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Comment by piker | Hacker News Reader

It will be interesting to see how elastic the supply of healthcare services is in the US versus the social systems if a pandemic does break out. History has shown that when mobilized for a common cause, the US is a force even when compared to socialist and authoritarian states. Thunder God Mountain may not have been possible in the US, but in the worst case scenario, it will interesting to see what is possible in the US.

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> Thunder God Mountain may not have been possible in the US

What would you say would be the biggest impediment here? I would think actually that just government regulation in and of itself would prevent any private company from achieving this feat. And even Federal and State governments are similarly encumbered by regulation.

It seems like the US government isn't structured to deploy such resources so quickly (e.g., FEMA's responses to Katrina, Sandy, etc.) and regulation would seem to kill private efforts. Maybe a state or local government could pull it off with accommodation from federal regulators.

In the US, private industry is broadly empowered to say "No" or "I'll see you in court" to government demands, to a larger degree than many other countries.

The side effect of empowering private industry is that organizations like FEMA and the CDC can't force much, and typically advise or request.

Which doesn't get things done nearly as efficiently when it's a situation where proposed actions are detrimental to one corporation, even if good for the nation.

What do you think the US government would have to demand from private industry to do build in the time frame that Thunder God Mountain was built?

>>History has shown that when mobilized for a common cause, the US is a force even when compared to socialist and authoritarian states.

true...and then you get the $752,245.88 bill total from 36 different doctors and hospitals for a 7 day hospital stay.

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