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Our Gov. Kristi Noem had good reason this week to brag on our states strong economy as the rest of the nation emerges from the pandemic-hobbling effects on the overall economy. Noem says that South Dakota has the strongest economy in America and reels off supporting data to back up that claim.

Noem has taken credit for all this by touting her hands off approach to statewide mandates requiring closures and masks as a means of fighting the pandemic. That South Dakota has one of the nations worst track records in handling the coronavirus catastrophe seems irrelevant to her, though the family and friends of more than 2,000 dead South Dakotans would disagree. Consider the contrast between covid-caused deaths in Oregon, with its population of 4.2 million, and South Dakotas death toll, with our population of 886,000. Oregon lost 2,759 of its residents to the pandemic. South Dakotas loss? 2,026.

Noem, enthralled by our economic recovery, never mentions our states horrible track record on the handling of the pandemic, and I have yet to hear any consoling words coming from her office aimed at those who survived the dead.

As to the state of the economy, lets continue the comparison between South Dakota and Oregon. According to people I know out there, Oregon is coming out of this thing in fine economic shape. The Salem Reporter just headlined a story on the situation Oregons economy expected to come roaring back from pandemic-induced recession, citing an economic forecast that expects a speedy recovery from the historic recession brought on by the pandemic.

Closer to home, consider Nebraska, where, according to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, the economy has outperformed that of many other states and the nation as a whole. At around 3%, Nebraskas unemployment rate rivals South Dakotas, and that states Gross Domestic Product is within 1.5% of its record high. Comparing covid deaths, Nebraska has had 2,517. Comparing populations, Nebraska has 1.93 million residents.

In context, Noems braggadocio about our economic recovery doesnt look all that great, even as our states covid death count is tragically deplorable.

Meantime, I hear little or nothing from Noem about how federal, socialistic stimulus payments have made it possible for South Dakota to get through this difficult period. She can brag all she wants to about keeping the state open so that the economy could thrive, but take it from me, a businessman who sees it from the perspective of reality, the nearly $2 billion that our state expects to get from federal relief funding this year is the difference-maker between economic struggle and economic growth.Those loans and payments kept a lot of businesses afloat in this state. Last year we got federal, socialistically-generated funds totaling $1.25 billion.

Noem can kid herself all she wants to about her great handling of the crisis, but the fact is, our horrible death toll says otherwise. It was federal funding that got us through this thing, economically. She and her supporters can rail all they want to against socialism, but without it wed be in mighty tough shape these days.

John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for twenty years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a thirteen month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam.

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Noem touts strong South Dakota economy, ignores the massive socialistic bailouts that were necessary to get us here. The South Dakota Standard - The...