Marie Harf suggests small businesses aren’t ‘really meaningful’ to the economy right now, anyway

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE.


As governors of mostly red states begin to gradually reopen their economies due to the ‘flattening’ of the coronavirus ‘curve,’ cable news pundits continue to debate over whether the country ought to remain shut down ‘for our own good.’

This, as more than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits over the past six weeks after state-imposed shutdown orders required “non-essential businesses” to close.

That debate continued on “Fox News Sunday,” with liberal pundit Marie Harf, a former adviser to then-Secretary of State John Kerry, suggesting that allowing some small businesses to open was essentially meaningless.

In response to a statement from host Chris Wallace that, while 66,000 people have died from coronavirus tens of millions have lost their jobs, Harf appeared to suggest that reopening small businesses wasn’t going to produce much in terms of bolstering the economy.

“We are about to embark on a situation where we’ll see if people can, on their own, social distance, if people independent of government regulations or stay-at-home orders, can act responsibly,” she began.

“And if they can’t, and if we see spikes in some of these places, will these governors be willing to change course in midstream? That’s something we will all see together in real-time,” Harf continued.

In fact, some experts have predicted there will be “spikes” on coronavirus infections because they maintain that keeping Americans at home prevented the formation of “herd immunity” that is necessary to prevent recurrences of the outbreak.

In any event, Harf continued with Left-wing talking points, claiming the country needs “more testing” and “contact tracing” of people who are infected, — the latter of which is code for ‘invading privacy’ with a government-mandated tracking app.

“So, the economy, even if we open nail salons, hair salons Chris, the economy isn’t really going to get going again until we can travel, until we can move around the country,” she claimed. “It will not get going in a really meaningful way by opening small businesses in certain places, and so we have to get all of those things I just mentioned to eventually get to a place where the economy really can open back up.

“That is not happening anytime soon,” Harf said.

Prior to her comments, Dana Perino, Fox News contributor and former press secretary for President George W. Bush, talked about how food lines miles long were forming in many parts of the country because people “who probably have never asked” for any assistance are now without jobs.

But Harf’s comments beg the question: Should governors simply wait to relax their shutdown restrictions and allow their businesses to reopen until Americans can ‘travel?’ What’s the point of that?

Millions of Americans do travel, but tens of millions more don’t, at least more so than regionally. Interstate travel isn’t the lifeblood of our country; allowing businesses to reopen, flourish, and grow is what creates an ‘economy.’ And without those businesses being allowed to function, we’re bound to experience additional economic hardship and unemployment, even to the point of losing vital infrastructure and industries like hospitals and trucking.

Harf, who continues to be paid, seems to be suggesting that governors wait until there are no more cases of coronavirus anywhere in the country. Not only is that impractical, but it’s also unnecessarily destructive. And given the rising number of protests around the country against extending lockdowns, more Americans are demanding leaders let them make decisions about their own livelihoods after discovering that COVID-19 isn’t the planet-killer it was made out to be.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Jon Dougherty

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles