Tie Between Economics & Coronavirus
The Tie between Economics & Coronavirus. The Federal and state governments (within the Northeast) fail to effectively deal with the two headed monster created by Coronavirus and the corresponding disease, COVID-19. At the federal level, it has become increasingly obvious that our elected leaders, A: Have no idea the pain their long negotiations are inflicting on Main Street America. B: They likely couldn’t negotiate their way out of a preschool.
President Trumps Three Phase Plan
President Trump released a three phase plan to allow our country to begin a return to normal operation, but ultimately relinquished control to the state governments. While, in my opinion, this is the correct balance of power, I was interested in finding the highest level advocate possible to press for some form of economic recovery. The plan is mostly common sense items. Make sure your testing, contact tracing, and hospitals are in place and prepared. Re-open slowly, beginning with smaller venues and moving to larger venues over a period of time. The phases take place in conjunction with relaxed social distancing guidelines as long as the spread of the disease remains reasonable and manageable.
With these social distancing ideas in mind, the Governors in the hardest hit states are still focusing wholly on the disease itself. This approach continues to be mind boggling. All of this takes place as the federal government continues to be unable to pass small business stimulus relief. Just yesterday the White House announced that the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) has exhausted all of its $349 billion allotment.
Small Business continues to suffer as leaders fail to recognize the tie between economics & Coronavirus
This takes place as the vast majority of small businesses throughout the country continue to wait on funds. As prosperity disappears the tie between economics & Coronavirus grows more apparent. The real kicker of this whole thing however is the incompetency demonstrated within our legislative bodies. This issue is not politically biased. It is not partisan. Small business owners and entrepreneurs represent a wide swath of political opinion and persuasion. This economically crushing stimulus depletion could have been avoided except the personal agendas been demonstrated in Washington DC. While without a doubt politically charged, Representative Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky) said it appropriately when he said, “support for workers and small businesses as something they need to be goaded into supporting. This should be above politics.”
Economics & Coronavirus: State Government’s responses.
Speaking of politics, let’s look at state governments and their response to economic carnage taking place right before their eyes. In defense of state governments they do have a responsibility to balance their budgets, however in such extreme times it also seems necessary to consider options and ideas that would not be commonplace otherwise. The tie between economics & Coronavirus grows everyday. The severity of the steps being taken to stymie the spread of COVID-19 could almost certainly be applied to the economic side as well. Can we not enact state programs to assist in keeping small businesses viable as we work our way through this?
Perhaps it looks like a state provided stimulus, or an executive order deferring all business liabilities through a point in which firms can begin to operate again. It seems likely the state could take over all business insurance (workers compensation, general liability, commercial auto) in some fashion to allow firms to avoid making payments until they are allowed to function and produce revenues again.
Admittedly this may end up simply being a grant, as how do you ask or demand money for services already rendered and expired? Yet, it would seem the potential, immediate return via tax revenues from operational small businesses would without question outweigh the expense. It is hard to fathom how people see a single-minded focus on the disease as the best path possible. As we learn more about Coronavirus and COVID-19 it is becoming readily apparent that we as a global entity will not be able to kill it off completely, at least not through our current methods.
Is our Shelter-in-Place all in Vein?
Take for example a recent article published via Reuters.com. Roughly 60 percent of the 600 member crew aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier have tested positive for the virus, yet have no symptoms. This does not mean they may never develop symptoms, but it does force us to seriously consider the lethalness and the spread of the virus. The stay at home order may prove almost fruitless unless we extended into wildly long time periods. This development means the virus could be spreading far more rapidly than our medical professionals ever suspected.
We may not have all the answers regarding the novel Coronavirus, but it seems we should have much better data for economic decision-making. Realizing a severe economic downturn, tied to the information related to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, potentially carriers all around us, poor economic conditions will magnify the disease 10 fold more than having maintained the status quo and kept our economy moving forward. This only further demonstrates the tie between economics & Coronavirus. Less prosperity and more carriers creates a ticking time bomb.