Arguing that the Republicans today are more friendly to small businesses than Democrats is laughable, especially in light of the recent stimulus bills, but ok...
And I have no issue with people choosing to be independent contractors. That was not the choice I was alluding to in my post. I'm talking about the choice to say that if you are an independent contractor, you are cut out of the unemployment system. That you are somehow less worthy of labor protections. That was a choice at the level of government. A stupid choice, and one we're paying for now.
And sorry but you're plain wrong about Michigan. Yes, high density population centers show the highest death rates first in a pandemic like this one, barring intervention. But as we've seen with multiple rural and suburban outbreaks around the world and right here in America, you can't contain the disease to cities.
If Whitmer closed most businesses in the cities, but left them open outside of those, what do you suppose happens if someone with the virus goes to a small town? You've now provided a vector route for transmission. And since this country has a godawfully bad rural distribution of healthcare, rural communities are far less capable of handling a spike in cases.
Unless you're ready to abrogate the right of free travel within the country, and have an infrastructure in place to enforce it, you cannot have different lockdown rules for cities vs non-urban areas.
Which doesn't mean you go on a permanent lockdown till we have a vaccine either. What you need is, shockingly, a good federal government that is able to coordinate the resources of this country to amp up test kit production and availability, ventilator production and availability, PPE product6and availability. Once you get to a threshold on these, you can open up slowly, trace contacts, test them, and treat those that get infected so that you don't see a sharp spike in deaths.
Better government is a pipe dream with a Republican in the White House and heading the Senate. But it's the only answer that will work now, too.
Thanknfully, governor's in some states are banding together and doing a decent job so the full effects of the incompetence in DC aren't showing. And thankfully, the morons toting guns and wanting her locked up didn't make Whitmer blink and do the politically expedient but morally and economically stupid thing of opening the state.
If you disbelieve me, just keep an eye on Georgia in the coming weeks. If everyone goes back to work, you will see a spike in deaths. If people choose to save their lives and lose their jobs, you'll see a sharp spike in folks being both jobless and being unable to claim unemployment benefits.
If neither of these scenarios plays out, I'll be damn happy, but nothing that I know indicates that such a miracle would occur. Either way, let's see what the cost of opening Gerogia is, in a month or so, eh?
