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May 5, 2020

Business group gives Lamont low marks on reopening CT economy

Lamont, shown here speaking in a recent Zoom conference, earned low marks from the Committee To Unleash Prosperity.
By Michael C. Bingham

Gov. Ned Lamont has earned a grade of ‘D’ for his handling of the coronavirus crisis. At least that’s the assessment of “Grading Our Governors: A Report Card on Reopening States’ Economies” published Monday by the aptly named Committee To Unleash Prosperity.

The ratings were put together by economist Art Laffer, Steve Moore of the Heritage Foundation, market analyst Phil Kerpen and journalist John Fund. 

The authors, all avowed free-market conservatives, examined the severity of the state lockdowns, the stay-at-home requirements, dates of reopening, treatment of hospitals, schools, factories and stores, and enforcement penalties. They also factored in the severity of the virus outbreak in each state, dividing states into categories of high, medium and low risk. This means that governors in high-risk states like New York and yes, Connecticut, aren’t graded worse merely for reopening later than, say, Utah.

The report is based on the premise that “The time is long past for every state to reopen safely, smartly and judiciously so as to end the economic destruction and despair from lockdowns,” according to the executive summary.

The report does not attempt to assess each state’s management of the medical emergency — it would be practically meaningless to compare the actions taken by New York, which by Monday afternoon had recorded nearly 19,000 COVID fatalities, with Wyoming, with a total of just seven deaths statewide.

Instead, the report card is an assessment of how the actions and executive orders of each state’s chief executive pertaining to the pandemic has impacted businesses and the economy of each state. While most states took dramatic actions on or about the second week of March to arrest the spread of the virus itself, the severity and longevity of those measures varies greatly.

Now that the COVID “curve” has been flattened, “there must be appropriate urgency to the task of reopening the country,” the report asserts, “because there are significant direct and indirect health and economic consequences of delay.”

Direct health consequences come from failure to provide non-COVID health care. The report cites Richard Sullivan, director of the Institute of Cancer Policy at King’s College London, predicted that “The number of deaths due to the disruption of cancer services is likely to outweigh the number of deaths from the coronavirus itself over the next five years.”

Indirect health consequences stemming from economic devastation and mass unemployment include substance abuse, domestic violence, suicide and other public-health harms. It is an “increasingly undeniable reality that America faces an urgent imperative of limiting the health and economic catastrophe caused by lockdowns,” the report says.

When depends on where

In general, governors of more pro-business southern, southwestern and mountain states have moved more quickly to restore economic freedom (with the notable exception of Virginia’s Ralph Northam, who decreed that his state will remain locked down at least until mid-June). Governors earning grades of A or B “are already moving to restore freedom and opportunity, and trusting individuals to follow best practices or isolate themselves based on their own risk assessments.”

Bluer states in the Northeast (including Connecticut), West Coast and upper Midwest have been significantly more reluctant to ease or lift lockdowns. Governors, including Lamont, who earned grades of D or F “continue to arbitrarily ban activities without respect to any sensible risk-versus-benefit calculation — and are therefore taking the largest risk of all — the risk of catastrophic economic collapse,” the authors write.

With the third-highest per-capita COVID death rate in the nation (399.1 deaths per million, lagging only New York’s 982.0 and New Jersey’s 535.1), Connecticut is in the highest-risk tier among the 50 states and District of Columbia.

Gov. Lamont’s office declined to comment on the report card.

Among Connecticut’s neighboring states, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of hardest-hit New York and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts received ‘C’ grades, while Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, like Lamont, earned a ‘D.’

Its authors say the report card ought to have utility for those who are looking to relocate or start up a business, or those thinking of investing in commercial real estate or buying a home in one state versus another.

“This would not be a good time to start a business in New Jersey or Connecticut,” the report concludes. On the other hand, “Florida’s real estate boom will be enhanced.”

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