Sorry, I don’t get it. If N95 masks are so important for the nation, they will become very valuable, to the market will spontaneously adjust to produce more in order to maximize profits.
Worst case, if you cannot afford a mask for yourself, you can always take a Respiratory Mask Loan. Hey, if the mask saves your life, it’s only fair that you spend the rest of it repaying your generous creditors.
That’ll stop covid-19 AND the flu… take that 3M!
You want totalitarianism? Because this is a good step in that direction for this asshole.
I owe you a couple of drinks now.
Yup. That’s what makes Trumpism a hyper-partisan cult of personality and Fox News one of the most destructive propaganda outlets in world history.
Every time I see covid-19 it reminds me a bit to much of covfefe to which I am just waiting for that moment when some Drumpf boot licker openly says “see that’s what covfefe was referencing he knew it was coming and was warning us”.
If the government gives Company A an order for 100 million N95 masks for immediate delivery, Company A will dedicate 100% of its production capacity to N95 masks until the order is completed, with no need to invoke the Defense Production Act. But that would require the government to spend money, which obviously would be unacceptable.
You touched me like no other has.
Geez, get a room, you two! 
Self-quarantine would seem to be indicated.
How will this affect flying into or out of Swiss airports in the next month or so?
The DPA doesn’t require Company A to provide the masks for free. The government would still have to pay. The DPA actually requires the government to demonstrate that this the most cost-effective way to get the desired materials (the DOD does this routinely).
More than you will ever want to know about the DPA:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R43118.pdf
Our county has set up RVs in “pods” on state correction facilities (prisons) for people that might be infected / are infected and can’t quarantine themselves for whatever reason.
This doesn’t sound like any government procurement I’ve ever been involved with.
First, without some special authority it’s probably illegal to place that order without a competitive bid unless some kind of previous bid gave the vendor the right to have orders like this placed.
Second, generally when companies get big orders of things from the government they do not fill them right away. Filling orders for the government is bottom of the priority list because the government is not aggressive at going after businesses that are behind schedule and because procurement rules generally mean the government will still have to consider buying from you again.
If the US feds are better than this then I’d love to hear about it (since maybe I could use that as an example of why Ontario and Canada need to do better). But my guess is they are even worse.
Malware never saw it coming!
That is terrifying…
I think one difference is that Nixon was at least all about the US being number one, whereas I could fully see that if things go south for Trump, he’d happily emigrate to Russia.
