(no subject)

people keep comparing the cost of various things governments are doing with the cost of PPE, but is this a relevant comparison? I would expect there aren't actually any substantial stockpiles of masks you can buy for 0.5 USD per (the price quoted in the last example of the genre I've seen) and you'd need to spend money on increasing production capacity. If I'm wrong then, uh, why exactly is anyone leaving those stockpiles lying there?


(spending money on increasing production might *still* be a better use of money than whatever they are complaining about but probably does not have a straightforward "this much money buys these many masks" figure)