Free Market Pivot: From Making Undewear to Making Surgical Masks - Granite Grok

Free Market Pivot: From Making Undewear to Making Surgical Masks

Common Good Is Basic to Capitalism.

The National Council of Textile Organizations says the coalition is committed to producing 10 million face masks a week. This is an example of capitalism doing good by nimbly pivoting to make a product that benefits others. Last week they made underwear, this week it is personal protective equipment.

All parties are better for the effort.

Parkdale Mills is based in Gastonia, North Carolina. It touts a vision that revolves around a perpetually changing supply chain. That supply chain demands a faster response, superior service, and enhanced speed to market. The vision of “enhanced speed to market” is being put to the test under CEO Anderson Warlick.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has released a statement. It says Dr. Peter Navarro is an assistant to the president. He is the director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. As such he is working with the coalition and helping to expedite the production of these masks…

Helping people

With help from the White House cutting red tape quickly, the manufacturing of the face masks has begun. Parkdale Mills hopes the companies will hit the production goal of 10 million masks a week within a month. A Parkdale Mills spokesman, in a phone interview with The Daily Signal, said:

“This is … a time of crisis that many people have not seen since the time of the world wars, Vietnam, you know, situations like that… And [in] these times, there is a call to action. Who is going to step up and supply a need and do the right thing? We are trying to do the best we can to do what we can for the country.”

Shortages of face masks have prompted the CDC to release special instructions. They are for nurses and other medical personnel who may be forced to create homemade masks. That is the urgency of the limited supply availability.

Need… filling the need

The CDC posted suggestions on its website. In settings where face masks are not available, health care personnel might use homemade masks. They suggest the use of bandanas or scarves.  This is for the care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort.

The NCTO is urging the government to consider this textile manufacturing to be “essential” work. We need to exempt these employees from “shelter in place” orders. NCTO asserts its members make a broad range of inputs. They also make finished products for use in lines of personal protective equipment (PPE). These workers produce medical non-woven/textile supplies.

These supplies include surgical gowns, face masks, antibacterial wipes, and lab coats. They also include blood pressure cuffs, cotton swabs, and hazmat suits. These items are vital to the government’s effort to ramp up emergency production of these critical supplies. The common good is basic to capitalism which is why both are better for it?

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