The Patriot Post® · Biden's Plan for Reopening the Economy? Don't

Three weeks ago, presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden released his plan for reopening the nation’s economy in an op-ed published in The New York Times. In that plan, Biden laid out three vague standards for reopening: a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases, more “widespread, easily available, and prompt testing,” and ensuring that hospitals are well equipped to handle any flare ups that might occur. Effectively, Biden’s plan was simply a reiteration of the broad goal of “flattening the curve” that already had been well established by President Donald Trump when the nation was advised to engage in social distancing and shutdown measures.

Now that the curve has been flattened, President Trump has been pressing the urgency of the need to get the economy back to “the way it was.” Trump argued, “We can’t have somebody with half a restaurant. That’s not going to pay the rent.” And with recent jobless numbers and the economy shrinking by at least 4.8% in the first quarter, the economy is quickly becoming a crisis.

So, with the curve flattened and essentially all three of Biden’s general goals having been achieved, is he also pressing for the economy to reopen quickly? Nope.

The Democrats are banking on an economic downturn being their best chance of defeating Trump, so their candidate is moving the goalposts. He has reiterated his calls for shutdown measures to continue because, as he claimed this week, there still remains a “massive shortfall” in testing. He says, “We want our country to get moving and healthy again,” but only after taking “the necessary, rational steps, grounded in science, to do so safely.” In other words, Biden has no real plan for reopening, just a bunch of vague platitudes about following “science.”

It’s important to note that, unlike Trump, Biden never references the role the states play. Constitutionally, of course, the authority over initiating and ending these shutdowns resides with the states, not the federal government.

Frankly, if Biden is opening anything up it should be to answer questions over the sexual-assault allegations that have been raised by his former staffer, Tara Reade. Thus far, Biden has remained coy, colluding with Leftmedia outlets to downplay and discredit his accuser, while he remains mum on the topic.