Almost $1B Later, the US Still Can't Make a Medical Glove

atombender•about 1 hour ago

cherryteastain•about 1 hour ago

How are these types of awards usually structured? Are they just grants? If so, doesn't that create a perverse incentive to take the money even if you never intend to deliver the result?

taneq•about 1 hour ago

Is this the new “China can’t manufacture a ball point pen”? (Which I strongly suspect they can do at this point. :)

maxglute•39 minutes ago

Ballpoint pen tips was proxy Li Keqiang used to shame PRC industry to build precision micromachining capabilities (tungsten carbide for high-end munitions etc), TISCO did it in like a year and it upgraded entire PRC metallurgy chain. US struggling to make 100% indigenized gloves 5+ years after covid... is well maybe not something new relative to US industrial decline, but certainly something else. I'm sure US can... but at what cost and all that.

karakoram•about 1 hour ago

A very important question to ask.

Should the US make medical gloves?

kaashif•about 1 hour ago

Asking this question only a handful of years after a global pandemic...

If the next pandemic is 50% deadly, not being able to make gloves is surely the canary in the coal mine proving we wouldn't be able to make any other PPE.

And no country can rely on another if it's do or die. Other blocs will keep to themselves.

jeffrallen•25 minutes ago

Those who do not learn from history... probably don't make gloves.

raverbashing•about 1 hour ago

It's amazing how much those spreadsheet heads know nothing about how the actual world works

vrganj•34 minutes ago

You gotta optimize everything for the market man! It's magic! Everything will work out if we only make number go up!

Who cares about silly stuff like health emergencies, the climate catastrophe or war. Number must go up!

jofzar•about 1 hour ago

Looks like most/all manufacturing happens in the SEA/China, so I can see the logic that it could be considered a military risk for it to not be manufactured/possibility to scale manufacturing in America.

barrenko•about 1 hour ago

Yeah, you should make stuff medical staff needs.

expedition32•7 minutes ago

Or maybe not start stupid wars but this is America we're talking so meh...

maxglute•about 1 hour ago

Someone already decided US should. The important question is whether 1B should have gotten the job done, and if not... is it matter of throwing good $$$ after bad $$$... or is it just bad sign 1B wasn't enough.

einpoklum•about 1 hour ago

The story says the US doesn't have the raw material(s): NBR. Not quite sure what that is.

oasisaimlessly•38 minutes ago

NBR = nitrile butadiene rubber, a synthetic rubber. Not really a raw material, as it's synthesized.

tonyedgecombe•about 1 hour ago

Also what the cost is. If the US really wants to reshore this sort of work then it will become materially poorer.

Hikikomori•about 1 hour ago

1-200% tariff applied at random if you don't.

looksjjhg•about 1 hour ago

The US started the tariff game btw

Hikikomori•42 minutes ago

That is what I'm referring to.

roysting•about 1 hour ago

Yes. Next question

Almost $1B Later, the US Still Can't Make a Medical Glove

⚡ Community Insights

Discussion (21 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews