Texas political and business leaders have begun to question the long-term value of halting the $1.6 trillion economy of a state that has so far recorded a relatively modest 410 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 9 deaths
“Fear is a sudden and powerful motivator,” says Brigham. “But there’s a big difference between the government issuing guidelines, versus orders to shut everything down” or face the retribution of the state.
A staunch defender of personal liberties and unfettered capitalism, Brigham is a big fan of the works of the late libertarian writer Ayn Rand, and he financed a three-part, which depicts a dystopic version of the United States where the gears of industry have been ground to a halt by socialist politicians determined to seize capital from entrepreneurs and redistribute it in the name of fairness. Here in the real world, Brigham fears the unintended consequences of politicians and unelected bureaucrats getting too comfortable ordering citizens into lockdown and throwing trillions of dollars at problems. Brigham believes it’s not worth eroding Americans’ civil liberties, even in the fight against a scourge like COVID-19. Educated citizens, he believes, can make their own best decisions about their health and their businesses, and those that recklessly or knowingly spread the contagion can be prosecuted without tromping on civil rights to travel, assemble and engage in commerce. “The beauty of free markets is individuals acting in their own rational self-interest.”in a population of 4.65 million. This morning county officials ordered the shutdown of all nonessential businesses. Thankfully, the city’s all-important oil refineries can continue operations, as can its renewable energy providers, like publicly tradedJohn Berger, Sunnova’s CEO, says most of his headquarters employees are working from home, while those at the office are more spread out than usual. And he’s still there: “As the captain, you’re the last one off the ship.” Berger doesn’t question the seriousness of the pandemic and the need to flatten the curve of infection, but he is worried that many people underestimate how hard it will be, after “slamming on the brakes” in the world’s biggest economy, to get everything moving again. “We’ve got to figure out how to live with this thing,” he says, because the coronavirus is not going to disappear soon enough to prevent millions of businesses from going under. Living with it means doing business in new ways. “Door-knocking used to be how our partners sell solar systems; now that’s not the best approach,” so they will move to more phone calls and online marketing.“We can’t just stop working. That’s not realistic,” he says. In time entrepreneurs and business leaders will demand to go back to work. “People will take it into their own hands.” to Congress last week from the Solar Energy Industries Association, new residential installations have dried up—terrible news for the 250,000 people working in the industry . ... [+]Why even try to sell rooftop solar systems at a time when many homeowners are preoccupied with figuring out how to pay the mortgage and more traditional fossil fuels are cheaper than they’ve been in decades? Because by shifting to a long-term solar lease, “customers will see savings immediately.” Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta is struggling to keep his empire afloat. He owns the NBA Houston Rockets, as well as Landry’s Restaurants, which operates some 600 eateries, several Golden Nugget casinos and even aquariums. Heback on March 6, 2020, saying that his restaurant business then was down about 10%—about $1 million a day on average $12 million daily sales, and warned that for most restaurants a 20% drop in sales could wipe them out. He warned viewers then that people have “got to go about their lives” because the alternative is breakdown. Two weeks later, Fertitta was forced by coronavirus lockdowns to shutter nearly all his locations and furlough 40,000 workers. HeFertitta at a Rockets game, 2019.A spokeswoman for Fertitta declined to comment on how Fertitta expects to stay current on some $4 billion in debt carried by Landry’s. Fertitta, in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday said “I think what we are doing with the shut-down is good, but in a few weeks people will need to be around people.” The alternative: “an economic crisis that is going to take us years to dig ourselves out of.” To try to at least keep some of his cooks busy, Fertitta has expanded Landry’s partnership with online delivery service Waitr, which has seen its share price quadruple since last week, to a market cap of $100 million. It’s a start. Some critics of enforced lockdown have been proven overly blasé about the risks. Richard Epstein of the Hoover Institutetotal U.S. deaths to the virus at likely no more than 500. That number was surpassed Monday. “All of this keeps me awake at night. I’ve never been this worried for the country,” says John Goff, a Fort Worth-based investor in real estate, oil, and distressed debt, who has appeared on thelist of Global Billionaires. Among his assets is the Canyon Ranch chain of luxury wellness resorts in Arizona, Massachusetts and northern California. He also owns the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas and controls Crescent Real Estate. Fort Worth is in Tarrant County,Although Goff says he’s well capitalized, other real estate investors aren’t. “It will be a very tough 6 to 12 months,” says Goff. Though some real estate lenders may be willing to “look the other way” on a month or two of late mortgage payments—because it is not in their best interest to foreclose on properties for which there’s no buyers—there’s a limit to how long the system can be down. “No one is planning on a year. They aren’t capitalized for that.” Goff is concerned about the moral hazard risk of big government bailouts that plunge the nation into impossible debt while getting in the way of lasting solutions: “Does it crowd out the real capitalists?” For now, his Canyon Ranch properties are working through the lockdown by finishing maintenance projects and redoing rooms. He’s itching to get customers back into Canyon Ranch’s holistic programs focused on physical and mental health. “Wellness is only going to become more important.” In much of sparsely populated Texas, where citizens already practice social distancing as a matter of course, businesses need to be given the latitude to, responsibly, go about their business, says Ed Hirs, an energy economist who lectures at the University of Houston and is a fellow at consultancy BDO. He, too, accepts the seriousness of the pandemic, but agrees with Berger that the nation cannot endure an extended shutdown. “We have to take positive action against the coronavirus and not let it run our country into depression” he says, “which will happen if people stop spending money.” Though federal stimulus is welcome, it’s impact will be limited as long as people are in lockdown. “They are pushing on a string. You can’t stimulate demand when people are locked in the house.”
Please follow us on Google to support us United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Of Course Texas is the Latest State Trying to Stop Abortions During the Coronavirus CrisisRepublicans in states around the country are doing their best to use the growing coronavirus epidemic in order to push through their rightwing, anti-abortion agendas. The latest—on Sunday night, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order to “postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary” until April 21. In response, the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton ordered all abortion clinics to stop providing “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother,” or face penalties of up to $1,000 or 180 days of jail time.\n
Read more »
Texas Republican: ‘Lots of Grandparents’ Willing to Die to Save Economy for KidsAround 2.6 million children are being raised directly by their grandparents — caretakers who may not agree with Patrick’s suggestion of mass geriatric sacrifice
Read more »
Texas Moves To Ban Most Abortions As Coronavirus SpreadsIt is the latest state to use concerns over limited medical supplies to crack down on abortion.
Read more »