I am not some reactionary, overly emotional, impetuous type of individual. My Myers-Briggs personality survey is ISTJ. We care for and are concerned for the Americans who have lost loved ones during this COVID-19 pandemic. But, we must be realistic, and objective, in assessing that, indeed, there has been a greater crisis created due to the reliance of elected officials upon the data from two erroneous, flawed, computer models..one from Imperial College in London and the Institution of Hospital Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. Here are the real numbers, as of this morning at 6 am:
United States
Estimated Population (328,239,523)
Reported COVID-19 cases (605,390)
Recovered (36,076)
Fatalities (24,582)
Texas
Estimated Population (28,995,881)
Reported Cases (15,492)
Recovered (3,150)
Fatalities (364)
* In my home county of Dallas, we have experienced less than 40 fatalities
The National Data from the 2017-2018 Influenza Season:
Estimated Cases (45M)
Hospitalizations (810K)
Fatalities (61K)
I present this data as a comparative assessment in order for you, the reader, to make your own decision. I have done so, and decided that it was a bad idea to shut down the American economy. Should we have taken precautions and presented businesses with courses of action to maintain operations? Yes. Should we have come forward with a “carpet bombing” approach which has now created greater collateral damage than the COVID-19 virus itself?
The answer is no, and this morning we discovered just how bad that collateral damage is.
As reported by Business Insider:
“In just four weeks, coronavirus layoffs have erased more than a decade of record job creation. US weekly jobless claims were at 5.2 million for the week ending April 11, the Labor Department said in a Thursday report. Claims declined slightly from the previous week, when 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance.
The report brought the four-week total of displaced American workers filing for unemployment to 22.03 million. It also means that coronavirus-related layoffs have effectively erased the 22 million jobs that the US economy added since the post-Great Recession recovery starting in mid-2009. “We wiped that out so fast,” Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told Business Insider. “It’s mind-boggling.”
Ladies and gents, we now have a greater crisis than the supposed one we faced with #COVID19. We are now dealing with two man-made crises, COVID-19, which we will solve, but now a bigger one: massive unemployment. Click To TweetThis is the result of a nation being driven into fear, paranoia, panic, and hysteria based upon unreliable computer models. Ladies and gents, we now have a greater crisis than the supposed one we faced. And, the second, third, and fourth-order effects may not be felt for even longer. We are now dealing with two man-made crises, COVID-19 — which we will solve –but now a bigger one: massive unemployment.
The United States is also some $23T in debt, and we can ill-afford to believe that the federal government can just write checks to people. That is surrender to the concept of a universal basic income (UBI); a socialist dream, and a free-market economic disaster. We can not allow the American people to become addicted to the crack cocaine of government largesse, just as the markets were addicted to quantitative easing measures that create a false economy.
We already are seeing the ideological agenda fraud associated with the giving of cash. California Governor Gavin Newsome has decided to give out cash payments to illegal immigrants…just brilliant!
We can not allow the American people to become addicted to the crack cocaine of government largesse, just as the markets were addicted to quantitative easing measures that create a false economy. Click To TweetDoggone, open up our economy, get the American people back to work! Treat us as adults and not infantile drones who can be herded to and fro as political pawns. Give us guidelines, not mandates, edicts, and orders so that we can take care of ourselves, our families, and our businesses. We do not want to be dependent upon the government. If there is one thing we can attest to in this case, the government screwed this up. This has nothing to do with political party, this was a lack of visionary leadership that recognizes how to assess an issue and consider short versus long-term ramifications, consequences.
America is the greatest nation the world has ever known. Let’s freaking start acting like it and not like a bunch of whimpering, whining, wusses who can’t improvise, adapt, and overcome.
Someone needs to have the cajones to just say it. America needs to get back to work at the end of this month. Here are the guidelines, now, go make it happen.
[To ensure you never miss an article, please sign up to be notified when a new column is posted! It’s free and you may opt-out at any time.]
During his 22 year career in the United States Army, Lieutenant Colonel West served in several combat zones and received many honors including a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, one with Valor device, and a Valorous Unit Award.
In November of 2010, Allen was elected to the United States Congress, representing Florida’s 22nd District. In July of 2020, Mr. West was elected Chair of the Republican Party of Texas.
West is a commissioned officer in the Texas State Guard. He’s a Newsmax Contributor, former Director of the Booker T. Washington Initiative at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Senior Fellow at the Media Research Center, and author of Guardian of the Republic: An American Ronin’s Journey to Family, Faith and Freedom, Hold Texas, Hold the Nation: Victory or Death, and We Can Overcome: An American Black Conservative Manifesto.