Isn’t it ironic that 20/20 is how we describe perfect vision but the year 2020 has made everything look so cloudy and uncertain in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic? Everything is upside down, writes LABI President Stephen Waguespack in a new opinion piece.
Don’t go hug grandma. Separation of church and state is now a separation of people from their church. Stop your children from playing outside with the neighborhood children, they are much safer inside playing with their phones on the couch. Don’t shake someone’s hand and look them in the eye, instead give them an elbow bump while staying six feet away from them if possible (it’s not by the way).
Schools, family vacations, festivals, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, the College World Series, March Madness, the Masters, the NBA, NASCAR, Disney World and toilet paper all gone in the blink of an eye. Your 401(k) is either DOA or MIA.
Years from now, what will they see when they look back to 2020? A united, heroic, appropriate and successful response to a global pandemic that posed a unique risk to the viability of civilization as we know it? A government-led overreaction that bankrupted thousands and destroyed the modern economy? Both? Neither? Something else?
The truth is who the hell knows at this point, Waguspack writes, but one thing is for sure—economically, we have some serious work to do once this virus is whipped to get folks back to anywhere close to even.
The point is not to be a bummer, but instead, to put us all on high alert for the next mission that will quickly be at hand: Louisiana’s economy will need to be rebuilt from the ground up and redesigned into something much different for long-term viability.
So, what does that look like? Read Waguespack’s full column, where he writes about the task ahead for Louisiana business.
