ATLANTA, GA, October 30, 2020 /Neptune100/ — Allen Buckley, a fiscal conservative independent candidate in the special election race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Kelly Loeffler, says the U.S. needs to expeditiously prepare for the next pandemic as soon as COVID-19 is gone or firmly under control.
COVID-19 has caused tremendous problems for the U.S. economy. It has caused a lot less problems for the Chinese economy. Some people believe China intentionally released the virus. Whether it did is unknown, and will likely remain unknown. But, China now understands it can weather a bad pandemic better than the U.S., at least as of now.
Tensions are building between the U.S. and China over Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea. The U.S. military forces are generally considered superior. However, China’s military strength is growing quickly, in conjunction with growth of its economic power.
A March 7-8, 2020 Wall Street Journal article titled “Global Outbreaks Are Likely to Continue” includes the following quote from Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit research group that built a database tracking disease events locally: “I’m not holding in my bunker right now. We’re going to get hit by a much bigger one sometime in the next 10 years.”
The U.S. tremendously grew the national debt after the Great Recession. The two major parties will seek to do the same after COVID-19 passes, using the pandemic as an excuse to borrow and spend money to buy votes and satisfy special interests that support them. The danger is the possibility of a severe pandemic hitting after the U.S. has taken on a lot of debt, given that sovereign and business debts are now growing rapidly worldwide.
On October 7, 2020, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) said: “Under our central estimate, we find President Trump’s campaign plan would increase the debt by $4.95 trillion over ten years and former Vice President Biden’s plan would increase the debt by $5.60 trillion. Debt would rise from 98 percent of GDP today to 125 percent by 2030 under President Trump and 128 percent under Vice President Biden, compared to 109 percent under current law.” The costs exclude spending to address the current pandemic and economic crisis.
Buckley said: “It is possible China intentionally released COVID-19 as a test case. Tensions over Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea will very likely only increase over time. While the U.S. is now dominant from a military perspective, we are not dominant from a pandemics standpoint. We need to have a country built to withstand virtually all foreseeable risks. Our nation is not so built as of now. And, we should start preparing for the next pandemic as soon a COVID-19 is gone. People should, as soon as reasonably possible, begin saving money and putting away food and beverages. The federal budget needs to get back to being balanced as soon as possible after COVID-19 is gone. The way the federal government is run makes one wonder whether D.C. politicians anticipate an end to the world in the next few years via nuclear war or other cause.”
Buckley’s “Save Tomorrow” campaign is about living for today and tomorrow, instead of living for today to the detriment of tomorrow. The focus is on doing things to make tomorrow as good as or even better than today, by acting now to address the nation’s financial challenges and confronting global warming in a practical way.
Mr. Buckley can be reached for comment at (404) 610-1936. Mr. Buckley’s campaign website is www.buckleyforsenate.org.
