AUSTIN— Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation launched a new dashboard tracking several indicators of the economic damage done to America by the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. The chart includes a state-by-state map comparing known coronavirus cases with the estimated increase in unemployment, as well as a graph showing the explosion in national unemployment starting from the week of March 8.
“There is an important debate happening in the country right now over the proper balance policymakers must strike in responding to the healthcare crisis on the one hand, and upending millions of lives and doing irreparable damage to the country on the other,” said TPPF’s Executive Director Kevin Roberts. “And so far, the data that has been used to evaluate those considerations has been largely one-sided, to the detriment of more than 10 million workers who have lost their jobs seemingly overnight. Our public officials need to be painfully aware that each day that our restaurants, shops, office buildings, and hotels are shut down and people are unable to earn a living and provide for their families, the harder it will be for the American people to pull themselves out of the hole governments have dug for them. We can forget a V-shaped recovery if we don’t end this one-size-fits-all approach.”
Included are also charts highlighting the damage done to two industries, oil and gas and restaurants, that have been leveled by federal, state, and local governments bringing the country to a standstill.
The dashboard can be found here:
“There is a real threat of the cure being worse than the disease,” said TPPF’s Vice President of National Initiatives Chuck DeVore, who has spearheaded the project. “As our health system continues to make progress fighting the epidemic, so should we be taking steps to get people working again and mitigating the worst economic effects of the shutdown.”
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has released a Recovery Agenda with more than a dozen solutions to address the economy, health care, education, and regulations to help Texans and the country get back on track.
To read the full agenda, click here: