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Comment by rmk | Hacker News Reader

If CA couldn't manage a high-speed rail line between two major urban centres, what makes you think they can move electrical lines underground?

The last major project the state undertook was the Hetch-Hetchy aqueduct, and that project was done in Jerry Brown's father's time. Pat Brown was governor of CA in the 60's.

Let that sink in.

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We put a man on the moon. At the hight of WW2 we built a liberty ship everyday. We have to have the will to do what is required. Not sure we have that anymore. In general Americans have lost the will to do the hard task that take time. We have lost faith in the power of our science and engineering. We want everything in 30 seconds sound bites. The lack of long term planning for the future of our children will be our down fall. Contrast our handling of Covid vs the Chinese, South Korean or NZ.

Bread and circus, the fall of Rome.

I don’t think the handling of Covid is really indicative of government incompetence (except perhaps a complete lack of coordination nationwide on Covid efforts). Our federal structure was a compromise to keep the U in the USA. So it is expected that each state will do things as it sees fit. China is an authoritarian state that needs tight control in order to maintain the status quo, so of course it was able to quell the pandemic. South Korea and NZ are both small and relatively centrally governed. The UK, Canada, and Australia all have public healthcare or public options. None of it is true in the USA. We have chosen not to have a public option in healthcare for the working age population, so we shouldn’t expect to be able to put down pandemics easily or even with difficulty.

The President was quite with in his legal emergency powers rights to issue a national mask required mandate. He was also allowed to order production of test and require mass testing. This could have all been done legally.

I very much doubt if these things were possible. I have a strong feeling I will be proven right: Joe Biden will also not impose a mask mandate, rightly realising that he lacks the authority to do so.

It was definitely a huge mistake to appoint a person who has published dodgy research to head the CDC (it is my understanding that this guy was the preferred candidate of the Evangelicals.) The CDC has been conspicuously absent throughout this pandemic, and I think it's because of their spectacular ineptitude. How much of it is attributable to its politically appointed masters, I do not know, but it's a shame nevertheless.

This is what I've been telling people as well. We're not the country that can deal with adversity anymore.

During WW2, people sacrificed steel so that industry could produce the weapons we needed. Now, there's a rush on toilet paper, for little discernable rational reason.

Distrust of science is increasing, and rationality decreasing. Soon, we'll have anti vaxxers marching against any covid vaccine, crippling our pathway out of the current mess. Memes and sound bites dictate public discourse, no one is reading anything.

The most concerning trend is the de-emphasizing of the importance of college for today's youth. Yes college is not for everyone, but to actively campaign against it is going to be a destabilizing force against the US' technical and engineering prowess in very short order.

The trends seem more and more clear by the year, and I don't see it slowing.

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