Brian Kemp is giving a press conference wherein he is outlining how Georgia is going to reopen its economy (despite the fact that we are testing a TINY speck of the population) and there is a loud ambulance siren in the background, which is just a little too on the nose
— Hannah Riley (@hannahcrileyy) April 20, 2020
Just call Covid19 “General Sherman” because it’s about to burn through Georgia again.
— RevDJEsq (@RevDJEsq) April 20, 2020
Governor Kemp announces gyms, barbers, nail salons and more will be allowed to reopen on Friday pic.twitter.com/zowGvQ2Fyb
— Justin Gray (@JustinGrayWSB) April 20, 2020
Houses of worship will he allowed to open to in person services
— Justin Gray (@JustinGrayWSB) April 20, 2020
IOW, lobbyists for gyms, salons, bowling alleys (?), & restaurants convinced Kemp to compound public heath risks & permit employers to force employees to expose themselves to coronavirus or be fired, so workers lose unemployment benefits & lower employers’ payments to the fund https://t.co/CF6QhKPxrT
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) April 20, 2020
I suspect there’s not much pressure on governors to “open the economy” coming from workers who’d potentially be exposed to coronavirus, but that there’s tremendous pressure from industries that want to expose their employees to coronavirus if it helps stave off bankruptcy.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) April 20, 2020
I originally assumed that Kemp, having stolen his seat with the considerable assistance of the RNC, was just determined to smash’n’grab whatever he could reach before he has to flee for sanctuary to Mar-A-Largo and the full-time Trump-sycophant sinecure for which he’s been so publicly auditioning. But Georgia local & revered jackal Raven linked to a Decaturish letter from public policy advocate George Chidi, which supports Dana Houle’s tweets:
… Kemp is looking forward to the fiscal discussion in 2021 and 2022, when all of this really starts to hit. He got elected by out-yahooing the field. His base has been trained to view government spending as a crime, and he knows that he becomes politically vulnerable to an attack if he raises taxes. He is not capable of delivering a nuanced message around necessity, because his base doesn’t know how to hear it.
The state is staring at one million unemployment applications. It probably cannot pay those over six months. The unemployment fund has a reserve of about $2.6 billion. Last week it paid out about $42 million — which is about three times as much as it usually does. That figure will double in two weeks, give or take. Maybe more.
At that rate, the fund is empty in about 28 weeks. Probably less. Even if things improve later, that fund will run dry in a year, because unemployment isn’t going to return to 5 percent for a long time…
If there’s no state order calling for businesses to be closed, the people who are unemployed can no longer claim that their unemployment is involuntary, even if it would be utter idiocy for them to return to work. A hairdresser or a massage therapist cannot maintain social distance. But they can certainly file for relief … unless the law says they can work.
“Gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, hair designers, nail care artists, estheticians, their respective schools & massage therapists.”
Not banks. Not software firms. Not factories. Not schools.
It is no coincidence that the businesses on this list are staffed by relatively poor people. Because that’s who he wants off the unemployment rolls. And if they die … well, they’re mostly black people, or Asian, and poor, and an acceptable political loss for a Republican governor…
Repub Venality Open Thread: Brian ‘Coronavirus’ Kemp, Burning Through GeorgiaPost + Comments (298)