10% of Americans have applied for unemployment benefits as a temporary measure due to closures of businesses over Covid-19. This is different than 10% of jobs having gone away, as was the case in the past, and is the real definition of unemployment. This administration acted preemptively and every working American who earns less than $75,000 a year, even those who have not temporarily lost their jobs, will receive a check for $1,200. In addition, small businesses with less than 500 employees are eligible for loans to cover eight weeks of payroll, benefit and rent expenses. If 75% of those funds are used to keep employees on the payroll, those loans will become grants. According to the Small Business Administration, 99.7% of small businesses employ less than 500 people.

In other words, once the lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders are lifted, the vast majority of that 10% who have applied for unemployment benefits will return to their jobs. But, the longer the lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders stay in effect, the slower the recovery. Both sides of our political mess know this…one side wants to get people back to work as soon as possible, the other side is looking at extending these shelter-in-place and lockdown orders into the Fall…to make sure there isn’t a resurgence of the virus next year.

Two points to mention about that. First, yes the virus is almost certain to make a resurgence, they (almost) always do. Second, the most effective way to combat this virus is with herd immunity. This is why it is more important to find and approve effective antibody tests than a vaccine. With antibody tests, we will know who will not get Covid-19 in the future, and who is still susceptible. Antibody tests are coming right now, any vaccine will be twelve to eighteen months away.

Once we know who has had it and recovered, we can shift from everyone being locked down for the protection of the few to the few locked down for the protection of all i.e., the economic health and welfare of the Nation and ultimately the world.

All this raises another question for another day…why are we not hearing about the numbers of those who tested positive and have now recovered? Why are we not tracking those numbers alongside the cumulative list of all those who have tested positive? With a death rate of 1.4-1.8%, reported in raw and frightening numbers, wouldn’t it be equally salient to report the recovery rate, in equally raw numbers? Would that give people too much hope?

A friend recently said, when news media or politicians use the phrase “let me put that in perspective”, that is mediaspeak or politicalspeak for “let me tell you how to think about something according to my agenda”. There is more than a grain of truth in that.

So, in the interest of complete transparency, I’ll state my agenda right here…

…To combat the media-driven hype and hysteria.

Yes, the situation right now is bad, scary and grim. Lots of people are sick, and lots are dying from this virus. In response, the entire world, it seems, is hitting the pause button. Some are desperately hitting it again and again in hopes of slowing the pandemic, of giving our healthcare system time to react. Kind of like hitting the elevator call button repeatedly, but thankfully this actually is producing the desired effect.

Some are hitting the pause button in the hopes that it will also function as a reset button, so people will accept the agendas that have been repeatedly rejected at the polling booth.

So, here is the truth, the unadulterated facts. These are the Historic Unemployment Rates. For a change of pace and in contrast to how both the media and politicians operate, I’m including the link at the bottom for the source so everyone can see for themselves. It’s a chart. A simple to read, easy to follow chart. No interpretation is necessary. Or helpful, unless you have an agenda. (You will need to click on the “Show Table” at the bottom of the graph).

November 2009,10.5% for Whites, 15.6%for Blacks, 12.7% for Hispanics

December 2010, 8.7% for Whites, 15.8% for Blacks, 12.9% for Hispanics

October 2019, 3.2% for Whites, 5.4% for Blacks, 4.1% for Hispanics

March 2020, 4.0% for Whites, 6.7% for Blacks, 6.0% for Hispanics

The economy that was built by the end of 2019 – and still exists – brought about these historically low unemployment rates, the lowest ever recorded for both Blacks and Hispanics, as well as for women (didn’t quote those rates, follow the link at the bottom for the source). The conditions that created these low – and declining – rates still exist and in fact will be improved upon by the return to the US of manufacturing of essential goods and equipment to include medical supplies.

The last recession that caused the 10.5%, 15.6% and 12.7% rates in 2009 was a direct result of bad policies and regulations…most of which no longer exist, thanks to the current administration. It is critical to recognize it will not be possible to have a repeat of that situation under the current laws, regulations, policies and most importantly, administration. Unless of course, Pelosi, Schumer, et al, get their way. Everything they have said about where and how this pandemic started and the U.S. response has been a flat-out lie. Not a massaging of the truth, not an interpretation of events, but a flat-out lie. Remember that. There is no valid reason for this other than pure, partisan politics.

Don’t allow them to take advantage of a global pandemic. Don’t let them. Remember we have a vote coming up in November. It gets said every election cycle, but this time it is actually true.

This November will be the most important election of our lifetimes, our children’s lifetimes and our grandchildren’s lifetimes. Both sides know it. One side wants the American people to control their own destiny. The other side wants to control it for you. This is the difference between Democrat and Republican philosophies.

We already know our Governor and the Mayor of Chicago are Democrats…who believe it is both the right and responsibility of the Federal government to dictate and control what happens in every state, city, town and community, irrespective of the actual needs or wishes of each. The Democrats and their useful idiots in the media are repeatedly calling for the Federal government to issue the same orders for all States. The argument is couched in humanitarian terms, “but, but, if we don’t those states will see dramatic increases too”, and the perennial “but it is for their own good and the safety of their own people”.

What is not said, equally true and more to the point, is this is the basic difference between Democrat and Republican. Once again, the brain-trusts of the coasts are attempting to impose their superior intellect on the uneducated, backwards masses of the fly-over country. This situation is another example writ large of the enduring wisdom of our Founding Fathers.

Come November, choose wisely. Generations to come are counting on you.

Civilian Unemployment Rate, Seasonally Adjusted, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

(click on “Show Table” at the bottom of the graph).

BTW – I absolutely love to be fact-checked. Go ahead. But before you respond with your completely original and brilliantly snarky comment, be advised that ad hominem, straw man and other supercilious, innane and purely partisan responses will be dealt with as all such crap is and should be. Here is where you can envision the toilet, with my hand on the flushing mechanism.