If the coronavirus data is revised downward significantly - which is the only reason I can see for this white house hijack - all that will happen is that Republican sympathisers and collaborators will open up their states and cities sooner and the pandemic will take off even further and even wider which in turn will create an ever greater incentive to fiddle the numbers even further out of whack.
This is also perhaps one of the greatest threats US democracy has faced in a long time because it will corrode US Federal credibility, that will hurt politics internally but that will be as nothing compared to the international damage - US will pretty much lose its ability to influence its own allies.
You’ll note I am using word such as ‘collaborators’ and ‘sympathisers’ because we are getting towards a situation where the lying manipulating authoritarian regime is moving in exactly the direction that those words imply
There is no up side to any of it, and some very serious downsides.
That’s undoubtedly true, but: how will we know? He who controls the data controls the story. If the White House says “Numbers dropping! Everything’s great!” who can dispute that?
(I imagine, though, that there will be alternative data sources that don’t go through HHS. State-level health departments, perhaps. I hope.)
There also weren’t a zillion other jobs back then that exist today. Yes, you can’t get a job making T-shirts because they’re all made in China. Of course, the Chinese spend billions upon billions a year on American stuff they don’t make, too.
Prior to the pandemic, the unemployment rate was extremely low. The problem is not that T-shirts are made in China. That’s perfectly fine. The problem is COVID-19.
Well, the official unemployment rate seemed very low, but the shift, especially among younger and minority workers, to low-paid gigs and service jobs made them especially vulnerable to the COVID crisis. The shipment of manufacturing jobs overseas has been going on for decades, because of the influence of multinational corporations who benefit, and to the detriment of working people in all countries and the global environment.
Millenials and Gen Z, particularly the minorities, are bearing the double burden of higher unemployment, crushing student loans, and the fact that even if they graduate from college their degrees don’t do them much good. (Here’s who’s being hit hardest by the economic downturn | PBS NewsHour)
The incumbent (sorry, I refuse to use his name) campaigned on bringing back (really awful) jobs like coal mining and creating new ones in infrastructure improvements. It didn’t happen before the COVID crisis and it’s certainly not going to happen now.
I agree with you that the pandemic is turning the unemployment situation from bad to disastrous, but the basic problems are decades old and were exacerbated by automation and the policies of both Democratic and Republican administrations. (20+ Incredible Statistics on Loss of Manufacturing Jobs [2021 Data])
AND......
With the Covid-19 epidemic in the United States thus solved, there can be no further objection to full in-person re-start of our precious schools in August or September! Win-Win!
Speaking of Goya, I looked him up in that thingy, and the first image that showed up on his page (after his own portrait at the top) was a piece titled “WhiteHouse 2020”. Prophetic bastard he was.
As a libertarian, I would tell people, “Both conservatives and liberals have a dream of how wonderful everything will be if only the ‘right people’ would get elected, and want a powerful government to effect those policies. The libertarians’ nightmare, on the other hand, is how horrible if their worst enemy was in power and want to limit government power accordingly.”
The events since 2016 are now quite apparent to the liberals. If they weren’t so dependent on Federal aid, the schools and hospitals could collectively give a single-digit salute to the demands of Donny Two-scoops and his lick-spittles.
And WHY are they “so dependent”? Hmmm? Take off the blinders and sunglasses and have a look around at today’s world.
Schools and hospitals can’t function or stay in business without federal aid. The answer is not less federal aid, it’s higher taxes (on the wealthy-- none on the poor) and MORE federal aid. Yup, I’m talkin’ about socialism. The stuff that works in Europe.
I think there is a lesson here to be taken away for libertarians as well. Fragmented government and policies simply don’t work when municipalities are being sued by state government because their public policies are in conflict with one another, while federal authorities both demand compliance and wash their hands of responsibility.
All science supported conclusions indicate that a national/federal lead response was needed to effectively control this pandemic outbreak. A piecemeal approach and lack of federal leadership lead us to where we are now. Myriad examples of how this was handled by other nations underscore the point that a competent federal response is far more successful than a local one that is so often advocated by libertarians.
In short, stop trying to make Libertaria happen. It’s a failed premise.
Oh, trust me, I’m looking. What with the increasing use of automation I’m thinking that UBI – the ultimate social welfare program – is not such a bad idea after all. Why does the aid have to to be Federal, though? Collecting taxes, shipping all the way to Washington, then back to where it’s needed seems inherently wasteful and subject to whims of people far, far away. Why can’t the aid come from state, county, or local taxes?
In any event, the thread is about the clusterfuck we are living in today, not flaws in the libertarian philosophy. End of highjack.
