Why Red States are Winning the Post-COVID Economy; Democratic-Led States Let Their Federal Unemployment Debts Linger, and other C-Virus related stories

AP

Why red states are winning the post-COVID economy:

The numbers are in: Red states are winning the post-COVID economic realignment, reports the Wall Street Journal, and blue states are losing.

The overall share of US jobs in red states has jumped more than half a percentage point since February 2020. And red states as a group have not only won back all their pandemic job losses; they’ve added around 341,000 more — even as blue states still face an ugly deficit of 1.3 million jobs as of May.

To understand why, look no further than at New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pandemic policies — commercial shutdowns, mask and vaccine mandates and school closures — made it impossible to live and work in the Empire State. The same could be seen in California. Worse still, these policies continued long after data showed their utter ineffectiveness in stopping the spread of COVID.

And all this came on top of existing policies, like sky-high taxes and miles of red tape for businesses, that had been pushing people out for years.

Red states like Florida and Texas, meanwhile, followed the science and never went all-in on COVID restrictionism, keeping their economies and schools open as much as possible. --->READ MORE HERE

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Democratic-Led States Let Their Federal Unemployment Debts Linger:

At least four Democratic-led states with budget surpluses this year have chosen not to fully repay the federal government for money borrowed to fund unemployment benefits, a move that will impose increased charges on businesses to help make up the difference.

California, Connecticut, Illinois and New York have directed surplus funds to social programs and taxpayer rebates, among other causes, leaving unpaid debts to the federal government ranging from tens of millions of dollars to more than $15 billion.

If the debts aren’t fully repaid by Nov. 10, as officials in the four states envision, the federal government will start charging $21 per employee annually on all businesses in the states next year. In addition, state taxes on businesses to fund their unemployment programs will go up by varying amounts.

Business groups say the increased charges are unfair, particularly for companies that haven’t laid off employees recently, and unwise as the economy is potentially headed toward a recession. Liberal advocacy groups and Democratic legislators say the public benefits more from money spent on programs like housing and infrastructure, as well as tax rebates, rather than preventing small fee increases on businesses.--->READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:

How Vax Mandates And Regulatory Red Tape Created A Critical Airline Pilot Shortage

Far Left and far Right unite in France to shoot down COVID-19 passport bill

USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates

WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates

YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates

NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest

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