The Republican House Speaker of the state of Florida is making a bold call in the face of a divided nation. José Oliva is declaring the Coronavirus or COVID-19 Pandemic “over” in his belief. This is based on his sharing of an opinion article on RealClearMarkets.com written by George Gilder. “This Pandemic Is Over. Let’s Stop the Economic Suicide, and Get Back to Work” is the title of the piece Oliva shared in an email sent out by the Speaker.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has made José Oliva part of his task force to reopen the state. DeSantis has faced some criticisms from both sides of the debate over the pandemic but mostly praise from President Trump. Florida is a swing state that Trump wants to stay in good graces with, as well as the President’s new home state, as he recently changed over from New York. The shared piece begins with:
With the latest reports of plummeting death rates from all causes, this crisis is over. The pandemic of doom erupted as a panic of pols and is now a comedy of Mash-minded med admins and stooges, covering their ifs ands and butts with ever more morbid and distorted statistics.
The crisis now will hit the politicians and political Doctor Faucis who gullibly accepted and trumpeted what statistician William Briggs calls “the most colossal and costly blown forecast of all time.”
An egregious statistical horror story of millions of projected deaths, suffused with incense and lugubrious accents from Imperial College of London to Harvard School of Public Health, prompted the pols to impose a vandalistic lockdown on the economy. It would have been an outrage even if the assumptions were not wildly astronomically wrong.
Flattening the curve was always a fool’s errand that widened the damage.
The writer then goes on to say that President Trump needs to take notice. Oliva tweeted out back on April 9th to highlight his concerns back then as well. He stated that the economy is shuttered, pointed out how unemployment is at historic highs, and then the odd contrast of how somehow, the stock market seems to holding up.
Most likely this is because of all the money the Federal Reserve has pumped into the markets to prop them up with quantitative easing and other liquidity programs. Oliva noted that in the long run, the way the virus is being handled is not going to end well and the financial sector is the biggest beneficiary of government stimulus.
Without spelling it out he seemed to imply that the working man and woman are getting the shaft. This isn’t the first time that that has happened of course. See his tweet below:
The economy is shuttered, unemployment at historic highs but the stock market is having a great week. No amount of “forward-looking”can account for this disparity. The financial sector is again the greatest beneficiary of this stimulus. This will not end well in the long run.
— Jose Oliva (@RepJoseOliva) April 9, 2020
A Sheriff in one Florida county, who made some admitted mistakes like letting out criminals without doing enough due diligence, allegedly leading to a preventable murder, has reversed course. After saying they should have looked at the inmates’ violent crime history closer before some COVID-19 related early releases in Hillsborough County, Chad Chronister has penned an op-ed pushing for a return to “normal government” as soon as possible. Pressure from many Republicans and freedom lovers may have had some effect on his more recent positions.
Much the disparity in opinions between whether or not states should start easing into reopening some parts of their economy safely has been along party lines, with exceptions of course. It should be noted, however, that many states are different than others. For example, it might not be prudent to say that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is being more strict because he is a Democrat because New York is indeed a COVID-19 hotbed.
That being said, it doesn’t mean he’d be more relaxed if he was the Governor of say, South Dakota for example, it just means it’s not a great example. Virginia Governor and Democrat Ralph Northam’s administration has been very power-hungry, with a recent announcement saying that their version of phase 1 for reopening might last two years. The 14-day countdown as of our related story yesterday hadn’t even started ticking yet.
Conversely, the Republican Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia has been the most aggressive, with some businesses already reopening as of today, despite pushback from many mayors and even President Trump. Georgia will clearly be a Guinea Pig so to speak, for the rest of the nation, as other states will be watching closely to see what happens in actuality, despite much skepticism. The Hill reported on states that are reopening some parts of the economy that were closed including Kemp’s bold moves:
Georgia’s stay-at-home order expires on April 30, but Gov. Brian Kemp (R) announced this week that he would allow some businesses, including hair salons and gyms, to resume business starting Friday, which resulted in some backlash from local and national leaders.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has allowed some stores to open already as well. Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, Colorado, (a blue state), Alaska, and Montana are showing some signs of loosening up as well. in Idaho, Governor Brad Little released a four-phase plan starting May 1 that will allow most things to reopen by June if their Coronavirus numbers continue to drop according to plans.
Many other states have announced various different plans ranging from short to long term reopenings, some due to actual bad virus numbers and others due to partisan politics in the opinion of some. The bottom line here is that while we need to be safe and responsible, with the exception of the worst hotbed areas in the nation, America must re-open for business sooner than later, or when it does, we might not recognize it anymore.
