Saturday, March 14, 2020

A Telling Comparison

What do you make of this?

1. In South Korea, COVID-19 testing is fast, free, and widely available:

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/13/815441078/south-koreas-drive-through-testing-for-coronavirus-is-fast-and-free

2. In the US, COVID-19 testing is slow, not free, and not easily available:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-13/drive-through-virus-testing-so-popular-they-had-to-shut-it-down

I think the difference is due to several factors:

a. We no longer have a "production" economy, so our best and brightest no longer focus on bringing out new products.

b. Most corporations have sidelined older and experienced employees (or eliminated them altogether), and the younger crowd for some reason just isn't up to the task.

c. Everyone is so overladen with debt that they think twice before undertaking a huge project like nationwide testing until they can be assured of making money from it.

Sadly, we no longer are world leaders in things which make a positive difference. And we've got no one to blame except ourselves.

We can learn from this episode, or we can just sit back and lament our former "greatness" as we turn into an insolvent nursing home:

https://www.insidesources.com/america-2060-an-insolvent-nursing-home/

Which would you prefer?

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