To Reopen, Or Not To Reopen? That Is The Question
April 20, 2020/ Francis Menton
A few days ago — after initially seeming to say that he had absolute authority to determine when and how the economy could reopen — President Trump instead issued a set of guidelines and then left it up to the various governors to make their own determinations. Since then, different governors have gone different directions on the issue. As with most everything else in our crazy world, there is a clear red/blue divide on the decisions being taken.
Before looking at some of the announcements that have come from various governors, let’s first go to the house organ of progressive groupthink, the New York Times, to get the official talking points on the correct strategy. Here is a very lengthy piece from April 18 by Donald McNeil, headline “The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead.†Before giving you some substantial excerpts, I suggest that you consider whether anybody there at Pravda really believes this stuff, or alternatively, whether the narrative has been selected with the sole criterion of going with whatever is most likely to damage President Trump and thereby rid the nation of this scourge (not the virus, the President) and return political power to its rightful holders. Anyway, the gist of the Times piece is, all the “experts†say that no sane person would even consider getting back to normal any time soon, and therefore we’re in for month after month of economic devastation and pain, extending (of course) at least until after the next election. Some excerpts:
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2020-4-20-to-reopen-or-not-to-reopen-that-is-the-question
