Red and Blue States of Recovery

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 10/23/20 | The Editorial Board

[JeepersFreepers]

The story that the media haven’t told is that states that have maintained longer and stricter business restrictions have been slower to recover. The unemployment rate in September was 12.6% in Nevada, 11% in California, 10.5% in Rhode Island, 10.2% in Illinois, and 9.7% in New York compared to 6.7% in Arizona, 6.4% in Georgia, 5.4% in Wisconsin and 5% in Utah.

New York added 100,000 jobs last month as Gov. Andrew Cuomo finally let dine-in restaurants and gyms in New York City reopen at limited capacity. But 363,000 workers also dropped out of the labor force, which was the biggest driver in the state’s 2.8-point decline in unemployment. New Jersey’s unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 11.1%, but that's also largely because 229,000 workers left the labor force. The main cause of what Joe Biden calls the “K-shaped recovery” are Democratic governors that shut down their economies.

By contrast, Arizona’s labor force grew by 151,000, and Wisconsin’s by 82,000. School closures and hybrid instruction schedules in some states may be causing women to stay home. But workers in stricter lockdown states who have been unemployed for many months may also now be dropping out of the workforce because they are discouraged.

[JeepersFreepers]

Sorry for the paywall, however the excerpt covers the essence of the editorial.

Note that the red state of Texas is missing in the improved recovery discussion. Gov. Abbott has acted more like a blue state governor than a red one as relates to reopening the economy. His actions (or inactions) have created a rebellion among conservatives including members of the Texas legislature and activist groups. Conservative Republicans protested at a "Free Texas " rally outside the Governor's Mansion on October 10.

Gov. Abbott has been a disappointment. He failed to champion conservative priorities in the last purple legislative session and has endorsed RINOs. His presidential asperations need to be nipped in the bud by conservatives.

[libertylover]

Condensed version: capitalism works; socialism doesn’t.