Op-Ed: If Biden Wants To Avoid a Recession, He Needs To Let Small Businesses – Not Government – Help America
Small-business owners, brace for the worst. On the eve of Thanksgiving, the U.S. economy is set to spiral downward into another economic recession due to the Democrats’ obsession with sweeping lockdowns.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, one of presumptive president-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisers, recently floated the idea of a six-week national lockdown. The plan would be for the federal government to cover “lost wages for individual workers, for losses to small companies, to medium-sized companies or city, state, county governments.”
And he’s not alone: In New York City, Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio has opted to close the city’s public schools in response to the “second wave.” In Oregon, Democratic Gov. Kate Brown effectively canceled Thanksgiving, threatening criminal sanctions against those who gather in groups larger than six at home.
This is ludicrous. It is tyrannical. And, once again, small businesses will be left picking up the shambles of a shuttered economy.
As a small business owner, here’s my message to an incoming Biden administration: We don’t need government handouts. We need to be left alone to operate in a free-market economy. We need to remain open and make a profit, which allows us to pay our employees and grow our businesses — not to mention paying the taxes that Democrats hold so dear.
Of course, we should remain vigilant in the fight against COVID-19. Businesses that remain open should follow public-health guidelines such as social distancing.
Small-business owners can still encourage their customers to wear masks. If done correctly, a reopened economy does not imply irresponsibility.
Nor is it “anti-science,” as Democrats and their media allies are quick to claim.
More than 12,000 medical and public-health scientists, in addition to over 35,000 medical practitioners, have come out against restrictive lockdowns. Instead, they advocate for “focused protection,” which would protect the most at-risk Americans while still permitting small businesses to stay afloat.
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Yes, there is another way.
In South Dakota, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem bucked the trend of closing small businesses, choosing to preach caution while practically protecting the labor market from unnecessary harm.
And it has paid off: The state’s unemployment rate has dropped below 4 percent, as employers stay in business, employees keep their jobs and the broader economy resembles normality.
And has it made South Dakotans more unsafe or unhealthy? Not necessarily: States like Montana and Wisconsin, which continue to impose stricter lockdown measures, have seen higher rates of COVID-19 transmission than South Dakota.
Biden and all of America’s governors should follow the Noem blueprint, on behalf of America’s most important job creators.
There is simply too much at stake: The United States is home to more than 31 million small businesses, which employ over 60 million workers — half of America’s private-sector workforce. Small businesses also account for 99.9 percent of all U.S. businesses, so our prosperity is inextricably linked to the health of our economy. Millions of people depend on the small-business community.
Let us work. Let us support our employees and their families. As President Trump so often says, the cure cannot be worse than the problem itself.
Now, like always, we small-business owners need to be left on our own. Get the government out of our lives. Let us do what we do best: Help people.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
