Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation • Hacker News Board

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#21

Post by scott_s » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 6:33 PM UTC

sixdimensional wrote: post #2

In the US, we hear that government and process gets in the way of getting the funding needed to be prepared or respond to these types of emergencies. Somehow I feel that only 30-50 years ago, there was not so much red tape in the way (nor was there the ability for a sophisticated/organized response - so it cuts both ways). I vacillate between thinking that just giving money will not make a huge difference here, and t…

possibly to get the money to the CDC or government organizations, with the expressly stated restricted use being defined in advance by a non-profit or NGO as being for the Ebola response

This attitude - "I gave you money to help x, I only want it to be used on x" is part of the problem. In order for relief agencies to be prepared for the next problem, they need resources on hand that don't have strings attached. But such agencies have learned that if they do this - take money donated at the time of one crisis, and keep it on hand to help with the next crisis - people will be upset.

Planet Money explains this well: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/09/26/351515481/episode-...

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#22

Post by wehadfun » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 6:34 PM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #5

It's pathetic that a government agency is beholden to charity from billionaires instead of being fully funded from tax receipts. What a debacle. That said, hat's off to Zuckerberg. His reaction sharply contrasts with so much of the shameful, cynical fearmongering from some quarters.

The Post office sells stamps, the courts charge fees, FCC sells radio space, don't know if the CDC has a source of extra income. Maybe that is why this foundation for private funds exist

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#23

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 6:42 PM UTC

ISL wrote: post #3

sixdimensional wrote: post #2

In the US, we hear that government and process gets in the way of getting the funding needed to be prepared or respond to these types of emergencies. Somehow I feel that only 30-50 years ago, there was not so much red tape in the way (nor was there the ability for a sophisticated/organized response - so it cuts both ways). I vacillate between thinking that just giving money will not make a huge difference here, and t…

Giving money is a great way to put greater resources into the skilled hands of those who can make use of them. It's a lot easier to be a hero when you've got the tools to be heroic.

[deleted]

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#24

Post by JDDunn9 » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 6:43 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #8

throwaway5752 wrote: post #5

It's pathetic that a government agency is beholden to charity from billionaires instead of being fully funded from tax receipts. What a debacle. That said, hat's off to Zuckerberg. His reaction sharply contrasts with so much of the shameful, cynical fearmongering from some quarters.

There's an opportunity to do something about it coming up in just a couple weeks. First Tuesday in November, to be precise.

Voting is how we got the current government. Choosing between two lying, corrupt politicians won't change anything.

We need to replace Congress with 1 house made up of 1,000 randomly sampled citizens to get true representation.

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#25

Post by sixdimensional » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 6:45 PM UTC

scott_s wrote: post #21

sixdimensional wrote: post #2

In the US, we hear that government and process gets in the way of getting the funding needed to be prepared or respond to these types of emergencies. Somehow I feel that only 30-50 years ago, there was not so much red tape in the way (nor was there the ability for a sophisticated/organized response - so it cuts both ways). I vacillate between thinking that just giving money will not make a huge difference here, and t…

possibly to get the money to the CDC or government organizations, with the expressly stated restricted use being defined in advance by a non-profit or NGO as being for the Ebola response This attitude - "I gave you money to help x , I only want it to be used on x " is part of the problem. In order for relief agencies to be prepared for the next problem, they need resources on hand that don't have strings attached. Bu…

That makes sense, I hadn't thought of it that way. I guess the degree to which people donate to such agencies without restriction is related to how much trust is involved for that agency. Thank you for sharing the link with the podcast.

To be honest, I hadn't realized that the CDC had a foundation until I saw this today and had been wondering about how to be able to direct funds to them specifically (I did definitely know about other relief agencies, such as Doctors without Borders).

I had been specifically wondering about the interplay of the newer crowdfunding models (like Kickstarter or even Watsi) and traditional donation models here, and whether there were new/different opportunities for rapid response methods to approach this kind of challenge (and how one might go about it).

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#26

Post by spikels » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 6:47 PM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #5

It's pathetic that a government agency is beholden to charity from billionaires instead of being fully funded from tax receipts. What a debacle. That said, hat's off to Zuckerberg. His reaction sharply contrasts with so much of the shameful, cynical fearmongering from some quarters.

Call me "shameful, cynical [and] fearmongering" but I don't think the ineffectiveness of the CDC on Ebola is due to lack of resources or that $25 million will make a difference. They have a $6 billion plus annual budget ($25 million is a 0.4% increase) and rarely pay for the actual treatment of patients. Instead they are primarily supposed to do research and disseminate information in advance of health threats.

I think it is pretty clear the the CDC has become just another calcified government bureaucracy who ordinarily gets very little oversight or feedback from the outside world. As they recently admitted - just like the Houston nurse they blamed - they cannot even follow their own safety protocols (anthrax and H5N1 debacles) because of their toxic culture[1]. It is a real challenge (perhaps impossible) to prevent these problems from developing in any large organization - including private sector firm (think big semi-monopolies) but even more so in government. More money could even make it worse as bigger bureaucracies are even less effective - just like putting more programmers on the failing project.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/us/after-lapses-cdc-admits...

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#27

Post by smm2000 » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 6:48 PM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #5

It's pathetic that a government agency is beholden to charity from billionaires instead of being fully funded from tax receipts. What a debacle. That said, hat's off to Zuckerberg. His reaction sharply contrasts with so much of the shameful, cynical fearmongering from some quarters.

Most experts think that Ebola presents low risk to US so I am not sure why CDC should spend significant resources on it. Private company is working on vaccines and at current funding CDC is perfectly capable of handling a few cases of Ebola in US. Voiding visas of everyone who was in Liberia, Sierra Leone and other affected countries together with mandatory three week quarantine for few US citizens who was there is probably all that is needed to be done. Should not be too expensive.

CDC budget for 2014 is $6.8B so 25 million is drop in a bucket anyway.

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#28

Post by georgiecasey » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 6:56 PM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #5

It's pathetic that a government agency is beholden to charity from billionaires instead of being fully funded from tax receipts. What a debacle. That said, hat's off to Zuckerberg. His reaction sharply contrasts with so much of the shameful, cynical fearmongering from some quarters.

> hat's off to Zuckerberg

Is it hats off or hat's off? I think you're right. The saying is 'my hat is off to you'

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#29

Post by gyardley » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 7:07 PM UTC

georgiecasey wrote: post #28

throwaway5752 wrote: post #5

It's pathetic that a government agency is beholden to charity from billionaires instead of being fully funded from tax receipts. What a debacle. That said, hat's off to Zuckerberg. His reaction sharply contrasts with so much of the shameful, cynical fearmongering from some quarters.

> hat's off to Zuckerberg Is it hats off or hat's off? I think you're right. The saying is 'my hat is off to you'

I always understood the version with no apostrophe as a general imperative statement, with 'hats' being plural - not an abbreviation of 'my hat's off' but of 'we should take our hats off'.

Either makes sense.

Re: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Donating $25M to the CDC Foundation

#30

Post by jlmorton » Tue, Oct 14, 2014, 7:15 PM UTC

smm2000 wrote: post #27

throwaway5752 wrote: post #5

It's pathetic that a government agency is beholden to charity from billionaires instead of being fully funded from tax receipts. What a debacle. That said, hat's off to Zuckerberg. His reaction sharply contrasts with so much of the shameful, cynical fearmongering from some quarters.

Most experts think that Ebola presents low risk to US so I am not sure why CDC should spend significant resources on it. Private company is working on vaccines and at current funding CDC is perfectly capable of handling a few cases of Ebola in US. Voiding visas of everyone who was in Liberia, Sierra Leone and other affected countries together with mandatory three week quarantine for few US citizens who was there is p…

This donation was made to the CDC Foundation, not the CDC. The CDC Foundation does most of its work outside of the United States.

Zuckerberg's donation is meant to help reduce the novel growth rate seen with 2014 West Africa Ebola. We have little experience with Ebola in urban areas. We're currently seeing a doubling of case rates nearly within the the Ebola generation time of 16 or so days. If that reproductive rate is not slowed quickly, in the next few months, then one possible outcome is that Ebola will never go away, and will exist as yet another terrible disease afflicting the poor.

Moreover, imagine if we could eliminate a disease like malaria for a few billion dollars. The cost-benefit of that would be astounding. It makes sense to try and eliminate Ebola now, not just prevent it from reaching the US.