[taiwanboy]

Since we are starting off with a partisan attack.

The reason we don’t have enough face masks is because we have moved all our medical supply chain to China. The reason we were able to do that is because during the Clinton administration we allowed US businesses to destroy US manufacturing capability by granting permanent normal trade relation with China.

I like how the liberal/Democrats always ignore China/offshoring during their discussion of economic crisis. (Probably because they benefited from the slave labors in China more)

But Russia is scarier!

[res0nat0r]

This isn't it. It has nothing to do with China, these could have been made in the USA over the course of years, and stockpiled in some giant DR warehouse somewhere in the USA that the USG runs currently for weapons designed to wipe out cities.

The USG doesn't because it isn't a priority to the people in power.

[mistermann]

> It has nothing to do with China, these could have been made in the USA over the course of years...

This seems not true to me. Indeed, they could have been manufactured in the USA, as could essentially anything, yet the majority of manufacturing happens to have migrated to China over the past 20 or so years. Does it not seem reasonable, or at least possible, that the much lower cost of production in China had something to do with them being manufactured over there?

[deegles]

Of course, but the point is that proper preparation/intervention from the government would have led to maintaining enough domestic manufacturing capacity and stockpiles. Businesses have different incentives and won't do the same.

[mistermann]

> Of course, but the point is that proper preparation/intervention from the government...

Pardon me for being obsessive about accuracy, and I hope you don't take this in a disrespectful way, but the point (topic) of this particular sub-thread (the comment to which I'm replying, which I excerpted, in turn defining the topic) is not that.

It is this: "It has nothing to do with China, these could have been made in the USA over the course of years..."

The media redefining reality is one thing (perhaps they are just doing their best) - but doing it on HN, when the truth is a few centimeters above, seems like taking it a bit too far, to my style of thinking anyways.

[taiwanboy]

Nope that’s not it. Do you see China running out of masks right now? No of course not. They have so much they are “donating” to other countries. They have the world’s capability to make masks.

[res0nat0r]

Exactly, and the USA DOESNT because it chooses not to but can if it wishes, because money. You seem to be proving OP's point.

[slowmovintarget]

The U.S. is out of masks because the shelves were cleared in January and February by people buying for relatives back in China, and by local Chinese associations bulk buying and sending them there.

I have family in China. I watched this happen. I saw emails and chat posts organizing donations.

[res0nat0r]

This is getting back to OP's point too, if the US government had actually prepared for this, there would be a stock of these types of items in a government DR warehouse somewhere not available to the public, but ready to be shipped around the USA when needed.

[DuskStar]

The thread's point is that the other way the US government could have prepared for this would have been to prevent the offshoring of mask production (and other national-security related items), thus keeping the necessary production capacity here instead of in China.

[throwaway_USD]

They have been "donating" simply to get headlines so the American people complain until Trump apologizes for calling it a "Chinese virus", then China will agree to sell the US masks and price gouge the US. Trump apologized last night and wouldn't you know it, Beijing gave manufactures the go ahead to contact various State and City governments to start price wars internally.

You are correct, China has the capacity to manufacture and supply the masks, but they haven't because they are politicizing this and otherwise price gouging. What they don't realize what they are actually doing is lending legitimacy to the Chinese-made virus conspiracy theories by doing these things...this will back fire against China in a very big way.

[metabagel]

Regardless of trade policy, the government should prepare for disasters.