Irrationality is great for inconsequential decisions like deciding which brand of soap to buy or whether or not to spend a dollar on the lottary. Without this kind of mental shortcut our brains would short-fuse a few minutes after we got up in the morning.
But why is it crazy to think that rationality should hold no or little sway over monumentally important decisions like deciding how to spend billions of dollars or deciding whether or not to invade another country? Important decisions should be made rationally.
So why are people worried about the flu? Cancer kills far more people each year. For that matter, so do cars (a la Jason.) So who cares about the flu? We probably pay too much for air safety also, since so very few people die in plane crashes. We could cut back on the safety costs in aircraft and accept, oh, say about 1000 people a year on average - maybe none some years, perhaps 3000 one year.
I just think that once you start trying to reduce things to pure stats you can make all kinds of silly arguments.[/quote]
Because the flu isn’t risky for the population at large, but for specific minorities (the elderly, infants) it’s very dangerous.
Just out of genuine curiosity - did the admnistration have plenty of warning about this? Chiron’s problem was announced around the first of October (my first hit on a search was CNN, October 6th.) It was an unexpected problem, as far as I could see, due to an issue with a small portion of their production, but it shut them down and they were scheduled to produce about fifty percent of the U.S. flu shots. I’m not sure how that can be legitimately tied to Bush et al. (am I missing something? I admit I didn’t due an extensive search beyond what I heard when this first became news.)
The Brits apparently started creating contigency plans, alternate providers, blah blah. US? Nothing.
No, I have no news sources. My wife is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Gerontology here at Aurora Health Care. There was a shortage (though not as severe) last year that caused an outcry. When I say “the administration” knew about this, I’m not really talking about Bush. I’m talking about Tommy Thompson. She wasn’t surprised to hear about Chiron, she was predicting a shortage before that happened because it’s just not seen as a priority during the non-Flu season.
Also, what Jason said. No shortage in England, none in Canada, etc., why a shortage here then? Bad policy.
That may be because the Brits knew that the Brits’ government would be shutting down the Brits’ facility after said Brits’ facility had produced enough for the Brits’ needs.
Of course, we may just need to read between the lines and find a Bush blaming angle as well.
