Grading Our Governors - Report Of A Study To Reopen America

This post presents the results of the study entitled Reopen America – Grading Our Governors conducted by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity led by Art Laffer, Steve Moore, Phil Kerpen, & John Fund.  The report of the study was released on May 4. 

 

The report grades the nation’s governors on how they responded to the threat of Covid-19 taking into account the severity of the virus in each state.  The study examined the lockdown orders, business closures, the degree of punitive actions on enforcing these measures, & most importantly the start dates for reopening commerce in each state. 

 

With regard to the degree of punitive actions Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer leads the dictatorial pact pursuing politics & power when she allows people to launch their rowboats but not the same boat if it has a motor on it or when she allowed people to buy lottery tickets, liquor, & candy but not paint or vegetable seed that was cordoned off in the same store.  Whitmer generously received a “D” in these gradings since she ultimately rescinded the boat & paint mandates & reopened manufacturing including the automotive industry.

 

The emphasis of the subject study is on reopening the economy safely, smartly, & judiciously so as to end the economic destruction & despair from the lockdowns.  If the current course is not changed millions more will be pushed into unemployment, poverty, & loss of businesses forever.  The more you think about it, & see what is happening, the clearer it becomes that so much of our world is interconnected economically.  But it is interconnected from a public health standpoint also – the economic damage & adversity of financial ruin & deprivation that has been thrust upon people has led to suicides, depression, stress, heart attacks, spousal & child abuse cases, drug overdoses, & alcohol abuse.  See graphic below of examples of interconnection of unemployment & social problems included in the subject study.

An especially egregious example of a governor who was graded “F” in the report is Democrat Tony Evers of Wisconsin – the state Supreme Court had to strike down Evers’ order that shut down daily life in Wisconsin ostensibly to limit the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus despite so much evidence to the contrary, the April 7 primary election being the latest example @ the time.  More than 400,000 state residents voted in person on April 7 & about 67 of those who voted or worked the polls tested positive for Covid 19 thereafter, although some of the infections may have been the result of other exposures the Wisconsin Department of Health indicated.  It was not indicated how many of those who tested positive had mild or moderate symptoms or no symptoms @ all.  But using the numbers indicated means 1 out of every 5,970 people who participated in the election tested positive for the virus – the type of statistic that Evers & the other Democrat state governors are ignoring in their attempt to ruin the country for what they perceive as political gain over Trump in November.

 

The subject study revealed wide variations from state to state.  Some states, like Arkansas & Nebraska, never issued stay @ home orders or very modest ones, while others like California & NJ issued penalties, fines, & jail time for breaking curfews & lockdowns.

 

After considering all of the variables mentioned above the following nine states & governors received grades of A:  Colorado (Polis), Florida (DeSantis), Georgia (Kemp), Iowa (Reynolds), Nebraska (Ricketts), Oklahoma (Stitt), South Dakota (Noem), Tennessee (Lee), & Wyoming (Gordon). 

 

The following four states & governors received grades of F: New Jersey (Murphy), Pennsylvania (Wolf), Virginia (Northam), & Wisconsin (Evers).  Washington DC (Mayor Bowser) also was graded F.

 

The map below provides the grades for all the states.

The table below shows the percentage of deaths as a share of population by state (& DC).

The subject report says “The governors with A & B grades are already moving to restore freedom & opportunity & trusting individuals to follow best practices or isolate themselves based on their own risk assessments.  The D & F grade governors continue to arbitrarily ban activities without respect to any sensible risk versus benefit calculation & are therefore taking the largest risk of all – the risk of catastrophic economic collapse.”

 

What a terrible time for the country that we cannot come together even when a pandemic disease, economic collapse, & extinguishment of our liberties have simultaneously come upon us.