New CTUP Study – Almost Every Government Intervention in Response to COVID Was Wrong

In Order To Ensure You Can View All The Graphics, Click Here To View The Hotline In Your Browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
Unleash Prosperity Hotline – Weekend Edition
Issue #977
03/15/2024, 03/16/2024, 03/17/2024
New to the Hotline? Click ([link removed]) here ([link removed]) to subscribe–it's free. ([link removed])

1) New CTUP Study – Almost Every Government Intervention in Response to COVID Was Wrong
Four years ago this week, the government initiated unprecedented federal lockdowns of the economy to combat Covid. A just-released comprehensive CTUP study ([link removed]) of the academic evidence and dozens of peer-reviewed studies conclude that the ordered shutdown of our schools, churches, and businesses brought little health benefits while imposing multi-trillions of dollars of long-term societal costs.

These costs include a $6 trillion increase in government debt, hundreds of thousands of business bankruptcies, one to two years of lost schooling for young children, tens of millions of Americans out of work, and hundreds of thousands of excess deaths from loneliness, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, delayed hospital care in part due to the forced social isolation.

The lower wages to workers in the future from the educational losses could be in the trillions of dollars over the decades to come.

These costs exceeded by multiple times any health benefits from mandates and lockdowns.

States that didn’t shut down at all or quickly reopened had no different death rates on average than states that did. But the non-lockdown states had much swifter recoveries than states that shut down for a year or more.

This chart from the study shows that the one country, Sweden, that did not surrender to panic and lockdowns had one of the lowest rates of all-cause excess deaths:

[link removed]
These are some of the conclusions by a first-of-its-kind retrospective study by CTUP and co-authored by four of the nation’s top experts on the pandemic – Dr. Scott Atlas of the Hoover Institution, economist Steve Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, Casey Mulligan of the University of Chicago, and Phil Kerpen, president of CTUP. The study concludes that many of the government policies had catastrophic social, educational, and economic consequences and that these mistakes should never again be repeated.

Their findings are here:

[link removed]
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fnew-ctup-study-almost-every-government-intervention-in-response-to-covid-was-wrong%2F Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fnew-ctup-study-almost-every-government-intervention-in-response-to-covid-was-wrong%2F)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])

2) Committee for an Irresponsible Federal Budget
We don’t mean to always pick on these folks, but many in the media still consider them the “go-to guys” for an honest “bipartisan” assessment of how budget proposals will affect the nation’s debt crisis.

We almost fell off our collective chairs when we saw this statement by the group regarding the new Biden budget.

Brace yourself:

"The President’s budget... would represent an important first step toward long-term fiscal sustainability."

Huh?

That’s like saying the Hindenburg was a first step toward flight safety.

Just as a quick refresher: this “step in the right direction” – spends $7.3 trillion and lets the debt rise by another $10,000,000,000,000 over the next decade and raises job-killing taxes by another $5 trillion. We’ve been analyzing presidential budget proposals for four decades. This is by far the biggest spending budget in our lifetimes and it even makes Barack Obama look like a skinflint.

CFRB also recently endorsed the disastrous Inflation Reduction Act, which added hundreds of billions more in spending.

It’s a free country and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But for the sake of truthful advertising, this group should really call themselves the Committee of Liberals to Raise Taxes and Grow the Government. We also can’t fathom why any fiscally sensible Conservative would align with them.

[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fcommittee-for-an-irresponsible-federal-budget%2F Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fcommittee-for-an-irresponsible-federal-budget%2F)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])

3) It’s Not Only Incomes that Have Stalled Under Biden – So Has Family Net Worth
Fresh data from the Fed this week shows household net wealth up a whopping 18% over the last three years. Woo hoo. Nearly every penny of this is due to the mirage of inflation.

In real terms, household net wealth is up less than 1%.

Under Trump, the nominal increase was 37.9% and the real increase was 27.9%.

[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fits-not-only-incomes-that-have-stalled-under-biden-so-has-family-net-worth%2F Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fits-not-only-incomes-that-have-stalled-under-biden-so-has-family-net-worth%2F)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])
4) The South Rises Again – At the Expense of Sinking California and New York
At the end of 2023, the Census Bureau announced its population estimates for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Texas and Florida, the second and third largest states, dominated the nation’s growth, accounting for 51% of the 1.643 million gain. Texas gained 473,000 (29%), while Florida gained 365,000 (22%). Only two other states exceeded a gain of 100,000 --- North Carolina and Georgia. Meanwhile, the South accounted for 87% of the nation’s growth in 2023. Meanwhile, the first and fourth largest states had the largest population declines, with California dropping 75,000 and New York 102,000.

The Census Bureau has just released estimates for the counties and metropolitan areas. Not surprisingly, the counties of Texas and Florida dominated the estimates.

In overall population gain, Harris County TX (includes Houston) added the most residents, while 7 other Texas counties and one in Florida populated the top 10. Only Maricopa County (AZ) made the top ten outside Texas and Florida.

California (3) and New York (3) had the most counties in population loss. Los Angeles County had the largest loss.

Three interesting developments from this Census data:
* The report confirms the continuing outmigration from large, dense core cities (governed predominantly by “progressive” Democrats and population gains in outer suburbs.
* The Atlanta metropolitan area has become the sixth largest in the nation, having passed Washington (DC-VA-MD-WV), Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD, and Miami, FL since the 2020 census.
* The Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area has passed San Francisco to become the second-largest metropolitan area in California. Will the 49ers move to Riverside?

The left has often explained the migration out of blue states as due to the weather – not high taxes and incompetent governance. But when people are flooding out of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area for HOUSTON, they sure aren’t leaving for better weather.

[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fthe-south-rises-again-at-the-expense-of-sinking-california-and-new-york%2F Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fthe-south-rises-again-at-the-expense-of-sinking-california-and-new-york%2F)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])
5) How To Get Rid of Uninvited House Guests
What would you do if you came home and found a gang of trespassers drinking and making themselves at home in your living room?

This isn’t a scene from a Hollywood disaster movie. As law and order breaks down in many major cities, illegal “squatters” are increasingly emboldened to take over homes and refuse to leave.

In Southern California, the problem is so bad that an affluent Beverly Crest mansion was turned into a wild party house with hundreds of rowdy uninvited guests per night. The police aren’t doing much to chase away these poachers, so homeowners are turning to entrepreneur Flash Shelton's “Squatter Hunter” service.

Shelton found his mother’s house occupied by seven strangers who wouldn't leave. Police told him the squatters had rights and his case would be tied up in courts for months or even years. He waited until the squatters were out for the day and then lugged their stowaway belongings to the side of the road.

Now his business is helping property owners remove illegal squatters.

We love entrepreneurial businesses like this, but it’s sad that in many major cities, you now have to hire a firm to do the job of the police and the courts.

[link removed]
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fhow-to-get-rid-of-uninvited-house-guests%2F Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fcommitteetounleashprosperity.com%2Fhotlines%2Fhow-to-get-rid-of-uninvited-house-guests%2F)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
View on Website ([link removed])
6) This Will Save Our Kids

============================================================

Know anyone else who would appreciate the Hotline? Please direct them to subscribe at: ** [link removed] ([link removed])

Have an idea for an item that should be in our newsletter? Send us any charts, statistics, heroes/villains, or humor that you’d like to see featured!
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** [link removed] ([link removed])
Copyright © *2024* *Committee To Unleash Prosperity*, All rights reserved.

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
Committee to Unleash Prosperity . 1155 15th St NW Ste 525 . Washington, DC xxxxxx-2706 . USA