And such a "realization" may be valid, maybe not.

Pretty clearly true in Europe. In Spain more than half of deaths are in residence homes in the periphery of Madrid.

What does one have to do with the other?

The whole reason this thing spun out of control was the incompetence and corruption of government agencies.

Augmented your post.

I thought that was implied but good idea, I’m sure it will prevent some people from spazzing out.

True. If you don't criticize Trump in at least half your posts, you are branded a "Trump supporter" by many around here.

Systematic minimal staffing of residence homes, degraded public health infrastructure, etc. all has lead to greatly increased mortality and lack of preparedeness.

How did it turn out for their socialist utopia part?

You seem to be describing State run institutions with words like "systematic" and "public." So I still don't see where privatization and deregulation comes in to play here. Maybe if you had infection rates in public vs private nursing homes you could make a case either way.

Turns out a terrible, immoral plan on paper is actually a full blown **** show in practice.

The Atlantic has an interesting interview about this with Tyler Cowen:

Typically, there are rules for when a regulatory agency changes how it regulates, which includes a clock of sorts, for public comments, among other things. When it comes to health and safety regulations, it's a lot more rules, and lot more time consuming. Look at what Boeing is going through with its 737. The rules are built to avoid as much arbitrariness as possible, which does not allow a great amount of flexibility. Loops holes/bypasses breed corruption. Our system is one that forces the regulatory agencies to be very specific in how they regulate, which is the correct way to do it. More flexibility is dangerous, which is why the FAA got heat for the flexibility it allowed Boeing during the initial certification process for the plane.

and I just saw this, but it's spot on, IMO:

And this, is your moderator folks

Well Named is one of those rare souls who evaluates policies on a case-by-case basis, rather than viewing everything through a narrow ideological lense.

Which is one reason, in my opinion, he is an excellent mod.

#notmymoderator

Even though he has issued me several warnings, and one actual temp-ban.

+1

In the two presidencies preceding Trump, which both oversaw serious outbreaks, the US was the world's front for fighting epidemics and pandemics on an international scale. The recipe is largely based on a basic recipe that the relevant personnel worked to make happen on the ground in various countries: Generate trust in medical authority, get both citizens and officials people to report correct numbers, get trained personnel on the ground quickly. In the other end you of course have actions taken at home: Monitor travel, inform public and screen travel hubs.

This competence did not magically disappear overnight and is still there. It was simply gagged and hand-cuffed by an administration whose only response to bad news is to lie about them, and has a complete absence of leadership regarding any agenda that isn't about the president himself.

No, the US could not have prevented all COVID deaths. But it could have prevented a lot of them and it could have prevented the lockdown from getting as costly as it has gotten. Instead all response was delayed by a president worried about negative headlines and an enabling administration. It is more than likely that this administration's complete absence of honesty, trustworthiness and integrity will run up to a cost of 100,000+ lives and and many hundreds of billions of dollars.

I've said it before and I will say it again. In crisis there is never a substitute for facts. The world does not care about what someone wants to be true, and when a situation is critical that isn't just a nice saying - it is essential to avoid catastrophe.

This just in, governments waste money and kill people.

I agree with you.

I also agree with ME.

My post and your response to it are both valid.

Catchy, you should make some hashtags.

Always have and always will.