(04-02-2020 01:38 AM)mrbig Wrote: (04-01-2020 08:06 AM)tanqtonic Wrote: Why not ask why he didnt invoke it as a 'talking point' on Jan 20th or so. Your 'line of best use' seems to be when Patient Zero was identified if you think getting to the 2nd floor is the passing grade. But to be blunt, any assertion on timeliness (or not), or even the use of the DPA. or for that matter the 'threaten action' or empty invocation, that doesnt have access to a metric ton of other facts and insights is simply a crass display of arrogance.
Actually, I think the earliest he should have considered using the DPA was when Azar sent the $2 billion request for PPE purchases. I agree it wouldn't have made nearly as much sense on 1/20/20 with a single confirmed case. So start using it as a negotiating tactic around then and then use it as a hammer later if needed. Don't wait until freaking mid-march when there are already numerous outbreaks, a few thousand confirmed cases, and exponential growth.
I take it you have absolute full access and knowledge to the math that they used to the make the decisions? I would prefer you actually read the piece as a whole.
The blunt truth is you have no fing idea what the private industry expected output, or ramp up, or ramp up time was during that time. Yet you are here given your expert opinion on when exactly DPA should have 'been considered' (waffle words given the topic -- I am sure the DPA was 'considered' even before all of those the parameters, and related parameters, were known.
The issue isnt when it was 'considered' (i.e. a question we will never know since none of us are in the Oval Office, nor in the line of policy wonks). The issue is when it was, or should have been, invoked. Again, your statement above seemingly makes an opinion knowing none of the actual parameters that are needed to actually make that decision. I find that somewhat arrogant, to be blunt.
Quote: (04-01-2020 08:06 AM)tanqtonic Wrote: Now on to a more substantive look at the DPA and its use:
He hasnt exercised the DPA in PPE because of at least one issue that is seemingly blithely ignored from your quarter: the PPE industry has responded like banshees and put an amazing effort into ramping that. Even if he exercised the DPA in that realm, it wouldnt make a difference in the timeline -- the marginal benefit in such an exercise is probably near zero *and* you have an amazingly cooperative PPE industry that is responding.
And your response to the reports that much PPE is being purchased by foreign countries and shipped out of the USA? If Trump's plan to not use the DPA on PPE is so genius, it seems like those reports need to be inaccurate.
Again, read the comments in full. Trump may well use the DPA. I would assume that the companies in the issue arent running around blithely, nor are they being stumbling blocks in getting to the goal needed. Those are the times you need to invoke the DPA.
Think about it. If you are short, and the companies are seemingly ramping up in an extraordinary fashion, and being highly cooperative with the government in doing so, there is no need to invoke the DPA.
The DPA is 'logjam dynamite', not 'numbers dynamite'. That issue doesnt seem to be making it into your thought process. Your posit above is actually superfluous.
So, Mr Only the Facts, please note where I said 'Trump's plan is genius'? Funny, I missed that. What I did do was give you a primer on the operation of the DPA, and the reasons why it may not have been invoked at this time re: PPE.
Answer this: If the companies are kicking ass and taking names, and the expected uptick is sufficient to meet the needs in the near or medium future, and such increases are done solely through interaction with the companies without any DPA, why the boner to use the DPA if that has happened?
Or in other words, say the United States only has 25% of the expected PPE in the hopper due to dumb ass neglect from the previous administration. The companies themselves say 'well Mr President, we can refill that hopper (which will meet the expected needs) in 8 weeks time. This is with us using every facility we have and reopening anything shut down, and retooling the suppository filling lines to do PPE'.
It doesnt matter how you slice it, they cant wave a wand and have them overnite. But they are scrambling over themselves to flood the stuff out shortly. Exactly what use is the DPA in that regard? The use of it is zero.
Now change it. Say that CarCo says it will make respirators, but then after drags it heels in retooling, in forming a joint venture, or simply because the executive assistant accidentally used the reminder email copy to role. At the point there is corporate foot dragging, the President lowers the hammer by saying 'Guess what CarCo, we gave you every opportunity to get your **** together to get going on this, and you still arent. In return, we are semi-nationalizing for the duration your efforts do this. Now kindly STFU and get to work.'
But to make those decisions you need to know a huge amount of supply chain background -- far more than the simple 'amount in the hopper'. In practice, a metric ton more. That is why it is asinine for anyone outside the decision loop to set some certain date on 'when he should have *invoked* (not considered) the use of the DPA.
As for your comment above about 'he should have considered it at date X', bluntly you have no fing idea what was considered at the level of the Oval Office strategy, and rejected at that time, let alone at any other time. And that is another action on your part that smacks of arrogance.