Economy

Goya CEO claims economic shutdowns were politically motivated: the left ‘weaponized the virus’

Published

2 years ago

January 15, 2021

Screen Shot 2021 01 15 at 2.31.38 PM scaled

The President and CEO of Goya Foods on Friday said that locking down the U.S. economy was the worst possible response to the coronavirus pandemic, in an interview with “Fox & Friends,” accusing those on the political left of “weaponizing” the virus to “shut down the economy.”

“You were called to the White House to talk about the coronavirus and the response—and you went—and then people on the political left tried to cancel you with essentially a boycott. But then it turned around, people were supporting you with a ‘buycott’ and I understand Goya Foods has just finished your biggest, most successful year ever,” host Steve Doocy said to CEO Robert Unanue, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump.

“Yes,” Unanue replied. “You know, the problem is it’s a political year and they weaponized coronavirus unfortunately to shut down this economy.”

Throughout the pandemic, Unanue has been very public about his views on economic restrictions put in place by governors and local authorities to help stymie the spread of COVID-19.

“The worst thing we can do is shut down our economy, kill our spirit,” Unanue continued. “You know, we need a reason to get up in the morning: God, family, work. And they’re taking away our spirit. They’re taking away our ability to work. They essentially declared martial law, I believe, in this country, shutting everything down. It’s the worst thing we could have done, just for political gain. I think it’s criminal. I think it’s immoral. To shut down this economy for this basically political reasons and, you know, we’re one nation under God. We’re not one nation under Twitter. We’re not one nation under big media, or under central government.”

Goya CEO tells Fox News the economic shutdowns were politically motivated: "It killed our spirit"

"We need to move closer to God. They want to cancel God. They want to cancel our speech. They want to cancel our culture, our history. Our liberty." pic.twitter.com/oEEXindEp7
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 15, 2021

Unanue’s latest comments come the morning after President-elect Joe Biden unveiled his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic relief plan that he calls the “American Rescue Plan.” The plan seeks to speed up the United States’ vaccination effort, improve COVID-19 testing capacity to assist businesses and schools in reopening, and send $1,400 stimulus checks to Americans and federal dollars to state and local governments so they aren’t forced to fire police officers, firefighters, and other first responders, along with teachers and health workers.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

Economy

Biden spends $1.65 trillion taxpayer dollars while vacationing in St. Croix

Published

4 weeks ago

December 30, 2022

Sara Carter Staff

While vacationing in the island of St. Croix for the holidays, President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law the massive $1.65 omnibus spending package.

The whopping 4,155 pages was supported by only nine House Republicans and 13 Senate Republicans. Majority of criticism from the GOP includes concerns that the bill was rushed and crammed with wasteful spending by a lame-duck Democratic-dominated Congress. The recourse will punish American families by adding to the national debt and exacerbate inflation.

“Today, I signed the bipartisan omnibus bill, ending a year of historic progress. It’ll invest in medical research, safety, veteran health care, disaster recovery, VAWA funding — and gets crucial assistance to Ukraine,” Biden tweeted. “Looking forward to more in 2023.”

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell “praised the bill on the grounds that it represents a real decrease in discretionary spending. He presented it as a positive that nondefense spending jumped by only 5.5 percent, from $730 billion to $772.5 billion, amid an inflation rate of 7.1 percent” writes National Review.

“The bipartisan government-funding bill that Senators Shelby and Leahy have finished negotiating does exactly the opposite of what the Biden administration first proposed,” he said. “This bill provides a substantial real-dollar increase to the defense baseline . . . and a substantial real-dollar cut to the non-defense, non-veterans baseline,” McConnell insisted as negotiations were wrapping up.

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, however, stated his strong disapproval of the bill before it even advanced. Affirming a letter from 13 House Republicans, McCarthy demanded the bill is reckless, irresponsible, and a “purposeful refusal to secure and defend our borders.”

For example, it failed to incorporate protections for Title 42, the pandemic policy that allows illegal immigrants to be expelled on a public-health basis, which currently hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court.

National Review adds, “The funding in the bill, which averted a federal government shutdown before the new year, includes an allocation of $45 billion in defense assistance to Ukraine. Some Republican priorities, such as Electoral Count Act reform and a bigger military budget, were nested in with Democratic appropriations, such as increased funding for Medicaid and food stamps.”