we’d all just quickly ramp up our respirator production. Instead the west outsourced this to China
The second part is, optimized supply chains that are effectively as empty as possible, all the time.
Here in Canada an 18-day rail blockade by native bands was enough to cause serious concerns in the supply of propane and other fuels in the eastern part of the country.
It's shocking that eastern half of Canada, the majority of its population, faces winters with just 3-weeks supply of fuel. The reason? Nobody wants to carry inventory.
So for many things, we outsource creation, AND we optimize-away buffer stock.