Paul Krugman estimates the price (in dead bodies) of "freedom" in Florida.

[hay rick]

Paul Krugman Twitter thread from November 13 unrolled.


Can Ron DeSantis effectively challenge Trump? I have no idea. But one thing I hope doesn't get forgotten in the horse-race coverage is DeSantis's major achievement as governor: the unnecessary death of around 20,000 Floridians 1/

Here's how I get that number. Compare Covid deaths by state since Jan. 1, 2021 — roughly when vaccines became widely available. (2020 comparisons distorted by early carnage in New York areas when we didn't know it was airborne) 2/

By state, deaths since then are FL 59,170 CA 70,565 NY 35,247 But CA has a much larger population than FL, NY a slightly smaller one. 3/

Adjusted for population, the Florida-equivalent death toll was FL 59,170 CA 39,217 NY 39,551 So states that didn't have governors promoting Covid disinformation and anti-tax propaganda lost far fewer people — the equivalent of ~20K excess in FL 4/

Why didn't DeSantis pay a price for this? Because Covid victims die out of the public eye, offscreen as it were. A resident of Florida is ~20X as likely to die gratuitously from Covid as a resident of NY is to be murdered, but crime makes headlines while other deaths don't 5/

And no, it's not about freedom. We're not talking about lockdowns and restrictions at this point, just about lifesaving shots that DeSantis deterred people from getting. Truly awesome 6/

[Skittles]

1. the "pro-life" party kills a LOT of people

yup

[hay rick]

3. Yup indeed.

A bunch of people with smallpox and polio vaccinations are doing their part.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. A couple GOP types were claiming that it frees up the retiree's money to enter circulation again.

[yardwork]

12. It doesn't. Their kids will inherit and the cycle continues.

Many of those inheriting are at or near retirement age themselves. Many of them aren't going to spend that money at local stores. They're stashing it in their own tax shelters.

[TheBlackAdder]

14. I think they were referring also to those with no benefactors. Either to the state or institutions.

[yardwork]

15. It figures that Republicans view the death of others as positive.

Greed runs their lives.

[Earth-shine]

2. In January of 2021, DeSantis was pro vaccine.

In that month, he started a pilot vaccine program in two communities: the Villages (heavily republican) and Kings Point (mixed).

Living at the latter place, we all got two Moderna vaccines that month.

[hay rick]

4. Hypocrisy is a feature, not a bug.

Republicans seem to think that the ability to lie is a demonstration of strength.

[Deuxcents]

5. As I remember.. numbers were challenged by Nikki Fried

And the knives came out. She contends even now, the statistics are not correct. She’ll be out of office the first week in January as she lost her election. So sad.. a good democrat. We’ll never really know the folks we lost in Florida

[applegrove]

7. 4/ has a typo. It is not anti-tax. It is anti-vax

[hay rick]

8. Good catch.

I went back and checked and Krugman actually wrote anti-tax. I think he meant anti-vax. It certainly makes more sense.

[KS Toronado]

9. With negative news like this about DeSantis

We as a party should be honing our messages now and getting them out to the voters who are
affected by repugs actions and inaction's NOW, let's not wait until election time again. They got
hate radio, FQX and the like spewing lies 24/7 about us, lets go 24/7 with truths they have a
hard time defending.

[hay rick]

10. Agree.

Taking the "high road" of talking mostly about our goals and achievements is inadequate in the political arena. We need to spend a sufficient amount of time DEMONIZING the Republicans for their terrible policies and record. In the case of DeSantis, we have to compensate for the preferred media narrative that goes along with DeSantis claim that he promoted "freedom" without sacrificing public health. The statistics say otherwise

[yardwork]

11. The FL death rate from COVID is much higher, I think.

The state deliberately suppressed the cause of death for many older Floridians. My former MIL died early in the pandemic with COVID-like symptoms, but the LTC facility refused to test her. Her death certificate does not mention COVID. There are likely at least tens of thousands more like this.

[hay rick]

13. It is definitely higher. We can only speculate about how much higher.

I posted a long piece on DeSantis' Covid response here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217050914
DeSantis attempted to manipulate numbers to his benefit multiple times and in multiple ways.

[yardwork]

16. I remember your thread.

The U.S. used to make fun of countries that suppressed and manipulated vital statistics data.

[hay rick]

17. Who's laughing now?

If you can manipulate statistics you can claim that what you are doing is working, regardless of the actual results. If no one has access to reliable data, no one is able to provide a truthful, verifiable counter narrative. Tolerating this kind of practice is a giant step toward transforming America into a banana republic.

[yardwork]

18. Exactly! And that's the plan, obviously.

The Republican Party is not on the side of democracy, at all.