April 14, 2020
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
Time to turn the American engine on again
“Be not afraid” and “fear not”
are among the most common messages from God to his people. Is it any wonder
that even Americans who are accustomed to freedoms foreign to many of the
people around the world, have been so easily convinced to engage in social
distancing in response to the China originated COVID-19 virus? Fear is a
powerful motivator. However, fear is the enemy of freedom and it is time for
President Trump to lay a pathway forward for America’s economic re-opening that
our nation’s governors can use as a guidepost for jumpstarting America as we
enter the rapid downward trajectory of the viruses impact arc. Yesterday,
President Trump told the nation, “We're very close to completing a plan to open
our country.” And we really need that. Now today, President Trump is convening
a special council on re-opening the economy consisting of key economic leaders
in the nation. In order to overcome the health fears, this panel will help
inform America about the economic damage being done by the social distancing
strategy while using their combined wisdom to develop a way forward to re-open
the economy as fast as possible and help ensure the survival of the free market
system.
Video: Role of 50 states in coronavirus lockdown and where was Biden?
Different governors have
different approaches and are each going to have different plans for how to
reopen their economies.
We need to reopen the economy ASAP while there still is an economy
The Chairman of the Federal
Reserve, Jerome Powell, noted last week that the economy is quickly
deteriorating – and this is after the Federal Reserve and the federal
government have both taken extraordinary measures to shore up the economy. Of
course, Powell is not the only one who has noticed the sharp economic downturn.
Small business owners all across the country are worried that the businesses
they worked so hard to build will fail and they will be forced to lay off all
of their employees if things do not change very soon. Here is what several such
business owners have to say about their situations.
Fauci: Trump listened to official recommendations for mitigation to fight coronavirus
Dr. Anthony Fauci: “The first
and only time that Dr. Birx and I went in and formally made a recommendation,
to the president, to actually have a ‘shutdown’ in the sense of not really shut
down, but to really have strong mitigations, obviously there would be some
concern by some that in fact that might have some negative consequences.
Nonetheless, the president listened to the recommendation. The next second time
that I went in with Dr. Birx in to the president and said 15 days are not
enough, we need to go 30 days, obviously people had a problem with that,
because of the potential secondary effects. Nonetheless, at that time, the
president went with the health recommendations.”
Time to turn the American engine on again
By Rick Manning
“Fear Not.” These are the words that Mary heard from the Angel Gabriel who then told her that “she had found great favor in the Lord,” announcing that she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus.
Even Mary found fear in the face of the unknown and needed to be reassured. Mary knew the path ahead would be hard as an unwed pregnant girl, and could not see more than the next footstep before her, yet she listened, believed and embraced her blessing.
Upon Jesus’ birth, according to the Book of Luke, an angel appeared to shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem saying, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great job that will be for all the people.”
In fact, “be not afraid” and “fear not” are among the most common messages from God to his people.
Is it any wonder that even Americans who are accustomed to freedoms foreign to many of the people around the world, have been so easily convinced to engage in social distancing in response to the China originated COVID-19 virus? Fear is a powerful motivator.
However, fear is the enemy of freedom and it is time for President Trump to lay a pathway forward for America’s economic re-opening that our nation’s governors can use as a guidepost for jumpstarting America as we enter the rapid downward trajectory of the viruses impact arc.
Yesterday, President Trump told the nation, “We're very close to completing a plan to open our country.” And we really need that.
Now today, President Trump is convening a special council on re-opening the economy consisting of key economic leaders in the nation. In order to overcome the health fears, this panel will help inform America about the economic damage being done by the social distancing strategy while using their combined wisdom to develop a way forward to re-open the economy as fast as possible and help ensure the survival of the free market system.
The obvious emphasis should be on the local situations facing each state and individual community. It makes little sense to create a one-sized fits all strategy. The New York City metropolitan area has different legitimate concerns than Casper, Wyoming and these differences should be respected in any national guidelines created.
Lives being saved is important, and that is why President Trump called the decision on when to re-open the economy the toughest one that he has to make. It is imperative that the President also be aware of the lives cost from the suicides, drug overdoses and addiction and the other deaths of despair that go hand in hand with economic depression. And that is what our nation is dangerously close to falling into.
In about six weeks, our nation has gone from the best economy in at least 70 years with the fewest number of people unemployed than at any time since the year 2000 to unprecedented levels of unemployment insurance claims indicating that the unemployment numbers may be approaching 20 million. Six weeks ago, small businesses were optimistic and thriving, with a month and a half into the social distancing disaster, Main Street is in danger of resembling an old West ghost town.
Now it will be up to this council to take steps to re-open America. There will be a risk in re-opening our economy, but it is certain that our nation will face a long-term economic disaster if we don’t restore our nation’s freedoms.
President Trump faced a terrible decision when the virus started washing over our shores. He has been operating on a full alert status using every waking hour in the fight to contain and mitigate the virus. He willingly sacrificed his economic legacy in order to protect America from a projected million plus deaths. Now, it is time for America to overcome fear and begin the process of turning free enterprise loose so American greatness can be restored.
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
Video: Role of 50 states in coronavirus lockdown and where was Biden?
To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8ypGmcfRPw
We need to reopen the economy ASAP while there still is an economy
By Richard McCarty
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, noted last week that the economy is quickly deteriorating – and this is after the Federal Reserve and the federal government have both taken extraordinary measures to shore up the economy. Of course, Powell is not the only one who has noticed the sharp economic downturn. Small business owners all across the country are worried that the businesses they worked so hard to build will fail and they will be forced to lay off all of their employees if things do not change very soon. Here is what several such business owners have to say about their situations.
Andrew S. is the owner of Sebastian Design Build, a home improvement company based in Clarksville, Maryland, who stated, “The shutdown of our economy has had a terrible effect on my company, my family, and myself. It also is adversely affecting the lives of my employees and all of my employees’ family members. We have a very small company here, but I can easily think of 40 or 50 Americans that are being adversely affected by this shutdown and us not being allowed to work. As a small business owner, I do appreciate what was accomplished with the CARES Act. That is gonna allow me to keep my employees paid for the next two months or so. After that, I don’t… know what’s going to happen. I would not expect the government to keep writing checks to cover everybody’s payroll. “
Sherry R. and her sons own a salon in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who worried about being able to pay their employees: “We put everything on the line to do this business, which is what makes America great -- that we have the opportunity to work really hard and build a business. But with everything shut down, we are unable to… help these girls [her employees] and their families… My sons and I… we’re still gonna owe at least 144,000 [dollars] every year. We’ve gotta get back to work.”
Gabe S. is the owner of Window Ninjas, which provides window cleaning and pressure washing services and has locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, said, “Thus far the shutdown… has had a severe and negative impact on our business. We went from [a] 25 percent growth rate to a… decline in sales and service. We have had to reduce our workforce hours and had to lay off about 25 percent of our employees… completely. Our numbers are suffering, and our goal of franchising our business is in serious jeopardy. If our economy is not opened up by May 1st, we will lose out on the most productive month of the year for us – May’s our busiest month… By closing our economy… it will literally take us backwards by about 20 years – if it… just doesn’t completely shut us down. We service commercial companies from large commercial chain stores to the local mom and pop pizzeria. They have been completely wiped out and cancelled all services… We do a lot of residential service work… but that work is starting to dry up now as well. And we have also seen a major decline in our larger, commercial high-rise buildings that usually are scheduled months in advance… If they have no customers, we have no customers, and the U.S. will have not any tax revenue. And the local municipalities will lose out as well. We’re anticipating a huge spike in our local property tax rates to pay for all for the lost tax revenue that they are losing out on. And we are also anticipating a major drop on property values… Open up the economy by May 1st as planned…, or we will be out of business. And we’re predicting about 75% of other companies will be too.”
The good news for these business owners is that President Trump is a businessman and understands that the economy cannot remain closed indefinitely. To facilitate the reopening of the economy, he is establishing the Council to Reopen America. We hope this council will include small business owners as well as clergy members, counselors, and charity workers. Public health officials can be expected to want to keep the country locked down for months, and it is crucial that the social, mental, and economic costs of such a course of action are fully considered.
Richard McCarty is the Director of Research at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured report from Breitbart.com, Dr. Anthony Fauci said President Donald Trump has been on top of following recommendations to slow the spread of the Chinese coronavirus:
Fauci: Trump listened to official recommendations for mitigation to fight coronavirus
By Charlie Spiering
Dr. Anthony Fauci asserted Monday at the White House that President Donald Trump listened to his recommendation to institute mitigation policies to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
He said:
“The first and only time that Dr. Birx and I went in and formally made a recommendation, to the president, to actually have a ‘shutdown’ in the sense of not really shut down, but to really have strong mitigations, obviously there would be some concern by some that in fact that might have some negative consequences. Nonetheless, the president listened to the recommendation. The next second time that I went in with Dr. Birx in to the president and said 15 days are not enough, we need to go 30 days, obviously people had a problem with that, because of the potential secondary effects. Nonetheless, at that time, the president went with the health recommendations.”
Fauci walked back and clarified comments he made on CNN during an interview with Jake Tapper on Sunday, that the administration could have enacted social mitigation polices earlier and saved lives. Fauci said he was responding to a “hypothetical” question.
“I can just tell you the first and only time that I went in and said we should do mitigation strongly, the response was ‘Yes, we’ll do it,'” he said.
Fauci said that his mention of “pushback” from the administration was a “poor choice of words” but that obviously some White House advisers had concerns about the cost of the social mitigation strategy.
“Are you doing this voluntarily?” CBS reporter Paula Reid asked Fauci.
“No … everything I do is voluntary,” Fauci replied shortly. “Don’t even imply that.”
