Have u noticed how mich money was poured into society from central banks to support the economy during those restrictions ? In Spain politicians increased their salary.
Markets went up ( and so my net worth as a passive investor)
I already posted an article on how many people are satisfied with the lockdown, because if a mix of government hand outs and not having to compete with others.
Besides a lot of people ( large majority over here, although I wonder how much of it is due to the way the question is asked and the tendency for responders to follow the mainstream voice) ask for lots of restrictions, so it's quite risky for politicians to not go for those.
I did notice. That was going on for a few years before the pandemic also.
I didn't read your article, but I'm guessing that the number of people making more from stimmies, than employment, is a non-factor re: making the lockdown desirable to politicians and businesses. I further guess that such employees would be in low income, i.e., low tax bracket, jobs ... not good for governmental budgets.
Even so, the government is about tax revenue. How did that do during the lockdowns?
And politicians are about big business. And Big business is about getting paying customers. How did businesses do during the lockdowns.
The powers that be lose during lockdowns. And when have they ever put the concerns of the little man over money?
Ted Cruz wasn't worried about the little guy when he was outed re: Cancun. He knows he can put a spin on it and keep moving. He went because he didn't care.
Don't overthink it. Remember Occam's Razor.
Provide us links that support the contentions that politicians made more money during the lockdowns than they would have otherwise;
that big businesses lobbied to continue the lockdowns;
and that big businesses made more during the lockdowns than they would have otherwise.
Of course, PPE etc. businesses would make more. So to make a fair comparison, we have to consider businesses that don't organically benefit from a lockdown ... which is most businesses.