Grading the Governors on Economic Response to COVID-19

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Real Clear Politics

The U.S. economy is at last moving into the recovery stage from the coronavirus, at least in most states.

One definite pattern has emerged: Republican states are reopening much more swiftly than Democratic states. A most notable case in point is the revival strategies of the four largest states. California and New York are closed for weeks to come; Florida and Texas are getting back in business now.

Unfortunately, most blue-state governors, with a few notable exceptions, are imperiling their states' recoveries and the very survival of their businesses by remaining shuttered.

Arthur Laffer and I conducted a study for Laffer Associates that finds the "start date" for reopening a state will have a significant impact on how deep and long the recession will last. States that start to open up immediately will have fewer small-business bankruptcies and steeper declines in unemployment and poverty rates this summer and fall than states that keep commerce shut down for another month or longer. The blue states, which already suffer from a steady reverse migration of employers, workers and capital because of higher taxes and more onerous anti-business regulations, will have more painful recessions, in part because businesses will accelerate their exodus from these "closed for business" states.

It is vital that when states reopen their economies, they do so with the smart and health-conscious strategies such as masks, gloves, disinfectants, social distancing, screening, etc. This is critical not only to minimize the chances of people getting ill but also to avoid a recurrence of the virus.

 

Governors such as Ron DeSantis of Florida are adopting the best health practices by allowing people to get out of their homes and enjoy outdoor activities and go to stores while taking special care to protect seniors in nursing homes. They reject the media narrative that this puts residents in danger. The evidence is now clear, as shown in an analysis by Edward Pinto of the American Enterprise Institute: There is minimal, if any, relationship between how strict a state has been in stay-at-home orders/business lockdowns and death rates of the coronavirus.

 

[Valin]

4:17 LA Times’ Factually Incorrect Headline

[Valin]

[Valin]

Lockdown Failure: Walz Shutdown Killing Economy, No Visible Benefit To Safety

Minnesota is one of the few states in the midwest that still has a statewide economic shutdown.

May 14 2020

(Snip)

Minnesota has both the highest deaths per million people, as well as the highest unemployment rate compared to our five neighboring states. Four of the states surrounding us do not have state-wide lockdown measures in place. This goes to show that Governor Walz’s economy-killing shutdown is not of benefit to the people of Minnesota. It is time to reopen.

Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/…/unemployment-claims-state-see-how…

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