Stossel: Pandemic Policy Good and Bad in a Nutshell
Thursday, January 20, 2022
John Stossel's latest column lays out in easy-to-remember terms the good and bad effects of lockdown policies, as well as the contradictions in Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's answer to those policies:
I would have been happier had Stossel explicitly noted that lockdowns -- i.e., universal, indefinite home detention -- violate individual rights.The one clear trend: Lockdowns don't stop COVID-19, but they do destroy opportunity. California's unemployment is the highest in America.
Stossel notes that Eric Swallwell (D-CA), like Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), sneers at Florida publicly, but escapes his own lockdowns by visiting the state. (Image by U. S. Congress, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.)
Florida did some bad things. DeSantis should pay more attention to his own pro-freedom speeches. Last year, he decreed that even private companies may not require customers or workers to be vaccinated.
Governor? They're private companies! They should [sic] have the right to make their own decisions. It's usually the totalitarian left that won't let people set their own rules.
Aside from that nastiness, Florida's COVID-19 policies are among the most sensible. [bold added]
Nevertheless, Stossel deserves our thanks for calling out DeSantis for abrogating the rights of businessmen to make their own rules, as well as for noting that the only solid data we have on lockdowns is that they cripple the economy.
-- CAV
2 comments:
‘Aside from that nastiness, Florida's COVID-19 policies are among the most sensible. ‘
Also, I've made this point frequently but comments like this are just plain wrong. There were at least 10 states (and even two provinces of Canada) in the mid-West (including Missouri) which had much better state-wide policies than Florida throughout the better part of 2020. In Missouri, there was a 30-day poorly enforced partial lockdown (meaning if you the company could enforce social distancing rules they didn't have to shut down) plus a two-week extension passed by the legislature. The issue here was local policy. At the height of the pandemic, St Louis County shut down restaurants and bars and neighboring St. Charles County kept them open so you can easily guess which businesses raked in the cash.
'I would have been happier had Stossel explicitly noted that lockdowns -- i.e., universal, indefinite home detention -- violate individual rights'
I agree, and it was not just the ordinary everyday violations of our rights that we have learned to live with. This will go down in history as one of the cruelest and most severe policy mistakes (universal, indefinite home detention) ever instigated by the governments of free countries. The worst purveyors (like Newsome, Cuomo, and Boris Johnson) should face criminal charges for the lives they have shattered.
Steve,
Thanks for noting that other states did better that Florida. They fly under the radar because (1) they're not as populous, and (2) they don't trigger leftists as much.
I agree that these pro-lockdown politicians deserve jail time.
Gus
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