People warned us really early in the lockdown process: locking down a city or state will have devastating effects on the economy. Unfortunately, most leaders proceeded with lockdowns anyway, and now the full extent of the effects of this decision are coming to light. According to an article with the Wall Street Journal, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has recently published state personal income and GDP data for the fourth quarter of 2020. So what did that new data reveal? Well, we already knew that GDP in most states saw a steep decline during the “flatten the curve” phase last year. Now we have a new crucial piece of information: states that allowed businesses to reopen earlier in the pandemic saw a significant bounce back by the end of year. States that maintained its lockdowns did not. Shocker, I know. If only someone such as OutKick founder Clay Travis would have warned us, right? It’s not like Clay, among several others, spent the entire summer and fall months of 2020 telling us how important it is to reopen the country. The article points out that while Democratic governors continue to ease business restrictions, unemployment rates in states such as […]