The title of the post is one of Slow Joe's many gaffes.
An interesting alignment along party lines - from RealClear Politics:
The Blue State Jobs Depression
The latest Department of Labor employment data confirm that when it comes to the economy, America is two nations: red and blue. As the post-coronavirus shutdown era begins, blue states are losing jobs at record paces and red states are starting to gain them.
Here is what the data is telling us: 10 states had unemployment rates in May above 15%. They are all states with Democratic governors, with the exception of deep-blue Massachusetts with its liberal Republican governor, Charlie Baker.
Ranked from highest to lowest they are Nevada (25.3%), Hawaii (22.6%), Michigan (21.2%), California (16.3%), Rhode Island (16.3%), Massachusetts (16.3%), Delaware (15.8%), Illinois (15.2%), New Jersey (15.2%), Washington (15.1%).
The five states with the lowest unemployment rates are all red states – most of which never shut down at all. These are Nebraska (5.2%), Utah (8.5 %), Wyoming (8.8%), Arizona (8.9%), and Idaho (8.9%).
This is exactly as Arthur Laffer and I predicted in a study we conducted back in March on the economic effects of lockdowns. States with very strict business shutdown and stay-at-home orders would be facing a much tougher recovery period than states that never shut down, like Utah and Wyoming, and states that rapidly reopened, such as Arizona. This would be a bifurcated red state, blue state recovery – and so it is, so far.
The numbers do not lie. Narrative does not equal reality. We need to know what is happening and lead from that rather than the promoted narrative. Political correctness is only valuable in academia. It has no use and serves no function in the real world.
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