The Biden administration doesn’t just want the US to recover from the COVID-19 crisis: it wants to “build back better,” as their latest slogan reveals. But what exactly does that look like in the White House’s vision? Vice President Kamala Harris provides some answers in a new Forbes cover story she just penned.
Article by Brad Polumbo from FEE.
The article explains “how to leverage this moment to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to pursue the American Dream.” Harris wants to do that by passing trillions more in federal spending under the guise of infrastructure and family support funding. Why?
She says our economy is broken.
“For women entrepreneurs—and all entrepreneurs—the pandemic has highlighted the importance of our nation’s care infrastructure.”@VP @KamalaHarris Outlines Her Vision Of Inclusive Entrepreneurship In Forbes: https://t.co/vOHETh87uv
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 1, 2021
“The pandemic has exposed the flaws and the fissures in our economy,” the vice president writes. “One in three small businesses have closed. Nearly two million women have been forced out of the workforce. And millions of families have struggled to buy groceries and cover rent.”
Harris argues that “In this moment, more than repair, we must reimagine.”
To back up her argument that the economy is in need of a government-driven overhaul, she cites how hard it was “during the pandemic, for women business owners to go without childcare. Some have had to make deliveries to customers with children in the car. Others have had to bring their children to work.”
Moreover, the vice president says that the pandemic proved our economy was too rigid to adapt to Americans’ needs.
“In the face of the unimaginable, America’s entrepreneurs made the choice to reimagine their businesses,” Harris writes. “Stores… have had to quickly pivot online to retain customers, tapping into a demand likely here to stay. Restaurants… have had to create outdoor dining to do the same. Meanwhile, innovators of all types have created new products for the moment.”
“Today, our nation must reimagine our economy, so that every American entrepreneur can launch and grow an enterprise,” the VP ultimately concludes. “It is in this reimagining that we will remain competitive—and come out of this pandemic stronger than before.”
Harris has identified real problems. But the glaring flaw plaguing her vision for our post-pandemic economic recovery is that she misdiagnoses the origins of all of these problems. What Harris sees as market failures requiring government overhaul and unprecedented federal spending are actually problems created by overzealous government involvement in the first place.
For example, it wasn’t the free market that forced one in three small businesses to close or millions of women out of the workforce—it was government lockdown orders that literally made it illegal for business owners to open their doors. (While yielding little, if any, COVID mitigation benefits and creating a whole host of life-threatening second-order consequences).
It was the government, not the virus, that was the primary cause of widespread unemployment and small business closures. For proof, just consider the fact that states which took a more laissez-faire approach to COVID restrictions almost universally have much lower unemployment rates than those that implemented and maintained harsh lockdowns.
Of course, Harris isn’t wrong to identify the serious challenges faced by working mothers lacking childcare during the pandemic.
But it’s as if the vice president has failed to consider why so many are struggling and simply assumed the solution to the problem is taxpayer-financed childcare for all. In reality, it was government mandates forcibly closing schools—despite ample scientific evidence they were not COVID hotspots and children were at little risk—that left American families in such dire child care situations.
The vice president’s complaints about businesses struggling to adapt are equally frustrating. Why was it so hard for restaurants to adapt to outdoor dining and different types of retail? More often than not, because useless local government regulations made it illegal to do so without going through complicated and expensive permit processes.
Time and time again, Harris’s evidence that we need bigger government is pointing to the problems created by… big government. The vice president wants to double down on the same approach that caused our grave problems in the first place, but this vision for recovery is dangerously naive.
If we really want to “come out of this pandemic stronger than before,” we must admit the root cause of our problems and recognize that decentralized decision-making of free people will always serve us better than the clumsy diktats of detached, self-interested government bureaucrats.
‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us
Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.
For the last few months, NOQ Report, Conservative Playbook, and the American Conservative Movement have appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.
It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. Both of our YouTube accounts were banned. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Medium canceled us. Apple canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.
The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancellation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.
The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects, including death. One of our stories about the Johnson & Johnson “vaccine” causing blood clots was “fact-checked” and removed one day before the government hit the brakes on it. These questions and news items are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting canceled.
There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ, CP, and ACM readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are pacing to be short by about $3700 per month in order to maintain operations.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.
During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
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They’re Trying to Shut Us Down
Over the last several months, I’ve lost count of how many times the powers-that-be have tried to shut us down. They’ve sent hackers at us, forcing us to take extreme measures on web security. They sent attorneys after us, but thankfully we’re not easily intimidated by baseless accusations or threats. They’ve even gone so far as to make physical threats. Those can actually be a bit worrisome but Remington has me covered.
For us to continue to deliver the truth that Americans need to read and hear, we ask you, our amazing audience, for financial assistance. We just launched a GiveSendGo page to help us pay the bills. It’s brand new so don’t be discouraged by the lack of donations there. It’s a funny reality that the fewer the donations that have been made, the less likely people are willing to donate to it. One would think this is counterintuitive, but sometimes people are skeptical because they think that perhaps there’s a reason others haven’t been donating. In our situation, we’re just getting started so please don’t be shy if you have the means to help.
Thank you and God bless!
JD Rucker
