Medical Supplies - Please Help Me Understand the Rationale About States Bidding Against Each Other

by RubaDub 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  RubaDub

  I really don't understand why states have to bid against each other for essential items such as medical supplies. When you get into bidding wars, the consumers are the ones who lose.

  Put 50 people in an auction for a product and the one who wins is the manufacturer, not the ones purchasing.

  My wife works for a multi-national corporation. If she is importing or exporting goods, she doesn't determine what the costs will be; this is already determined through the corporate offices that negotiate worldwide movement of products. The large volume allows them to get the best available prices and service.

  If she is shipping 50 kilos of product A to Brazil, she knows exactly what it will cost. If she is importing 100 kilos of product B from Germany, she knows exactly what the ocean cost will be and what the air freight cost would be and then decide. In any case, her division of the company is not bidding against another division of the company for space on a freighter or aircraft. For office supplies, they have a national contract with Staples. No need to negotiate with other companies for computer paper, coffee, toilet paper, etc. When possible, they fly Delta or one of its partners due to their negotiated international corporate discount.

  With the massive buying power of the US, I don't understand why they don't use it to benefit all, especially on essential items instead of pitting one against the other and driving up prices.

  Rub a Dub
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  Room 215

  The main reason is the feckless, incompetent pant-load sitting in the White House who abrogates his responsibility to orchestrate a unified federal response to an unprecedented national crisis. He's in stark contrast to several governors stepping into the breach..... notably New York's Cuomo and Rhode Island's Gina Raimondo, whose straight-talking, if blunt, leadership shames him.
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  Vidiot

  In a lot of ways, the US was a nation created by businessmen, for businessmen...

  ...it's practically become an integral component of the country's DNA at this point.

  Is it really any wonder, that virtually everything is conducted in a businesslike fashion, up to and including "bidding" for resources?
• 

  RubaDub

  Is it really any wonder, that virtually everything is conducted in a businesslike fashion, up to and including "bidding" for resources

  Vidiot ...

  I see what you are saying but businesses, in their own interests and to reduce costs, typically don't want departments or divisions bidding against each other.

  I can't imagine if Trump had properties in 10 states that needed to buy some new product that he would have them bid against each other and drive up the price. I bet in a minute he would have someone go to the manufacturer representing the entire group and work out the best deal.

  I was just watching Meet the Press, and Asa Hutchinson, Governor of Arkansas, was one of the guests. He said that they are currently "trying to find" more respirators on the market. What chance does a Governor of a small, poor state like Arkansas have when bidding against wealthy states like New York or California? He'll probably end up paying 5 times more than he should, if he can get them at all.

  Rub a Dub
• 

  road to nowhere

  The alternative is a strong government that will dictate who gets what. A no win situation.

  There Should have been a real stockpile years ago. Neighbor runs a warehouse and the big hospitals are ordering tons of PPE for " next time". Last big orders were after the sars
• 

  RubaDub

  The alternative is a strong government that will dictate who gets what. A no win situation.

  RtN ...

  I was just looking at the model that international mega-corporations use. They certainly are looking at the most cost effective method to get things done with the least amount of disruption.

  In general, each branch or division is not on their own. That's just business. Companies generally want the buying power and leverage that large purchases and long-term contracts provide.

  Again, there are two side to the issue. If pitting one against the other was more cost effective, then I am sure more major companies would adopt that model.

  Rub a Dub
  
  
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  The main reason is the feckless, incompetent pant-load sitting in the White House who abrogates his responsibility to orchestrate a unified federal response to an unprecedented national crisis. He's in stark contrast to several governors stepping into the breach.

  If the Trump Administration had started barking orders at Governors (particularly to shut down business while if was still uncertain what havoc this virus could cause), the Governors would have immediately shouted for STATES' RIGHTS.The US Constitution (supposedly) only gives the Federal Government very limited rights. Nearly everything is left to the States. (IMO the Feds illegally overstepped their rights in refusing the Confederate States the right to secede from the Union by declaring war on the Confederate States.)
  

  Most Americans have the opinion (and rightly so) that anything into which the Federal Government "sticks its nose" will be effed-up. America is too large and diversified for a "one-fits-all" policy on most things. Policies that work in California and New York do not usually work the same in Nebraska and Wyoming, etc. This is the same policy that governs US public school districts -- the idea that LOCAL government can better manage it than even State, and certainly more so that Federal governments.

  But now that the incompetency and lack of preparation by several States is clearly evident, their Governors are shouting that the Feds should have covered their backs. You'll note that 9 States still refuse to implement "Stay at Home" orders. They aren't complaining about the limited Federal response.

  And so it goes in the USA.
  
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  hoser

  The good thing about driving up the price of masks and other medical supplies is it will create incentives for current manufacturers to produce more and for other factories to retool to produce medical supplies. This might produce a glut that will result in lower prices and abundant supplies when the next wave of corona hits in October
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  Simon

  Why would any state store any supplies if they could simply skip to the front when some were needed saying "we didn't plan, you did, therefore we should get yours".

  It shouldn't work like that and doesn't, because it wouldn't work.

  The federal supplies allow targeted resupply to areas worse affected, which isn't the same as least-prepared.

  Without some controls, the lazy and feckless would take everything for themselves.
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  Giordano

  https://apnews.com/ce014d94b64e98b7203b873e56f80e9a

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Public health and national security experts shake their heads when President Donald Trump says the coronavirus “came out of nowhere” and “blindsided the world.”

  They’ve been warning about the next pandemic for years and criticized the Trump administration’s decision in 2018 to dismantle a National Security Council directorate at the White House charged with preparing for when, not if, another pandemic would hit the nation.

  https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/trump-fired-pandemic-response-jared-kushner-coronavirus.html

  The story is not false. Trump did eliminate the job of coordinating a national pandemic response. And the strongest evidence of the damage he did is that this job is now being performed by Jared Kushner.

  In May 2018, the top White House official who was focused on pandemic response departed the White House. “The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded,” reported the Washington Post at the time. Trump and his allies — including then-NSC director John Bolton, who undertook the ill-fated move — have since tried to muddy the waters about these moves, emphasizing the fact that they merely reorganized the National Security Council rather than bluntly firing everybody involved in pandemic response.