In order to defeat the pandemic we must restart America’s economic engine — and we must do so now. Continuing this fear-based economic shutdown is a mistake that will haunt America for decades. The risk of a long-term global economic depression is rapidly rising.
It was only a few months ago that America’s economy was the envy of the world. In early February, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was only a few hundred points shy of a once unimaginable 30,000.
Then the Wuhan coronavirus hit us. In short order, fear and panic consumed our politicians, media and public. Within weeks, the Dow cratered to under 19,000 and America’s $22 trillion economic engine was effectively forced to shut down by our own government.
The economic and social shutdown experiment is going to go down in history as a massive and ill-advised failure. Do Americans understand that most of us will ultimately be exposed to this virus anyway? The goal is only to “flatten the curve,” meaning slow the spread so our healthcare system can keep up. An actual vaccine is at least a year off.
Don’t take this dire economic warning as the result of doubt the seriousness of the pandemic. However, I can’t help but think about the cost of this economic shutdown, based on the fact that tens of millions of livelihoods are in the midst of being eliminated.
Will all — or any — of these millions of “furloughed” jobs return?
In a work: Unlikely.
After only several weeks, entire industries are already on the verge of collapse — airlines, airline manufacturers, the cruise industry, automobile companies, travel businesses, hotels, restaurants, bars, and so on. Unemployment claims last week soared to a record setting 6.6 million — and this is only the beginning.
Another month of this, as many local and state governments have already directed, and our economy will be in ruins. Yet there are so-called medical experts advocating for this shutdown to for 30, 60, 90 days — or indefinitely.
The alternative, we are told, would be death, dying, suffering, misery. People will die, these doomsayers claim, if we just wake one morning and go back to work. Some even claim we cannot reopen the country until we reach zero new infectious cases of Wuhan virus. These experts are even hinting at a second economic shutdown in the fall when the virus is likely to make a comeback.
When President Trump signed the $2 trillion PPP package two weeks ago, it was intended to help small businesses and individuals impacted by the Wuhan virus. But multimillion dollars companies and even Harvard University have gotten stimulus money when thousands of small businesses couldn't. (Photo: Photographer Pool/Getty Images)
Another ill-advised reaction to the virus has been adding to the already impossibly burdensome debt that will be passed on to our children and grandchildren. The $2 trillion stimulus package to combat this self-imposed economic freeze-up is chump change compared to the economic devastation underway because of the shutdown.
Note that America’s national debt is already over $23 trillion, and our leaders will be back before you know it calling for more debt to fight the pandemic. Think about it — $2 trillion is equivalent to about one month of U.S. economic output — a mere band-aid in view of the carnage.
Our airline industry and other connected big corporations will be bailed out as critical to our nation. Small businesses won’t be though, despite what the politicians say. Many multimillion dollar enterprises, from restaurant chains to mail-order houses, have cut the line intended only for small businesses.
What happens to the millions of small businesses that will fail because of this government economic-shutdown experiment? Most importantly, what happens to their employees and families?
Small business are the lifeblood of America’s economy — over 99 percent of American firms are small businesses, employ 48 percent of our nation’s workers, and account for 44 percent of all U.S. economic activity. Yet the very Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) program intended to save those businesses is letting them die.
The $1,200 government stimulus check to be given to each person is just another band-aid that won’t stop the inevitable. Tens of thousands will lose their homes, be evicted from their apartments and will find themselves unable to return to work.
Some may not even want to return to work. Enhanced unemployment benefits, attributable to the virus, will pay most young workers more to remain unemployed than their jobs paid them.
This madness needs to end before it’s too late. This is real life — not a Hollywood pandemic movie. The president’s three-phase plan to reopen the country is an excellent blueprint to accomplish the goal.
Half the states are deemed Phase I ready today. They need to stop stalling, stop listening to the talking heads and whiny Leftists — and get to work!
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