The Dog That Isn't Barking

So we've had two of the most respectable blue politicians, Gov Cuomo and Mayor Lightfoot, announce that lockdowns don't work and economies must reopen. There are headlines of a "narrative shift" with the appearance in Newsweek, which nobody has read for decades, of a respectablke study that says lockdowns don't work.

So, where is the groundswell of opinion that says, "What came over us? Of course lockdowns don't work. We're destroying the economy! I hereby decree that schools immediately return to in-person classes, sports resume, restaurants and bars reopn!" Er, no. Not happeing. Gov Cuomo, in whose power it is to say those very words, has been silent. He may as well decree that the rain stop, or start, as the case may be. The lockdown is a force of nature over which he has no control, it would appear.

I more or less expected this, though I'm not sure what the reasons for it are. One might be that Cuomo and Lightfoot are holding their economies hostage for bailouts. That lockdowns would create a situation where closing "non-essential" businesses would severely reduce tax revenues was known from the start. While Republicans had some measure of control, the federal government wasn't going to go far enough to restore these revenues by gifting them to the states and cities. With Democrats in control, this is much more likely. The message that's actually being sent is hurry up and bail us out, or. . .

There are two implicaations here. One is that, although government workers generally are deemed "essential", some, in the Department of Redundancy Department and elsewhere, have had their pay reduced. Federal bailouts will restore them to full pay and bring the arrears up to date as well. We may rely on that.

The second issue is all the "non-essential" workers who won't be in that privileged class. At this point, all they've had is some measure of unemploymennt -- that is, if they're eligible; many aren't for variouis reasons -- and ex gratia payments of $600, $1200, or $2000, whatever it is, every six or eight months. This is not enough to sustain people. Exactly what governments are going to do to address this if they choose to continue lockdowns indefinitely is a vexed issue, and it's by no means clear.

David Freiheit of the Viva Frei YouTube channel is beginning to recognize these issues as they relate to the Quebec lockdown-cum-curfew:

The curfew is reinforcing a new social arrangement, whereby government workers in particular are "essential" (and bus drivers continue to drive empty buses at full pay), while those not in the elite are screwed. He doesn't expand on this, but it's worth considering that the lowest class, on public assistance, continues to receive public payments. The wealthiest and those lucky enough to have pensions, are largely unaffected. The people who are badly hurt are those in the middle, the plebs.

Oh, by the way, journalists and opinion writers are "essential" and even get to work from home -- including the hacks who write for the conservative sites. They're pretty much fine with all this, too, left, right, or center.

Meanwhile, the US states show no special urgency in distributing vaccines. The people who matter don't see a problem. Even the right wingers are still just mourning the kraken.