Bob Rodriguez on state and local government responses to the coronavirus

Q: I would like your input on how state and city governments have responded. What do you see were the biggest mistakes and where were there any successes? 

Rodriguez: I would ask, “What has been the economic loss caused by government, be it federal, state or local?” Their actions killed the economy. There was a lot of talk about following the science. Remember when Dr. Fauci said, "We have to shut down because we have to bend the virus curve downward so we don't overwhelm the medical care system." Then it morphed from getting the curve down to having a vaccine. The goalposts keep getting moved. This has become very political. Once I saw the data that was coming out, both here and abroad, back in April, I viewed myself as not being much at risk. Even though I'm nearly 72, I'm very healthy. I don’t have any comorbidities or anything like that. I view the perceptions of risk from the virus as being vastly overestimated by a large proportion of the populace, especially among the primary working class people between the ages of 21 and 55. 

The government, be it federal, state, and local, used a blanket approach rather than a targeted one. We effectively killed the economy to protect a small percentage of the population. I viewed it as very bad policy. I've been traveling around the country since April. I take appropriate precautions. I couldn't believe the airfares. As an example, I flew from Reno to Dallas to have lunch, do some business, and then flew on to LA, all first class, for $217 on American Airlines. Nobody was on the flight. I considered flying one of the safest places to be.

There have been a lot of mistakes made. But, you can't really second guess these people to a great extent. They were dealing with something they weren't prepared for. You have to give some a “get out of jail free” pass. But for others, I have my reservations. In Northern Nevada and Lake Tahoe, we've taken a far saner approach, and people are a lot happier here than they are in Manhattan Beach, CA, where I have a second home.

~ Bob Rodriguez, "Bob Rodriguez: We are in a Rolling Depression," by Robert Huebscher, Advisor Perspectives, September 7, 2020