Stimulus & Bailout Watch Thread [Archive] - Page 2

boutons_deux

04-15-2020, 09:26 AM

Trump and Kushner could reap a pandemic windfall

McConnell ... insisted that Congress spend another $250 billion (https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/04/13/pelosi-schumer-coronavirus-congress-budget/?tid=lk_inline_manual_2&itid=lk_inline_manual_2) on small businesses devastated by the pandemic,

but

they refuse to “renegotiate unrelated programs (https://www.republicanleader.gov/leaders-mccarthy-and-mcconnell-renew-call-for-action-to-support-americans-paychecks-and-save-small-businesses/)” from last month’s emergency coronavirus bill.

What are they afraid of?

Well, maybe it’s this:

As the dust settles on the $2.2 trillion legislation, it has become clear that

one of its largest provisions, a $170 billion tax giveaway,

appears to be tailor-made for the benefit of wealthy real estate investors

such as President Trump (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/business/coronavirus-real-estate-investors-stimulus.html) and

his son-in-law, Jared Kushner,

who is running (https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-enables-jared-kushner-s-coronavirus-task-force-revealing-dangers-ncna1176511)one of Trump’s coronavirus task forces.

The giveaway, primarily to real estate investors and hedge funds, is

larger than the total amount in the legislationfor hospitals (https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-policy-watch/a-look-at-the-100-billion-for-hospitals-in-the-cares-act/) ($100 billion) and

for relief for all state and local governments (https://www.ncsl.org/ncsl-in-dc/publications-and-resources/coronavirus-stimulus-bill-states.aspx) ($150 billion).

Worse, the bonanza for these millionaires and billionaires has little to do with the coronavirus:

It lets them offset losses not just from 2020 but from 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic.

But this provision gives tax filers who earn more than $1 million a year an average windfall of $1.6 million this year alone.

(Compare that with the $1,200 break the average wage earner gets.)

82 percent of the benefit of this and another tax giveaway in the coronavirus relief bill will go to the 43,000 taxpayers who earn more than $1 million —

and just 3 percent to those who earn less than $100,000.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/14/trump-kushner-could-reap-pandemic-windfall/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/14/trump-kushner-could-reap-pandemic-windfall/)

iow, Repugs giving BigDonor $100Bs then for the Repug campaigns "I'd like BigDonor to do us a favor"

Winehole23

04-15-2020, 10:55 AM

The bank can grab your bailout check.

That's not to purpose, immediate human needs (rent, food, transportation, utilities) will not be met.

https://prospect.org/api/amp/coronavirus/banks-can-grab-stimulus-check-pay-debts/Mnuchin knew about this for two weeks and did nothing.

https://prospect.org/api/amp/coronavirus/unsanitized-mnuchin-knew-banks-coronavirus-checks/

boutons_deux

04-15-2020, 12:50 PM

Who’s getting these hundreds of billions in government aid?

For now, the public may be in the dark.

The federal government is doling out more than $2 trillion in coronavirus relief.

The names of businesses that collectively will receive hundreds of billions of dollars in coronavirus (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/28/what-you-need-know-about-coronavirus/?tid=lk_inline_manual_2&itid=lk_inline_manual_2) relief from the federal government may not be disclosed publicly, and

critics say that could make the massive spending program vulnerable to fraud and favoritism. :lol not a bug, a feature! :lol

Chief among the omissions is the $349 billion expected to be doled out to small companies in chunks as large as $10 million.

The rescue legislation does not compel the Small Business Administration to disclose the recipients. So far, the agency said, it has received about 487,000 applications seeking a total of $125 billion.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/13/whos-getting-these-hundreds-billions-government-aid-now-public-may-be-dark/?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/13/whos-getting-these-hundreds-billions-government-aid-now-public-may-be-dark/?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1)

benefactor

04-15-2020, 06:35 PM

Got it today tbh

Winehole23

04-16-2020, 08:23 AM

Getting ready for another housing crash:

1250554491797147655

Trill Clinton

04-16-2020, 10:13 AM

Got it today tbh

Same here. Ours came in yesterday. Not to sound ungrateful but man this is like a tear in a bucket for a struggling family.

boutons_deux

04-16-2020, 10:17 AM

Getting ready for another housing crash:

1250554491797147655

non-bank, non-regulated, predatory, liar-loan Capitalists were the heart of the Banksters Great Depression, 4M homes stolen, and the predators all came out successful.

Let them go bankrupt this time

And fuck MERS and is breaking of chain of title

Winehole23

04-16-2020, 10:28 AM

5.2 million more unemployed. 22 million in the last three weeks alone.

The US Congress is in recess for 3 more weeks because, COVID 19.

boutons_deux

04-16-2020, 11:00 AM

5.2 million more unemployed. 22 million in the last three weeks alone.

The US Congress is in recess for 3 more weeks because, COVID 19.

Trash blaming Dems for blocking his Federal judicial appointees. :lol You hear that, Merrick Garland? :lol

Winehole23

04-16-2020, 12:52 PM

Maybe banks shouldn't be bailed out

953334577669353477

Winehole23

04-16-2020, 04:22 PM

United to lay off workers after $5B bailout

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/04/16/united-airlines-travel-demand-essentially-zero-layoffs-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19/

CosmicCowboy

04-16-2020, 08:03 PM

Just got final go on the 2.375% refi. Prepping closing documents. I think hater was wrong. Since I locked rates have jumped back up to 2.77 on 15s.

baseline bum

04-16-2020, 08:11 PM

United to lay off workers after $5B bailout

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/04/16/united-airlines-travel-demand-essentially-zero-layoffs-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19/

Bailing out the airlines was such a fucking mistake. Small business is stupid with their money and they go under and get their carcasses picked for pennies on the dollar. The airlines take on debt for stock buybacks and we get stuck with the bill when they lose. Nanny state for the rich, tough love and market discipline for the rest of us. Fuck this country.

Winehole23

04-16-2020, 08:53 PM

Bailing out the airlines was such a fucking mistake. Small business is stupid with their money and they go under and get their carcasses picked for pennies on the dollar. The airlines take on debt for stock buybacks and we get stuck with the bill when they lose. Nanny state for the rich, tough love and market discipline for the rest of us. Fuck this country.Socialization of risk for rich, well-connected companies, austerity and bootstraps for me and thee.

We're just cows on the neo-feudal global work farm.

benefactor

04-16-2020, 09:04 PM

Same here. Ours came in yesterday. Not to sound ungrateful but man this is like a tear in a bucket for a struggling family.
It helps some. I can put it back and use it to bridge the gap until my unemployment starts next month. Between my fiancee's salary and my unemployment plus the extra 600 per week via the stimulus we will be ok for a bit. We live a pretty simple, boring life so we are fine as long as we can cover the bills. I'll get out on indeed and find something. I'm not worried.

Trill Clinton

04-17-2020, 09:39 AM

It helps some. I can put it back and use it to bridge the gap until my unemployment starts next month. Between my fiancee's salary and my unemployment plus the extra 600 per week via the stimulus we will be ok for a bit. We live a pretty simple, boring life so we are fine as long as we can cover the bills. I'll get out on indeed and find something. I'm not worried.

Yessir, you'll bounce right back. Stay safe.

Thread

04-17-2020, 09:44 AM

United to lay off workers after $5B bailout

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/04/16/united-airlines-travel-demand-essentially-zero-layoffs-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19/

They want that nest egg sitting there in plain view. Makes waiting it out an entirely different proposition. NOW they can relax.

Big shots once & again.

Winehole23

04-18-2020, 10:34 AM

Barry Ritholtz, one of the best commentors on the 2008-9 financial panic, is writing a series called "Unintended Consequeces."

This article is about how the LTCM bailout in 1998 greased the skids for what happened in 2008-2009

https://ritholtz.com/2020/04/unintended-consequences-ltcm-rescued/

Winehole23

04-18-2020, 02:58 PM

1998, 2008, 2020 in the US alone

1251566694100680706

leemajors

04-18-2020, 06:37 PM

boutons_deux

04-18-2020, 07:39 PM

Small-business loan program ran out of money within minutes, some banks say

“It was Hunger Games,” said one senior banking executive.

Much of the $350 billion in the Small Business Administration's emergency coronavirus relief fund (https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/some-small-business-owners-got-0-while-lenders-got-billions-n1186391) was

effectively spoken for within the first minutes of launch

"We didn't even get through the first five minutes of applications,"

The bank received over 60,000 applicants for the Paycheck Protection Program within those first five minutes,

When funds ran dry after less than two weeks, only 27,000 loans had ultimately been approved

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/small-business-loan-program-ran-out-money-within-minutes-some-n1187051 (https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/small-business-loan-program-ran-out-money-within-minutes-some-n1187051)

and Moscow Mitch is blocking any more $100Bs

CosmicCowboy

04-18-2020, 07:59 PM

CosmicCowboy

04-18-2020, 08:00 PM

Then they rewrote the rules 4 days later and they all had to be redone.

CosmicCowboy

04-18-2020, 08:03 PM

I also call bullshot on Boukakis claim that "Moscow mitch" blocked additional funding. The senate passed it and Pelosi blocked it.

Winehole23

04-19-2020, 06:02 PM

Matt Stoller traces the chequered career of private equity from the mid-1970s to today.

Is PE about to have a Minsky moment, or is this the juncture where PE and the Fed become inexteicably intertwined?

Stoller is skeptical the bailout of PE will work:

As Rana Farhoor observes, we have both a corporate debt crisis where companies just can’t pay back what they owe, and a real estate crisis because real estate values are simply too high, having doubled since 2008. PE owns corporate equity, corporate debt, and real estate.

The coronavirus is going to make these dynamics even worse. The massive job losses are going to mean that people simply can’t afford rent, and young people won’t be able to borrow to buy homes. The pandemic could change business in more fundamental ways, with more people telecommuting and less travel, leading to a reduced need for commercial real estate and convention space. And the destruction of a large number of small businesses, and the monopolization of commerce in the hands of Amazon and Walmart and a few others, if that is allowed to happen, will mean further erosion of rental income streams.

Basically, there is massive deflation, and that’s not going to change just because lockdowns begin easing. Tens of millions of people no longer have income, and even those who do are afraid to go back to their old lifestyles. The Fed can’t ultimately can’t print a functional economy. And at the end of the day, no matter how many games you play with debt loads and capital structures, firms have to have customers, and people can only be customers if they have income.
https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/is-private-equity-having-its-minsky

baseline bum

04-19-2020, 06:21 PM

I also call bullshot on Boukakis claim that "Moscow mitch" blocked additional funding. The senate passed it and Pelosi blocked it.

Hopefully the new bill won't allow shit like banks giving priority to firms that owed it money or allowing Ruth's Chris to get $20 million when the hard limit was supposed to be $10 million per company.

ElNono

04-19-2020, 06:29 PM

Hopefully the new bill won't allow shit like banks giving priority to firms that owed it money or allowing Ruth's Chris to get $20 million when the hard limit was supposed to be $10 million per company.

lol, I have a bridge to sell you in Saturn

baseline bum

04-19-2020, 06:31 PM

lol, I have a bridge to sell you in Saturn

Just think it's funny when the GOP calls it a clean bill after what a turd the first bill was.

boutons_deux

04-20-2020, 09:29 AM

Disney Stops Paychecks for Over 100,000 Employeeshttps://247wallst.com/media/2020/04/20/disney-stops-paychecks-for-over-100000-employees/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FRyNm+%2824%2F7+Wall +St.%29 (https://247wallst.com/media/2020/04/20/disney-stops-paychecks-for-over-100000-employees/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FRyNm+%2824%2F7+Wall +St.%29)

boutons_deux

04-20-2020, 09:29 AM

https://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzone/2020/04/a-screenshot-of-a-social-media-post-description-a.png

boutons_deux

04-20-2020, 12:49 PM

Shake Shack returns $10 million emergency loan to the US government

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/business/shake-shack-ppp-loan-sba/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/business/shake-shack-ppp-loan-sba/index.html)

boutons_deux

04-20-2020, 01:07 PM

Unlike with the Great Recession,

the sky’s the limit on Washington spending to save the economy from coronavirus.

Here’s why.

As the Great Recession reached its depths in early 2009, lawmakers battled over spending about $800 billion to boost the cratering economy.

Just three Republicans in Congress voted for the stimulus package pushed by President Obama and his fellow Democrats,

with opponents warning of the rising national debt :lol and its potentially disastrous impact on future generations :lol of Americans.

With the coronavirus outbreak, however, money appears to be no object. :lol

a factor, with Republicans holding the White House and President Trump’s reelection dependent on the state of the economy.

what happened — and what didn’t happen — after the then-unprecedented efforts by Congress and the Fed to pull the economy out of the Great Recession.

It’s acknowledged now that Washington didn’t do enough back then to propel the nation out of the recession, leading to a slow recovery. :lol

( Evil BAD FAITH Moscow'a Bitch Mitch wanted maximum pain for as long as possible. He wanted Obama's defeat on a bad state of the economy )

hyperinflation never developed and interest rates never soared.

despite “a lot of angst and some screaming" about inflationary pressures from the Great Recession bailouts and stimulus,

the biggest inflation concern since then has been that it is too low.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin emphasized that lawmakers shouldn’t be concerned about the deficit. :lol

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/19/nation/unlike-with-great-recession-skys-limit-washington-spending-save-economy-coronavirus-heres-why/

Where are Simpson and Bowles and Pete Petersen now? :lol

DMC

04-20-2020, 01:11 PM

The sky is falling

DMC

04-20-2020, 01:11 PM

The sky is falling

The sky is falling

DMC

04-20-2020, 01:12 PM

The sky is falling

The sky is falling

The sky is falling

boutons_deux

04-20-2020, 04:10 PM

White House, GOP face heat after hotel and restaurant chains helped run small business program dry

The federal government gave national hotel and restaurant chains millions of dollars in grants

before the $349 billion program ran out of money (https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/04/16/congress-coronavirus-small-business-trump/?tid=lk_inline_manual_2&itid=lk_inline_manual_2) Thursday,

leading to a backlash that prompted one company to give the money back and

a Republican senator to say that “millions of dollars are being wasted.”

to add an additional $310 billion to the program,

some are calling for additional oversight and rule changes to prevent bigger chains from accepting any more money. :lol

Ruth’s Chris Steak House, a chain that has 150 locations and is valued at $250 million, reported receiving $20 million in funding from the small business portion of the economic stimulus legislation called the Paycheck Protection Program.

The Potbelly chain of sandwich shops, which has more than 400 locations and a value of $89 million, reported receiving $10 million last week.

Shake Shack, a $1.6 billion burger-and-fries chain based in New York City, received $10 million.

more than 70 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2020/04/20/seventy-one-publicly-traded-companies-got-paycheck-protection-funding-before-money-ran-out/#3f24d5825087) publicly traded companies have reported receiving money from the program,

Some of the companies receiving money are clients of JPMorgan Chase, adding fuel to criticism that Wall Street banks had helped their clients obtain large amounts.

The bank put out a statement (https://recovery.chase.com/cares1) Sunday saying that it is “proud to have secured more funding for small businesses than anyone else in the industry” and that 80 percent of its PPP loans have been for businesses with less than $5 million in revenue.

The PPP program was intended to benefit workers at businesses and nonprofit employers with fewer than 500 employees that are unable to obtain credit elsewhere,

Hotels, with three-quarters of their rooms empty and nearly 4 million people out of work, have been taking advantage of the program.

Mnuchin said. He told CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/19/politics/small-business-funding-congress-mnuchin-schumer-cnntv/index.html?utm_term=1587305130895f5122c372771&utm_source=Breaking+News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=155001&bt_ee=Tkz2GzdOLfKgURNILRWC6kE2yqGmMAfGyKffLeXcHjN9 T5WuGhljOBetjPsL%2Bak5&bt_ts=1587305130899) on Sunday that an additional $300 billion “should be sufficient to reach almost everybody.” :lol

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/20/white-house-gop-face-heat-after-hotel-restaurant-chains-helped-run-small-business-program-dry/?cv-campaign=4fda08e2fbca0387b958bb44bf5cc2b6&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh

JPM "proud" that their clients won't default on the loans from JPM :lol

Will Hunting

04-20-2020, 04:17 PM

boutons_deux

04-20-2020, 04:39 PM

World Bank predicts coronavirus will push between 40 million and 60 million people into poverty (https://theweek.com/speedreads/909928/world-bank-predicts-coronavirus-push-between-40-million-60-million-people-into-poverty)

https://theweek.com/speedreads/909928/world-bank-predicts-coronavirus-push-between-40-million-60-million-people-into-poverty (https://theweek.com/speedreads/909928/world-bank-predicts-coronavirus-push-between-40-million-60-million-people-into-poverty)

boutons_deux

04-21-2020, 08:10 AM

Hey, CC, here's ANOTHER instance of Moscow's bitch Mitch blocking aid

Trump reportedly plans to extort states into reopening as Mitch McConnell holds up aid

The deal has been delayed after

Democrats also pushed to include $150 billion in funding for states and local governments

quickly running out of money as expenses rise while tax revenue plummets.

But McConnell told Senate Republicans (https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-sneak-peek) during a conference call with Trump and Mnuchin that the aid “would not be in the package,”

“The thinking among some Trump administration officials is that

many states should be reopening their governments soon and that

additional funding could deter them from doing so,” according to the report.

the White House has been “holding out because, in part,

they believe if Congress keeps cutting checks for state and local governments,

they will be disincentivized to open up their economies.”

Trump backs astroturf-style protests, many of them organized or promoted by deep-pocketed groups backing the president (https://www.salon.com/2020/04/20/astroturf-gun-rights-activists-and-prominent-gop-donors-push-protests-of-coronavirus-restrictions/), urging states to reopen

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/trump-reportedly-plans-to-extort-states-into-reopening-as-mitch-mcconnell-holds-up-aid/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4352&recip_id=298460&list_id=1

Extortion, excellent Presidential leadership.

NOBODY loves Trash, and he's making sure NOBODY is EVERYBODY

boutons_deux

04-21-2020, 09:05 AM

Restaurants’ bailout problem: Unemployment pays more

Unemployment benefits vary by state, but in 2019, before the coronavirus crisis, the average weekly benefit nationwide was $370.

A $600 sweetener that the stimulus bill added, on a temporary basis, to weekly unemployment checks

raises the average weekly benefit to $970, an amount that approximates average weekly pay nationwide and

is nearly double average weekly pay within the food industry: about $500 nationwide for full-time workers.

Dental assistants, security guards and travel agents similarly stand to earn more money on unemployment than they can by working.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/20/restaurant-bailout-unemployment-coronavirus-197326

600 /week x 52 weeks = 31200

31200/year / 2000 hours/year = $15.6/hour :lol

The Fight For $15 has been won! :lol

Winehole23

04-21-2020, 10:37 AM

Caught with their hands in the cookie jar:

In the suit filed on Sunday, a cybersecurity firm and event planning company accused Chase Bank of prioritizing small business borrowers who were seeking larger loan amounts rather than processing the government-sponsored loan applications on a first-come, first-served basis as advertised.

The move meant that Chase and other banks would collect larger processing fees – nearly $6 billion in total – by frontloading the queue with businesses seeking higher loans, according to the lawsuit.https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/5163654002

boutons_deux

04-21-2020, 11:49 AM

Caught with their hands in the cookie jar:

https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/5163654002

Sounds like banks were caught holding debits until a big one arrived to push the account NSF, then smaller amts after the big one, all charged the account $37? each transaction with NSF

Winehole23

04-21-2020, 12:06 PM

Sounds like banks were caught holding debits until a big one arrived to push the account NSF, then smaller amts after the big one, all charged the account $37? each transaction with NSFsimilar scam, but that's not what the article is about.

maybe try reading it next time?

boutons_deux

04-21-2020, 04:14 PM

White House, congressional leaders reach deal to expand small business aid, boost money for hospitals and testing

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/20/its-not-about-size-government-its-about-competence/

How will Moscow Mitch delay this one? how many $100Bs for the oligarchy will he slip in?

clambake

04-21-2020, 05:08 PM

I also call bullshot on Boukakis claim that "Moscow mitch" blocked additional funding. The senate passed it and Pelosi blocked it.

You better cancel that handout, cowboy

:rollin

Winehole23

04-21-2020, 06:01 PM

Will there be a phase three bailout when we hit 25% unemployment in May?

clambake

04-21-2020, 06:28 PM

Will there be a phase three bailout when we hit 25% unemployment in May?

I wouldn’t be surprised if they call for a purge.

There is no leadership

boutons_deux

04-21-2020, 06:35 PM

similar scam, but that's not what the article is about.

maybe try reading it next time?

I read it, maybe try widening your categories

baseline bum

04-21-2020, 06:53 PM

Will there be a phase three bailout when we hit 25% unemployment in May?

Probably not, Trump already got his $450 billion corporate bailout that can be renewed 9 more times by Mnuchin. Only capital matters to our Dear Leader, not human lives.

Winehole23

04-21-2020, 07:27 PM

I read it, maybe try widening your categoriesLook, we agree Wells Fargo basically cheats and defrauds its customers, but you're kinda off topic.

I do see the continuity.

Winehole23

04-21-2020, 07:30 PM

Probably not, Trump already got his $450 billion corporate bailout that can be renewed 9 more times by Mnuchin. Only capital matters to our Dear Leader, not human lives.I wonder. At some point Trump and the GOP might figure out there's no chance to win in November unless they help people out.

But maybe you're right.

baseline bum

04-21-2020, 07:34 PM

I wonder. At some point Trump and the GOP might figure out there's no chance to win in November unless they help people out.

But maybe you're right.

Trump's base will never leave him. All he needs to do is depress enthusiasm for Biden.

clambake

04-21-2020, 07:36 PM

Trump's base will never leave him. All he needs to do is depress enthusiasm for Biden.

Yep

That’s all they need to do

Winehole23

04-21-2020, 07:37 PM

Trump's base will never leave him. All he needs to do is depress enthusiasm for Biden.Already halfway there, I'd say. I have yet to meet a Joe Biden fan in the wild.

Winehole23

04-21-2020, 07:37 PM

Hate Trump sure didn't work in 2016.

clambake

04-21-2020, 07:43 PM

Hate Trump sure didn't work in 2016.

Sorry, not gonna join

Winehole23

04-21-2020, 07:44 PM

Sorry, not gonna join
Not gonna join what?

Blake

04-21-2020, 07:46 PM

Blake

04-21-2020, 08:04 PM

Some publicly traded besides Shake Shack that went after the loans:

"But the research shows that several of the companies that have received aid have market values well in excess of $100 million, including DMC Global ($405 million), Wave Life Sciences ($286 million) and Fiesta Restaurant Group ($189 million). Fiesta, which employs more than 10,000 people, according to its last reported annual number, received a PPP loan of $10 million, Morgan Stanley's data showed.

At least 75 companies that have received the aid were publicly traded and received a combined $300 million in low-interest, taxpayer-backed loans, according to a separate report published by The Associated Press.

"I think you've seen some pretty shameful acts by some large companies to take advantage of the system," said Howard Schultz, former Starbucks chairman and CEO. Instead, the government should act "as a backstop for the banks to give every small business and every independent restaurant a bridge to the vaccine. And that is the money and the resources to make it through."

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/21/large-public-companies-are-taking-small-businesses-payroll-loans.html

boutons_deux

04-21-2020, 08:04 PM

Yep

That’s all they need to do

and Repugs will have a couple $B to do it, already $1B in hand, plus the media will give Trash another $1B in free time

Blake

04-21-2020, 08:05 PM

^ fucking Fiesta runs Taco Cabana

boutons_deux

04-21-2020, 08:06 PM

clambake

04-21-2020, 08:07 PM

Not gonna join what?

The opposite of not hating him

Thread

04-21-2020, 08:17 PM

Trump's base will never leave him. All he needs to do is depress enthusiasm for Biden.

Can't make a mistake in PA.. That's the killing ground for both. & you can't throw money at it with the expectation that will be enough. It's going to take a move, a trick, something out of the ordinary. Something special.

clambake

04-21-2020, 09:43 PM

Your job is to get in that ass

Focus dale

boutons_deux

04-21-2020, 10:02 PM

CC and similar ilk believe Trash/Repug lies every time

Trump Campaign Takes Pelosi’s Words Out of Context

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an April 14 interview that the Paycheck Protection Program was “very important,”

and with a second round of funding, she wanted to “open this up to many more people,” specifically the “underbanked.” But that context is missing from a Trump campaign video.

The video, posted on Twitter (https://mobile.twitter.com/parscale/status/1252369647338319878) by Brad Parscale, campaign manager for President Donald Trump’s reelection effort,

leaves the false impression that Pelosi opposes replenishing funding for the small business loan program

The video uses select quotes from Pelosi that appear to show her dismissing $250 billion in additional funding proposed by Republicans.

But that’s not the whole story.

Pelosi says:

“They asked for a quarter of a trillion dollars in 48 hours. I said, well, I don’t think so.”

In the April 14 interview on MSNBC, however, Pelosi prefaced that remark by asking,

“Well, what happens to our underbanked folks?”

Her next sentence after the quote in the video:

“Let’s see how we can open this up to many more people.”

The video then shows on screen the words, “Americans Are Losing Their Jobs,”

and Pelosi is heard saying, “they objected and I congratulate the Senate Democrats.”

In the interview, those comments aren’t made in succession.

Instead, Pelosi said,

“I congratulate the Senate Democrats,

they went to the floor when Mitch McConnell went in for his 250,

and they said they objected.”

Pelosi then said,

“And then they said, we have another proposal which opens the door to the underbanked.”

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/trump-campaign-takes-pelosis-words-out-of-context/ (https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/trump-campaign-takes-pelosis-words-out-of-context/)

CC, whine and bitch to us again about how much you have to your $Ms

Winehole23

04-22-2020, 02:05 AM

The opposite of not hating himIt's not enough to be against Trump. We learned that in 2016. The opposition party has to be for something in its own right.

clambake

04-22-2020, 02:40 AM

It's not enough to be against Trump. We learned that in 2016. The opposition party has to be for something in its own right.

i'm not a "we" person. the opposition party took a free ride on obama's tail and stopped working.

what exactly is their something in its own right? they are up against a new flat earth.

boutons_deux

04-22-2020, 05:51 AM

Trash punishing BLUE STATES

NY 49th, MA 38th, CA 50th companies LAST in SBA funds

https://www.bostongloâ€‹be.com/2020/04/21/sports/rob-gronkowski-gets-return-nfl-his-own-terms/?et_rid=769135622&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/21/sports/rob-gronkowski-gets-return-nfl-his-own-terms/?et_rid=769135622&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter)

If a Obama had punished RED states ... ?

Will the Dems attack Trash for screwing Blue states?

boutons_deux

04-22-2020, 07:14 AM

McConnell: Senators Must Return To Capitol Before Considering More Coronavirus Bills

The Republican leader said he was concerned about the rising federal debt, :lol

The Senate Republican leader indicated he was troubled by the rampant spending. :lol

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mcconnell-senators-capitol-stimulus-package-coronavirus_n_5e9fbf93c5b69150246a7c55?ncid=newslt ushpmgnews (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mcconnell-senators-capitol-stimulus-package-coronavirus_n_5e9fbf93c5b69150246a7c55?ncid=newslt ushpmgnews)

Moscow's Bitch Mitch NOT troubled by the huge tax breaks (tax expenditures), $100Bs, in the stimulus bill for real estate investors with only "paper losses"?

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 11:17 AM

clambake

04-22-2020, 11:21 AM

Hey cowboy, you gonna return that money?

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 11:22 AM

Hey cowboy, you gonna return that money?

Sure...to employees for maintaining their full salaries and benefits. My payroll overhead is right at 90K a month. You want to make it?

clambake

04-22-2020, 11:23 AM

You call yourself cowboy because you like to panhandle lol

Winehole23

04-22-2020, 11:25 AM

i'm not a "we" person. the opposition party took a free ride on obama's tail and stopped working.

what exactly is their something in its own right? they are up against a new flat earth.Universal healthcare, UBI, paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, mail in voting, countrywide COVID-19 testing, temporary moratoriums on mortgage/rent payments, debt forgiveness, the Dems should force Republicans to vote all of these down.

clambake

04-22-2020, 11:40 AM

Good luck

clambake

04-22-2020, 11:44 AM

Sure...to employees for maintaining their full salaries and benefits. My payroll overhead is right at 90K a month. You want to make it?

Poor old cowboy

Alls good until it hits you

Winehole23

04-22-2020, 11:47 AM

Good luck
Ship sailed, tbh.

clambake

04-22-2020, 11:48 AM

Ship sailed, tbh.

And sunk

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 11:53 AM

Poor old cowboy

Alls good until it hits you

I'm not whining. Clambake is the one that seems to be triggered. I anticipate the slowdown will last a lot longer than eight weeks so he will have plenty of time to gloat.

Winehole23

04-22-2020, 11:54 AM

And sunkSeems to be working well in Canada.

Winehole23

04-22-2020, 12:06 PM

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at McConnell's barely suppressed glee at letting US states go bankrupt during a pandemic.

1252981635697512448

clambake

04-22-2020, 12:06 PM

Old cowboy would have been outraged about all this

New cowboy is a cult member

That begs

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 02:25 PM

Old cowboy would have been outraged about all this

New cowboy is a cult member

That begs

What am I supposed to be outraged about?

boutons_deux

04-22-2020, 02:33 PM

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at McConnell's barely suppressed glee at letting US states go bankrupt during a pandemic.

1252981635697512448

Cruelty is the Point

Why can’t states use the federal bankruptcy system to reorganize their debt?

“There are two reasons why state governments currently cannot use the federal bankruptcy system to reorganize their debt.

First,

the federal bankruptcy code (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode11/usc_sec_11_00000109----000-.html) does not allow—and has never allowed—state governments to declare bankruptcy.

Since 1937, the bankruptcy code has allowed ‘municipalities’ to declare bankruptcy.

The term ‘municipality’ is defined in the bankruptcy code as a ‘political subdivision or public agency or instrumentality of a state.’

This definition is broad enough to include cities, counties, townships, school districts and public improvement districts.

It also includes revenue-producing bodies that provide services which are paid for by users rather than by general taxes, such as bridge authorities, highway authorities and gas authorities.

But it does not include state governments.

“The second

reason stems from the U.S.Constitution

The contracts clause (http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec10.html) of the U.S. Constitution prohibits state governments from ‘impairing the obligation of contracts.’

As originally understood and enforced, this clause prohibited state legislatures from passing any laws to relieve either private debt or the state government's own debt.

Beginning in 1934, however, the Supreme Court began to interpret the contracts clause more flexibly and not as an absolute bar to state debt relief laws.

Even under the flexible modern approach, however, the Supreme Court in 1977 reiterated that ‘a state cannot refuse to meet its legitimate financial obligations simply because it would prefer to spend the money (on something else.)’

Thus, were Congress to amend the federal bankruptcy code to authorize states to repudiate debt,

the Supreme Court would then need to decide the novel constitutional question of

whether such debt repudiation would nonetheless violate the contracts clause of Article I, Section 10.”

https://www.csg.org/pubs/capitolideas/enews/issue65_3.aspx

boutons_deux

04-22-2020, 02:38 PM

Mitch McConnell to states: Drop dead – GOP leader says no ‘blue state bailouts’

McConnell fully backed the GOP’s trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the rich,

while falsely claiming they would pay for themselves, and

proclaiming the ensuing deficits were “not a Republican problem (https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/10/mitch-mcconnell-blames-the-poor-for-trumps-trillion-dollar-deficit).”

he also managed to corral (https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/475831-mcconnell-flexes-reelection-muscle-with-1b-gift-for-kentucky) “more than $1 billion worth of federal spending and tax breaks to his Kentucky constituents,

just in time for Christmas and ahead of a potentially tough reelection campaign.”

told Hewitt governors “would love to have free money,” and said he’d like the states to declare bankruptcy – which they cannot currently do.

his own very red state is exceedingly poor (https://www.wkyufm.org/post/kentucky-second-most-dependent-state-federal-money#stream/0): “Kentucky is ranked the second most federally dependent state in the nation.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/mitch-mcconnell-to-states-drop-dead-gop-leader-says-no-blue-state-bailouts/

clambake

04-22-2020, 02:42 PM

What am I supposed to be outraged about?

Old cowboy would know

New cowboy can’t last 6 weeks without a handout, but he can pack on another 15lbs.

Did you fill out your loan app from a food line?

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 02:46 PM

Old cowboy would know

New cowboy can’t last 6 weeks without a handout, but he can pack on another 15lbs.

Did you fill out your loan app from a food line?

LOL seriously triggered.

clambake

04-22-2020, 02:49 PM

Cowboy seriously a cult member

Now, report to dale, get in line and finish his leftovers

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 02:53 PM

Who is Dale and why am I supposed to be mad?

You sound somewhat unhinged.

boutons_deux

04-22-2020, 03:43 PM

This is how a FAILED STATE under the Repugs MISGOVERNS

‘Pure Hell for Victims’ as Stimulus Programs Draw a Flood of Scammers

Trillions of dollars in stimulus funds have created a rush among criminals to take the money from those who need it the most.

she learned someone else had filed taxes on her husband’s behalf and used his identity to obtain their $3,400 payment.

“I cried all day,” said Ms. Phelps, who is about a month away from being unable to pay her mortgage and has cut out everything but the basics, canceling cable and eliminating snacks for the kids

these are good times for thieves and dangerous times for those who actually need the money.

“I’ve been in this space for over 30 years and I have not seen anything like this in my entire career,”

said Eva Velasquez, the chief executive of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit based in San Diego that helps victims.

“The scope, the scale, the speed and the efficiency of the scams is breathtaking.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/technology/stimulus-checks-hackers-coronavirus.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/technology/stimulus-checks-hackers-coronavirus.html)

baseline bum

04-22-2020, 03:56 PM

Splits

04-22-2020, 04:56 PM

Sure...to employees for maintaining their full salaries and benefits. My payroll overhead is right at 90K a month. You want to make it?

How much of that 90k is for health benefits (all included, SS, insurance, medicaid, etc)? It's probably 35-40%. Now imagine that wasn't your responsibility. Single payer will solve that.

spurraider21

04-22-2020, 05:04 PM

How much of that 90k is for health benefits (all included, SS, insurance, medicaid, etc)? It's probably 35-40%. Now imagine that wasn't your responsibility. Single payer will solve that.
to be fair, there would also be an increase in payroll tax to help fund it, so there would be some offset, not total savings

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 06:35 PM

How much of that 90k is for health benefits (all included, SS, insurance, medicaid, etc)? It's probably 35-40%. Now imagine that wasn't your responsibility. Single payer will solve that.

Health care is about $14,000 a month for health insurance. You cant really count matching SS and medicare, that is just a disguised tax. PPP didnt even let you count that as an employment cost.

Splits

04-22-2020, 06:44 PM

to be fair, there would also be an increase in payroll tax to help fund it, so there would be some offset, not total savings

nothing is free. But why should it be the responsibility of a small business owner to worry about providing healthcare to their employees? They aren't health care companies, they shouldn't have to worry about that shit, just pay the tax and that's it.

Splits

04-22-2020, 06:54 PM

Health care is about $14,000 a month for health insurance. You cant really count matching SS and medicare, that is just a disguised tax. PPP didnt even let you count that as an employment cost.

Yes you can and no it's not. Stupid.

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 07:28 PM

Yes you can and no it's not. Stupid.

Of course it's just a disguised tax. It goes straight into general revenue. The "lockbox" is a lie.They wouldn't even let you count it as a labor expense in the PPP guidelines.

CosmicCowboy

04-22-2020, 07:32 PM

It's how the bottom 50% pay tax and it's not even called a tax. They take out "social security" and "medicare" and the employer has to match it. The government just takes that money and spends it as soon as they get it.

boutons_deux

04-23-2020, 04:03 AM

how the oligarchy cheats to take care of its own

Banks Gave Richest Clients ‘Concierge Treatment’ for Pandemic Aid

Some businesses seeking coronavirus loans got to avoid flaky online portals or backed-up queues.

Many other small businesses couldn’t get their loan requests submitted before the money dried up.

That’s because some of the nation’s biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and U.S. Bank, prioritized the applications of their wealthiest clients before turning to other loan seekers, according to half a dozen bank employees and financial industry executives

Customers of Citi’s private bank, where the minimum account size is $25 million, didn’t have to use an online portal to apply for a loan;

they could simply submit paperwork to their banker, who would put in an application on their behalf.

At Chase, the nation’s largest bank, nearly all private and commercial banking clients who applied for a small-business loan got one, whereas only one out of every 15 retail banking customers who sought loans was successful.

By the time the Paycheck Protection Program ran out of money last week (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/business/coronavirus-sba-loans-out-of-money.html), many top clients of national and regional banks had already had their loans approved.

Other business owners were left empty-handed, and many had struggled from the start.

thousands of people never got to apply. Citi’s private banking clients didn’t have to apply online via the portal, according to a person with knowledge of Citi’s operations.

though they stood to make bigger fees from bigger loans.

At JPMorgan, nearly all of the 8,500 commercial and private banking clients who applied for a loan got one.

At the same time, only 18,000 of more than 300,000 small-business banking customers who applied through Chase’s retail bank, where they normally did business, got loans,

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/business/sba-loans-ppp-coronavirus.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/business/sba-loans-ppp-coronavirus.html)

Guess which tranche of bank customers are being told to get back to work?

Splits

04-23-2020, 04:49 AM

boutons_deux

04-24-2020, 06:17 AM

How $Bs will the banks suck out of the new $500B For The People?

How the ‘small business’ rescue program was a $10 billion giveaway to big banks

Banks that distributed government-backed small business relief loans made more than $10 billion in fees before the program ran out of money and left thousands of small firms without aid (https://www.salon.com/2020/04/19/small-businesses-despair-as-loan-money-is-exhausted/)

Banks served as middle-men for the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (https://www.salon.com/2020/04/02/with-stores-forced-to-shutter-petrified-small-business-owners-are-in-uncharted-territory/) and

took between 1% and 5% in fees for every loan they provided.

Banks took a 5% fee on loans worth under $350,000 and

a 1% fee on loans between $2 million and $10 million.

JPMorgan Chase, for example, took a $100,000 fee when it gave a $10 million loan to the parent company of Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Bank of America told NPR that the program had “significant vetting requirements” and banks were responsible for “collecting, personally examining and storing data” for each application it received. :lol

guidelines from the Treasury Department gave lenders “delegated authority to speedily process PPP loans.”

“Lenders are permitted to rely on borrower certifications and representations,”

4,400 companies (https://apnews.com/53954f808f0652463d58728ad64cd5b3) received loans of $5 million or more, even though the national average was around $206,000.

Shake Shack, received the maximum $10 million loan amount, even though they had more than $100 million in the bank.

suits allege that the banks “concealed from the public” that

they were “reshuffling the PPP applications it received and prioritizing the applications that would make the bank the most money.”

Chase, Citibank, and U.S. Bank, “prioritized the applications of their wealthiest clients before turning to other loan seekers.”

“nearly all private and commercial banking clients who applied for a small-business loan got one, whereas only one out of every 15 retail banking customers who sought loans was successful.”

“There is also evidence that a substantial amount of PPP loans have gone to large hotel and restaurant chains, rather than the struggling small and minority-owned businesses who may be forced to permanently close their doors without urgent assistance,”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/how-the-small-business-rescue-program-was-a-10-billion-giveaway-to-big-banks/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

boutons_deux

04-24-2020, 06:33 AM

W T F ?

When PPP lending resumes, it will happen with a rule change (http://click.bizjournals.com/CWA00307x8UU08Pg2q9hY0U) that’s raising red flags for small-business advocates.

That rule, announced by the U.S. Small Business Administration, would

enable bank shareholders and outside directors to apply for federal stimulus funds through the very same lender.

“It's a gigantic loophole that will cut off people who are deserving and not connected to the bank. It’s laughable,”

the nation's biggest banks prioritized applications from their wealthiest clients before processing other loans.

“Why would we think that they would not favor people who are on their board of directors?” Rheingold said.

“It’s just a terrible idea.”

-- National Observer newsletter

the oligarchy and the sub-oligarchy pillage, pilfer, wealth-suck from Americans, in of course Congressional-approved and -enabled LEGALITY

The rule should have been:

"bank shareholders and outside directors are blocked from PPP serviced by the bank"

they get in line at OTHER banks, just like the The People

Winehole23

04-25-2020, 01:44 PM

1254104595699322881

Winehole23

04-25-2020, 10:56 PM

Michael Hudson on the $6T bailout. It really is the 2008-9 bailout on steroids. Blackstone and the banks are fucking coordinating the government response and raking billions in related fees.

Why is it okay for the Fed to create $1.5 trillion to buy stocks to prevent rich people from losing on their stocks, when it’s not okay to print only $1 trillion to pay for free Medicare for the entire population? This is crazy!

The idea that only the rich should be allowed to print money for themselves, but the government should not be allowed to print money for any public purpose, any social purpose — not for medicine, not for schools, not for personal budgets, not for full employment — but only to give to the 1 percent.

People hesitate to think that. They think, ‘It can’t possibly be this bad.’ But for those of us who have worked on Wall Street, for 60 years in my case, that’s what the numbers show.
https://moderaterebels.com/transcript-us-coronavirus-bailout-michael-hudson/

Winehole23

04-26-2020, 12:35 AM

What a stroke of good luck for Austin's Phunware

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/phunware-data-collection-trump-campaign-coronavirus-small-business-loans/

Winehole23

04-26-2020, 12:44 AM

The bailout should focus more on people and less on businesses.

Losses in April alone could push the unemployment rate to 16%, according to James Knightley, chief international economist at ING. If another 10 million Americans file jobless claims in May, that would push the unemployment rate to 22%, he said.

"Thankfully this is below the 24.9% peak experienced in 1933, but we have to remember that one third of Americans aged 18-65 are not classified as employed or unemployed – they are students, early retirement, homemakers, carers or sick," Knightly wrote in a Thursday note.

"This leads us to yet another sobering statistic – that less than half of working age Americans will be earning a wage next month," he said.https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-coronavirus-less-than-half-american-workers-paycheck-wage-may-2020-4

Winehole23

04-26-2020, 12:49 AM

CBO forecasts carnage in Q2 but puts on rose colored spex for Q3 and Q4:

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/56335

Winehole23

04-26-2020, 01:00 AM

US mulls goosing energy stocks:

The U.S. government is considering taking equity stakes in U.S. energy companies as it seeks to help the nation’s oil and gas sector amid the coronavirus outbreak, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday.https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-usa/mnuchin-says-u-s-may-take-stakes-in-u-s-energy-companies-idUSKCN2262TY

DMC

04-26-2020, 03:07 AM

Jesus fucking Christ, do you just Google search for the most pessimistic stories available on the web then share them like it's revelation?

Winehole23

04-26-2020, 08:11 AM

Jesus fucking Christ, do you just Google search for the most pessimistic stories available on the web then share them like it's revelation?Post some good news related to the pandemic/depression/bailout if you don't like the trend. Are you allergic to information? :lol

boutons_deux

04-26-2020, 08:15 AM

The bailout should focus more on people and less on businesses.

https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-coronavirus-less-than-half-american-workers-paycheck-wage-may-2020-4 (https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-coronavirus-less-than-half-american-workers-paycheck-wage-may-2020-4)

71 percent of jobless Americans did not receive their March unemployment benefits

A new Pew study found only 29 percent of jobless Americans received benefits in March.

https://www.vox.com/covid-19-coronavirus-economy-recession-stock-market/2020/4/25/21236595/unemployment-benefits-71-percent-didnt-recieve-coronavirus-layoffs (https://www.vox.com/covid-19-coronavirus-economy-recession-stock-market/2020/4/25/21236595/unemployment-benefits-71-percent-didnt-recieve-coronavirus-layoffs)

Winehole23

04-26-2020, 08:26 AM

71 percent of jobless Americans did not receive their March unemployment benefits

A new Pew study found only 29 percent of jobless Americans received benefits in March.

https://www.vox.com/covid-19-coronavirus-economy-recession-stock-market/2020/4/25/21236595/unemployment-benefits-71-percent-didnt-recieve-coronavirus-layoffs (https://www.vox.com/covid-19-coronavirus-economy-recession-stock-market/2020/4/25/21236595/unemployment-benefits-71-percent-didnt-recieve-coronavirus-layoffs)That's why you shouldn't do it through an antequated, overloaded UI system. Instead send the money *directly* to people.

Winehole23

04-27-2020, 08:27 AM

The PPP is really coming through for Trump donors who own publicly traded companies.

https://popular.info/p/multi-millionaire-trump-donor-is

boutons_deux

04-27-2020, 09:08 AM

The PPP is really coming through for Trump donors who own publicly traded companies.

https://popular.info/p/multi-millionaire-trump-donor-is

... is why the WH sycophant lawyer is driving the $500B helicopter with no oversight.

baseline bum

04-27-2020, 11:08 AM

That's why you shouldn't do it through an antequated, overloaded UI system. Instead send the money *directly* to people.

Our states and federal governments are well oiled machines adept at getting their desired outcomes. Florida especially it seems. Things are working exactly as they were supposed to.

Winehole23

04-27-2020, 11:27 AM

Our states and federal governments are well oiled machines adept at getting their desired outcomes. Florida especially it seems. Things are working exactly as they were supposed to.Choking off benefits at the source, just as Rick Scott designed it to. Even (R)s in FL are calling it a shit show.

baseline bum

04-27-2020, 11:29 AM

Choking off benefits at the source, just as Rick Scott designed it to. Even (R)s in FL are calling it a shit show.

They'll still vote for Trump and the GOP because of scary blacks and Mexicans, gays, and the war on jeebus.

boutons_deux

04-27-2020, 11:38 AM

Choking off benefits at the source, just as Rick Scott designed it to. Even (R)s in FL are calling it a shit show.

Scott saying badly run states should not get help from FL.

Next time (or times) FL gets wiped by hurricane(s), the states now know FL can eat shit of hurricane debris.

Winehole23

04-27-2020, 01:55 PM

Lol

1254842428156149763

Winehole23

04-28-2020, 09:42 AM

Free enterprise proponents: No need for state regulations, the tort system keeps businesses honest.

Also free enterprise proponents: businesses must be shielded from economy killing lawsuits!

In an interview on Monday, the Senate majority leader said it’s “highly likely” the next coronavirus response bill will aid local governments whose budgets have been decimated by lockdowns and now face spiraling deficits. But to unlock that money, McConnell said he will "insist" Congress limit the liabilities of health care workers, business owners and employees from lawsuits as they reopen in the coming weeks and months.https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/04/27/mcconnell-aid-states-coronavirus-212424

LkrFan

04-28-2020, 10:22 AM

https://twitter.com/laureniscooking/status/1255153993451331584?s=19

TimDunkem

04-28-2020, 10:24 AM

https://twitter.com/laureniscooking/status/1255153993451331584?s=19

They'll pass trillions for big businesses and banks in the blink of an eye, but Americans have to fight tooth and nail for a grand. This country is so fucked up.

LkrFan

04-28-2020, 10:27 AM

They'll pass trillions for big businesses and banks in the blink of an eye, but Americans have to fight tooth and nail for a grand. This country is so fucked up.

Word. And I bet most his base are severely affected but they won't betray Dear leader. SMH at these cultists.

baseline bum

04-28-2020, 11:19 AM

They'll pass trillions for big businesses and banks in the blink of an eye, but Americans have to fight tooth and nail for a grand. This country is so fucked up.

$3.2 trillion in 2017 for corporations to go do stock buybacks but a couple hundred billion for the actual people of this country to try to live on during a pandemic is not really a priority.

Winehole23

04-28-2020, 11:32 AM

$3.2 trillion in 2017 for corporations to go do stock buybacks but a couple hundred billion for the actual people of this country to try to live on during a pandemic is not really a priority.Nope, not really.

HST summed up America succinctly: "Some people get rich, others eat shit and die."

boutons_deux

04-28-2020, 07:34 PM

GOP senators beg Trump to stop obstructing oversight of coronavirus stimulus

some Senate Republicans are urging President Donald Trump to stop his attacks on the inspector general oversight of the coronavirus stimulus program.

GOP senators are sounding subtle but unmistakable alarms about Trump’s efforts to brush back lawmakers’ oversight of the government’s behemoth, $3 trillion response to the coronavirus pandemic,”

“And their warnings have grown more urgent as Trump mounts a concerted campaign against inspectors general, one of the last functional checks on his administration’s performance.”

“The public disapprovals come as Trump faces criticism over his abrupt removal of the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, and

his refusal to provide Congress with an adequate explanation, as required by law,” continued the report.

“And without responses from the White House,

GOP senators have stepped up their public rebukes of the president

as they try to convince him that independent government watchdogs are his friend, not his enemy.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/gop-senators-beg-trump-to-stop-obstructing-oversight-of-coronavirus-stimulus/

No doubt Barr is pushing Trash to be a "unitary executive" rejecting any and all oversight

boutons_deux

04-29-2020, 06:56 AM

More Repug MISgovernance

Treasury Vows to Recoup Virus Relief Aid Claimed by Big Companies

The Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said the administration would audit any company that received more than $2 million.

the Treasury Department is frantically trying to figure out how to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars from big companies that applied for loans and received them under the program’s initial terms. :lol

Threatening to hold big companies criminally liable :lol fat chance!

if they did not meet the program’s revised criteria for accepting loans, he said the administration would audit any company that received more than $2 million.

$2 trillion economic relief package, intending it as a lifeline for small shops so they could keep paying workers even if they had no customers.

The money, which ultimately grew to $660 billion,

came with strings attached,

requiring businesses to keep their workers on the payroll for eight weeks if they wanted the loans forgiven,

but the eligibility requirements were vague. :lol

Mr. Mnuchin put banks in charge, :lol

relying on them — rather than the government — to make the actual loans.

To facilitate the program, the Treasury Department issued guidance that

required businesses to merely certify, or promise, that they faced “economic uncertainty” and that the loans were “necessary” to support current operations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/us/politics/coronavirus-treasury-payment-protection-program.html?campaign_id=168&emc=edit_NN_p_20200429&instance_id=18058&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=80821797&section=topNews&segment_id=26195&te=1&user_id=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031 (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/us/politics/coronavirus-treasury-payment-protection-program.html?campaign_id=168&emc=edit_NN_p_20200429&instance_id=18058&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=80821797&section=topNews&segment_id=26195&te=1&user_id=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031)

==============

"Mr. Mnuchin put banks in charge"

Small Business Rescue Earned Banks $10 Billion In Fees :lol

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/840678984/small-business-rescue-earned-banks-10-billion-in-fees

boutons_deux

04-29-2020, 07:01 AM

As others cave, several public companies that took small business loans are not giving back the cash

CNBC reached out to the 41 biggest publicly traded companies that had received Paycheck Protection Program loans to see if they would be returning the funds.
Six said they had no plans to return the funds, five said they will (or had) returned the money, while 30 either did not respond or said their decision was pending.
“All I see is a knee-jerk reaction to Shake Shack,” one CEO keeping the cash said. “To return [the PPP funds] would be breaching fiduciary duty.” :lol
The government warned public companies on Thursday to return the relief loans in two weeks if they wanted to avoid scrutiny about whether it was necessary for them to take the capital.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/24/public-companies-split-on-whether-to-return-small-business-loans.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/24/public-companies-split-on-whether-to-return-small-business-loans.html)

Will Mnuchin name and shame the non-small corps that took SBA loans?

Repugs fuckup, MISmanage, MISgovern over and over and over.

What experience did Mnuchin or his toadies have that qualified them to operate the Treasury?

CosmicCowboy

04-29-2020, 02:41 PM

Anyone hear if Taco Cabana returned the money? They have been killing it in the drive through since the shut down. Hell, their business probably went up.

DMC

04-29-2020, 02:44 PM

Anyone hear if Taco Cabana returned the money? They have been killing it in the drive through since the shut down. Hell, their business probably went up.

Probably suffered on beer sales (assuming they still sell beer)

CosmicCowboy

04-29-2020, 02:49 PM

Probably suffered on beer sales (assuming they still sell beer)

Restaurants can sell alcohol in the drive through.

Winehole23

04-30-2020, 05:39 AM

They'll pass trillions for big businesses and banks in the blink of an eye, but Americans have to fight tooth and nail for a grand. This country is so fucked up.The truth of the class war is that there has been a consistent redistribution of income to the top of the scale for 40-50 years. The middle and lower classes lost the class war. The pattern of the last two bailouts underscores the degree to which our government serves and preserves the financial masters of the universe at the expense of the people, who dangle bootlessly then have austerity forced upon them to bring the books back into balance.

Winehole23

04-30-2020, 05:42 AM

Probably suffered on beer sales (assuming they still sell beer)You're right but you are so out of touch. To go alcohol sales at restauarants in Texas have been allowed since shelter in place was announced.

CosmicCowboy

04-30-2020, 05:48 AM

Taco Cabana just folded and agreed to give the 15 million back after they heard about the audit and potential criminal charges.

boutons_deux

04-30-2020, 05:54 AM

The middle and lower classes lost the class war.

and there's no peaceful, non-violent path for the non-oligarchy to respond, because voting is a fucking con game, a charade because the oligarchy has corrupted and rigged the entire political systems, politicians, judges.

Non-oligarchy Americans are fucked and unfuckable, while the oligarchy amasses greater wealth and power to fuck them harder and deeper.

Predatory Capitalists are now on the prowl for "distressed" real estate, including foreclosed homes, to gobble up cheaply. This will push Ms of Americans into renting, increasing the cash flow to the oligarchy, and leaving the renters with no equity.

TimDunkem

04-30-2020, 05:58 AM

You're right but you are so out of touch. To go alcohol sales at restauarants in Texas have been allowed since shelter in place was announced.

Always knew DMC was out of touch, but damn. :lol

TimDunkem

04-30-2020, 05:59 AM

and there's no peaceful, non-violent for the non-oligarchy to respond, because voting is a fucking con game, a charade because the oligarchy has corrupted and rigged the entire political systems, politicians, judges.

Non-oligarchy Americans are fucked and unfuckable, while the oligarchy amasses greater wealth and power to fuck them harder and deeper.

Predatory Capitalists are now on the prowl for "distressed" real estate, including foreclosed homes, to gobble up cheaply. This will push Ms of Americans into renting, increasing the cash flow to the oligarchy, and leaving the renters with no equity.

Something tells me rent won't be coming down either.

boutons_deux

04-30-2020, 06:16 AM

Something tells me rent won't be coming down either.

Capitalists' strategy is to be, and in many case are already, the toll collectors on everything we need to live, money, food, water, housing, health care, while denying Labor incomes, to keep Labor in a state of eternal financial precarity, on the edge of financial disaster.

Capitalists intend to own everything and deny us ownership of anything.

rentier society

and there's nothing peaceful we can do to stop them.

Splits

04-30-2020, 07:00 AM

They'll pass trillions for big businesses and banks in the blink of an eye, but Americans have to fight tooth and nail for a grand. This country is so fucked up.

The real story is the Fed buying every junk bond they can find to keep the Dow afloat

boutons_deux

04-30-2020, 08:10 AM

The real story is the Fed buying every junk bond they can find to keep the Dow afloat

afloat? how about inflated?

Fed has been in the overnight REPO liquidity game since last September

America runs on extreme debt, personal and corporate, aka "leveraging", and was already heading for a crash before The Trump Pandemic

personal debt slavery, paying 20% APR interest to Capitalists, has replaced forced slavery

Winehole23

04-30-2020, 08:47 AM

The real story is the Fed buying every junk bond they can find to keep the Dow afloatThe exuberance in the stock market does not reflect depression levels of unemployment and contraction.

Where's my million dollar non-recourse loan?

1206659195212353537

Winehole23

04-30-2020, 09:12 AM

Blast from the past

1096086482287177733

boutons_deux

04-30-2020, 09:29 AM

American Homes 4 Rent

American Homes 4 Rent is a real estate investment trust (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate_investment_trust) based in Agoura Hills, California (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoura_Hills,_California) that invests in single-family rental homes.

As of December 31, 2019, the company owned 52,552 homes in 22 states.

Its largest concentrations are in

Atlanta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta) (9.3% of total homes),

Dallas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas)-Fort Worth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Worth) (8.4% of total homes), and

Charlotte, North Carolina (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte,_North_Carolina) (7.2% of total homes).[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Homes_4_Rent#cite_note-10K-1)History[edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Homes_4_Rent&action=edit&section=1)]

The company was established in October 2012 by B. Wayne Hughes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._Wayne_Hughes), the founder of Public Storage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Storage).[2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Homes_4_Rent#cite_note-perlberg-2)

It was one of the first large public companies to begin investing heavily in single-family homes,

following the entry of The Blackstone Group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blackstone_Group) into the field in 2012.[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Homes_4_Rent#cite_note-3)

Early funding for the company included a $600 million investment from the Alaska Permanent Fund (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund).[2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Homes_4_Rent#cite_note-perlberg-2)

In August 2013, the company became a public company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_company) via an initial public offering (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_public_offering).[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Homes_4_Rent#cite_note-10K-1)

In March 2016, the company merged with American Residential Properties, Inc.[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Homes_4_Rent#cite_note-4)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Homes_4_Rent

"real estate investment trust (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate_investment_trust)" ?

sounds like the type of group that got $100Bs in tax break (on simply "paper losses") in the first Trump Pandemic stimulus

So Hughes and Blackstone simply claim

the houses they own have lost value in the Trump Pandemic to escape $100Ms in taxes

And since the Repugs have defunded and destaffed the IRS,

the IRS doesn't have the resources to go after complicated accounts.

Spurminator

04-30-2020, 09:50 AM

Taco Cabana just folded and agreed to give the 15 million back after they heard about the audit and potential criminal charges.

Hard to believe Taco Cabana even has $15 million worth of payroll right now.

Spurminator

04-30-2020, 09:53 AM

Probably suffered on beer sales (assuming they still sell beer)

Restaurants can sell alcohol in the drive through.

You're right but you are so out of touch. To go alcohol sales at restauarants in Texas have been allowed since shelter in place was announced.

It may vary from location to location but pretty sure Taco Cabana wasn't making a whole lot on alcohol sales even before the lockdowns, and most businesses aren't seeing beer-to-go make up more than a fraction of their on-premise sales.

DMC

04-30-2020, 12:06 PM

You're right but you are so out of touch. To go alcohol sales at restauarants in Texas have been allowed since shelter in place was announced.

There's a big difference between ordering a beer to go and going somewhere and having beers.

I am well aware of the situation.

Oh I think I'll bypass the convenience stores, grocery marts and such and give 3x the price of a beer for one to go at Taco Cabana.
A) you chose Taco Cabana - you weren't on a spending spree
B) you're not going to be having beer for lunch, if you're working, most likely
C) If you're going home and don't have beer already, you probably won't be ordering one from Taco Cabana.

spurraider21

04-30-2020, 12:24 PM

who would drive to a restaurant/bar and order beer to go?

TimDunkem

04-30-2020, 12:26 PM

who would drive to a restaurant/bar and order beer to go?

The same people who have the disposable income to go to these places and spend 200 bucks on dinner/drinks for 3 in the first place?

baseline bum

04-30-2020, 12:40 PM

Blast from the past

Fuck Obama, what a sellout house ###### running on being another FDR but governing as another Reagan. I still can't believe that piece of shit took a sip of Flint water for the camera to pretend it was safe and provide cover for corrupt Gov Snyder who should have gone to jail for poisoning a bunch of people. But they're poor blacks so who the fuck cares?

:pctoss

boutons_deux

04-30-2020, 03:39 PM

sadistic psychotic Trump administration refuses to release the money for grieving families

who need help paying for COVID-19 burials

Trump has yet to free up a pool of disaster relief funding specifically intended to help families cover burial costs.

Approximately 30 states and territories have requested the funding as the pandemic spreads across the country and struggling families ask for help burying their dead.

The funding is part of the wide array of “individual assistance” programs handled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help disaster victims.

But Trump has sharply limited what kinds of assistance FEMA can provide,

and the agency has told states their requests are “under review” or only agreed to pay for counseling services for their residents.

Often in disasters, the federal government steps in to reimburse families for funeral expenses.

FEMA offered funeral assistance after Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.

, FEMA stated that the decision on which programs to fund is in Trump’s hands.

“The approval of programs in response to a disaster declaration request is made at the discretion of the President,”

Trump issued a memorandum (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/memorandum-authorizing-crisis-counseling-assistance-training-program-major-disaster-declarations-related-coronavirus-disease-2019/) authorizing crisis counseling assistance through FEMA, but noted that the order “shall not be construed to encompass any authority to approve other forms of assistance.” That language

effectively bars FEMA from granting states other forms of aid.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/trump-administration-refuses-to-release-the-money-for-grieving-families-who-need-help-paying-for-covid-19-burials/

"I'll give you money for the funeral, but first we'd like you to do us a favor and vote straight Repug ticket"

boutons_deux

04-30-2020, 06:32 PM

https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18194022_1474674145928417_3921447166904846670_n.jp g?_nc_cat=101&_nc_sid=2d5d41&_nc_ohc=ks4OPzdH6O0AX94PJOp&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=8eea751ef2ae895e16ce041b38f57ee8&oe=5ECFAE17

Th'Pusher

04-30-2020, 06:44 PM

who would drive to a restaurant/bar and order beer to go?

I ordered some margaritas from El Jarro and Aldaco’s with my takeout recently. Not bad tbh.

spurraider21

04-30-2020, 06:49 PM

I ordered some margaritas from El Jarro and Aldaco’s with my takeout recently. Not bad tbh.
sure, but i dont think you can just brush off the loss of business by saying "well they can still sell stuff to go." you think the volume of alcohol sales to go comes anywhere near people wanting to sit down and have a drink at the establishment?

CosmicCowboy

04-30-2020, 06:50 PM

The drive through margarita place near me at the lake usually has 6 or 7 cars and trucks in line.

CosmicCowboy

04-30-2020, 06:54 PM

sure, but i dont think you can just brush off the loss of business by saying "well they can still sell stuff to go." you think the volume of alcohol sales to go comes anywhere near people wanting to sit down and have a drink at the establishment?

I dont think anyone is brushing off the future complexity of staying in business as a restaurant. The new model may be offering seating at 25 or 50 percent capacity, internal phone bank service with family meal pickup, and family meal delivery with employees to avoid the 30% burn from the standard delivery apps.

CosmicCowboy

04-30-2020, 06:57 PM

Th'Pusher

04-30-2020, 06:58 PM

sure, but i dont think you can just brush off the loss of business by saying "well they can still sell stuff to go." you think the volume of alcohol sales to go comes anywhere near people wanting to sit down and have a drink at the establishment?

No you’re right. It was a bit of a novelty purchase and I damn sure wouldn’t buy a beer :lol

CosmicCowboy

04-30-2020, 07:01 PM

Then again, on the Taco Cabana example, what kind of derelict goes there to toss down beers?

baseline bum

04-30-2020, 07:12 PM

Chris Madrids has their shit together on it. Pick drive up ot delivery, register your card once, go online, order, pay and it's ready in 9 or 10 minutes. I do pickup...pull up to a numbered space, text where you are and bam...the door opens and they walk out and hand it to you through the window.

Do they have their full menu back, complete with the fries they used to have before they burned down? That sounds fucking good, I haven't eaten there since before the fire.

DMC

04-30-2020, 07:46 PM

The same people who have the disposable income to go to these places and spend 200 bucks on dinner/drinks for 3 in the first place?

That's not Taco Cabana

Winehole23

05-01-2020, 01:22 PM

Solicitude for esssential worker heroes went poof -- I guess they're not really heroes if they don't die to save bottom line profits.

1256234027369091074

baseline bum

05-01-2020, 01:27 PM

Solicitude for esssential worker heroes went poof -- I guess they're not really heroes if they don't die to save bottom line profits.

1256234027369091074

Grim Reaper doing Grim Reaper things

CosmicCowboy

05-01-2020, 01:28 PM

Do they have their full menu back, complete with the fries they used to have before they burned down? That sounds fucking good, I haven't eaten there since before the fire.

Full menu. Just as good, too.

baseline bum

05-01-2020, 01:35 PM

Full menu. Just as good, too.

Nice, was kind of worried after they were sold. Especially with how well Chris' wife seemed to be running the place after he died. RIP Chris, he was always a really nice guy who you could tell loved his work and he was always really friendly anytime I talked to him. I gotta go there sometime soon. Always just freaking pig out there with a macho cheddar cheesy, and then split cheddar covered fries and macho nachos with friends.

CosmicCowboy

05-01-2020, 02:50 PM

Nice, was kind of worried after they were sold. Especially with how well Chris' wife seemed to be running the place after he died. RIP Chris, he was always a really nice guy who you could tell loved his work and he was always really friendly anytime I talked to him. I gotta go there sometime soon. Always just freaking pig out there with a macho cheddar cheesy, and then split cheddar covered fries and macho nachos with friends.

The remodel was great. Outdoor patio is redone and expanded and the bomb now. Plus they bring the food to you...don't have to screw with packing the big tray through the crowd.

boutons_deux

05-01-2020, 03:02 PM

Public companies received $1 billion in stimulus funds meant for small businesses

Nearly 300 public companies have reported receiving loans. Some have returned them.

Recipients include 43 companies with more than 500 workers, the maximum typically allowed by the program.

Several other recipients were prosperous enough to pay executives $2 million or more.

As of Thursday, public companies had reported returning more than $125 million, according to a Post analysis of filings.

Other companies have said they plan to keep (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/28/small-business-wont-repay-ppp/?tid=lk_inline_manual_7&itid=lk_inline_manual_7) the funds,

saying the loans had been awarded according to the program’s rules :lol

and that they would use most of it to pay workers, :lol

as required, in order for the loans to be forgiven.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/01/sba-ppp-public-companies/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/01/sba-ppp-public-companies/)

baseline bum

05-01-2020, 03:17 PM

The remodel was great. Outdoor patio is redone and expanded and the bomb now. Plus they bring the food to you...don't have to screw with packing the big tray through the crowd.

I'm cheap, I like not having to tip though when I have two working legs. :lol

Though I'll be getting to-go anyways until either the virus dies off for a while like H1N1 did last huge pandemic or we have a working vaccine that I have taken. Too many friends and family that are pretty high risk.

CosmicCowboy

05-01-2020, 03:21 PM

I'm cheap, I like not having to tip though when I have two working legs. :lol

Though I'll be getting to-go anyways until either the virus dies off for a while like H1N1 did last huge pandemic or we have a working vaccine that I have taken. Too many friends and family that are pretty high risk.

Here is your order online link

https://www.chrismadrids.com/

Blake

05-01-2020, 03:28 PM

Predatory Capitalists are now on the prowl for "distressed" real estate, including foreclosed homes, to gobble up cheaply. This will push Ms of Americans into renting, increasing the cash flow to the oligarchy, and leaving the renters with no equity.

Modern day carpet baggers.

I think it was a slow trend already happening in SA. This might just push it faster.

baseline bum

05-01-2020, 03:28 PM

Here is your order online link

https://www.chrismadrids.com/

I'll probably have to check them next week, fucking macho cheddar cheezy and macho nachos sound awesome. :tu

Blake

05-01-2020, 03:35 PM

The drive through margarita place near me at the lake usually has 6 or 7 cars and trucks in line.

I don't know anyone that ever went to TC for beer but every now and then a fast cheap margarita and chips after a long day at the river wasn't so bad

1246898297912135680

Blake

05-01-2020, 03:41 PM

sure, but i dont think you can just brush off the loss of business by saying "well they can still sell stuff to go." you think the volume of alcohol sales to go comes anywhere near people wanting to sit down and have a drink at the establishment?

Yeah I've gotten takeout recently from Longhorn steakhouse but there's no fucking way I'm buying their expensive drinks to go.

I don't see the casual or fine dining restaurants lasting this way too much longer

Splits

05-01-2020, 03:48 PM

I don't know anyone that ever went to TC for beer but every now and then a fast cheap margarita and chips after a long day at the river wasn't so bad

1246898297912135680

I haven't been to SA in years, but when did TCs start using liquor in their drinks? iirc their "margaritas" were made with wine

DMC

05-01-2020, 03:53 PM

I remember back in the day going to the Tacasita on SW Military (cannot recall if it was that or the Taco Cabana). I haven't been to one in a long time obviously.

Blake

05-01-2020, 04:01 PM

I haven't been to SA in years, but when did TCs start using liquor in their drinks? iirc their "margaritas" were made with wine

Dunno. I never went often enough, never asked. Probably after the corporate buyout

Winehole23

05-01-2020, 05:53 PM

Yves Smith with the helicopter money update at Naked Capitalism.

If the Fed really is winding down QE4 right now, maybe it actually learned something from the 2008-9 financial debacle.

Total assets on the Fed’s balance sheet rose by only $83 billion during the week ending April 29, to $6.656 trillion. That $83 billion was the smallest weekly increase since this show started on March 15, and down by 86% from peak-bailout in the week ended March 25...

...The Fed is thereby following its playbook laid out over the past two years in various Fed-head talks that it would front-load the bailout-QE during the next crisis, and that, after the initial blast, it would then cut back these asset purchases when no longer needed, rather than let them drag out for years.https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/05/fed-drastically-slashed-helicopter-money-for-wall-street-qe-down-86-from-peak-week-in-march.html

Winehole23

05-01-2020, 06:05 PM

I haven't been to SA in years, but when did TCs start using liquor in their drinks? iirc their "margaritas" were made with wineI think the airplane bottles on the side are a fairly new wrinkle. It looks like TABC will allow everybody to sell booze to go, we'll see.

Blake

05-02-2020, 04:55 AM

What a mess.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's $660 billion small business rescue program has stumbled on missing paperwork, technology failure, and the misdirection of funds to big corporations. Now, it is lurching toward another hurdle: forgiving those hastily arranged loans.

The second round of the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program launched on Monday, allowing lenders to issue forgivable, government-guaranteed loans to small businesses shuttered by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Smoothing the forgiveness process is critical for the program to succeed, but a lack of government guidance on the related calculations and necessary documentation could land borrowers and banks alike with billions in unexpected debts..........

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-stimulus/for-small-business-loan-program-forgiveness-may-be-the-hardest-part-idUSKBN22D598

Basically they still don't have the forgiveness rules down just yet.

Trainwreck2100

05-02-2020, 05:55 AM

I think the airplane bottles on the side are a fairly new wrinkle. It looks like TABC will allow everybody to sell booze to go, we'll see.

they had liquor margaritas before the shutdown

Winehole23

05-02-2020, 12:24 PM

they had liquor margaritas before the shutdownat the to go window?

boutons_deux

05-02-2020, 01:37 PM

Survey Shows Pandemic’s Severe Impact On U.S. Small Businesses

Small-business owners across the United States were struggling with pandemic-related disruptions and

had already laid off large numbers of employees by the time Congress passed its initial relief package

businesses owners have become increasingly pessimistic about their company’s prospects despite federal relief efforts.

It also provides evidence that owners of the smallest businesses — those with fewer than 10 employees —

are often unaware that state and federal aid programs exist.

Even when owners are familiar with government programs,

their misconceptions may have discouraged them from participating.

More than 60% of respondents reported laying off at least one employee due to the pandemic, and

31% stated that they expected to have layoffs within the next 60 days.

A quarter of respondents don’t expect to ever recover, and

31% reported believing that they have a 50% chance of going bankrupt or out of business within the next six months.

https://scienceblog.com/516042/researchers-at-princeton-have-discovered-superconducting-currents-traveling-along-the-outer-edges-of-a-superconductor-with-topological-properties-suggesting-a-route-to-topological-superconductivity-t/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+scienceblogrssfeed+%28Science Blog.com%29

Thanks to the Trash-made Trump Pandemic

boutons_deux

05-03-2020, 06:33 AM

Some Small Businesses That Got Aid Fear the Rules Too Much to Spend It

Requirements for using federal coronavirus loans are complicated and confusing for owners.

“It’s chaos,” one lawyer said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/business/economy/loans-coronavirus-small-business.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200503&instance_id=18186&nl=the-morning&regi_id=80821797&segment_id=26501&te=1&user_id=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031 (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/business/economy/loans-coronavirus-small-business.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200503&instance_id=18186&nl=the-morning&regi_id=80821797&segment_id=26501&te=1&user_id=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031)

boutons_deux

05-03-2020, 09:14 PM

GOP’s Coronavirus Stimulus Priority: Make Workers Poorer, Less Safe

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration and congressional GOP have made preserving the (im)balance of power between capital and labor one of their top priorities.

1. Republicans’ top priority for the next coronavirus relief bill is to immunize employers who violate workplace safety standards from the threat of lawsuits.

2. To ensure that recently laid-off workers have no choice but to accept jobs in hazardous workplaces, Republicans are vowing to slash federal unemployment benefits.

3. Republicans have refused to endorse Democrats’ proposals to provide hazard pay to frontline workers (let alone to put upward pressure on wages for all workers by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour).

4. McConnell hopes to starve blue states of aid until they are forced to cut the pensions of public workers.

5. Labor secretary Eugene Scalia is trying to deny unemployment benefits to as many Uber drivers as possible.

6. Trump’s Labor Department is also refusing to enforce CDC guidelines for workplace safety.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/coronavirus-stimulus-republicans-workers-unemployment-benefits-liability.html

Blake

05-04-2020, 03:13 PM

Here's How The Small Business Loan Program Went Wrong In Just 4 Weeks

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/04/848389343/how-did-the-small-business-loan-program-have-so-many-problems-in-just-4-weeks

Trill Clinton

05-04-2020, 04:31 PM

1257388266845810689

boutons_deux

05-05-2020, 08:58 AM

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wants Congress to extend coronavirus funds to chambers of commerce

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2020/05/01/texas-sen-ted-cruz-wants-congress-to-extend-coronavirus-funds-to-chambers-of-commerce/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Poll+finds+concern+about+opening+up+st ate%2C+Trump+and+Biden+in+a+dead+heat+in+Texas%2C+ congressman+s+car+dealership+gets+federal+relief+l oan&utm_campaign=politics_05052020

boutons_deux

05-06-2020, 07:31 AM

"The SBA last night did extend by one week (http://click.bizjournals.com/O0R0AUqY02898UxJ0U0PzgW), until May 14,

its "safe harbor" deadline for some companies to return PPP money without question.

As for those companies that want to keep the money?

“It’s not acceptable to rely on your initial application and what you knew at the time because they have revised the guidance,”

said Aaron Cutler, a partner in the government relations and public affairs practice of Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C.

“They changed it. You have to go back and do another analysis and decide if you can keep the funds or not,”

Cutler told The Business Journals.

-- National Observer email

Will SBA name-and-shame those unqualified companies who don't return the $Ms?

It was Trash's SBA that fucked up and sent the money to unqualified companies

Millions of truly small businesses are dead or dying, and won't be back, leaving American business culture degraded and impoverished.

boutons_deux

05-06-2020, 11:30 AM

Trash taking the side of Capital and oligarchy against Labor

In a recent Fox News town hall, Trump said,

“We’re not doing anything without a payroll tax cut.”

The oligarchy's eternal war to kill Social Security so people will have

to move the retirement to fee-and-wealth sucking BigFinance,

as part of the oligarchy's undoing all of FDR's For The People laws,

iow, to totally privatize ALL retirement savings.

"anything" is any more "counter-cyclical" govt spending to offset the The Trump Pandemic recession

boutons_deux

05-07-2020, 05:47 AM

Crushing the States, Saving the Banks:

The Fed’s Generous New Rules

The new terms could be harnessed for local governments to own and operate their own banks.

Congress seems to be at war with the states.

Only $150 billion of its nearly $3 trillion coronavirus relief package – a mere 5% – has been allocated to the 50 states;

and they are not allowed to use it where they need it most, to plug the holes in their budgets caused by the mandatory shutdown.

Banks can now borrow effectively for free, without restrictions on the money’s use.

Following the playbook of the 2008-09 bailout, they can make the funds available to their Wall Street cronies to buy up distressed Main Street assets at fire sale prices,

while continuing to lend to credit cardholders at 21%.

The Fed has opened a Municipal Liquidity Facility that may buy their municipal bonds,

but this is still short-term debt, which must be repaid when due.

Selling bonds will not fend off bankruptcy for states and cities that must balance their books.

States are not legally allowed to declare bankruptcy, but Sen.

McConnell contended (https://www.leoweekly.com/2020/04/mcconnell-kentucky-drop-dead-cruise-ship-lines-may-get-bailouts-wont/) that “there’s no good reason for it not to be available.”

He said,

“we’ll certainly insist that anything we borrow to send down to the states is not spent on solving problems that they created for themselves over the years with their pension programs.”

And that is evidently the real motive behind the bankruptcy push.

McConnell wants states put through a bankruptcy reorganization

to get rid of all those pesky pension agreements and the unions that negotiated them.

But these are the safety nets against old age for which teachers, nurses, police and firefighters have worked for 30 or 40 years. It’s their money.

It has long been a goal of conservatives to privatize public pensions, forcing seniors into the riskier stock market.

Today political opportunists are using a crushing emergency that is devastating local economies

to downsize the public sector and privatize everything.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/05/03/crushing-states-saving-banks-feds-generous-new-rules

boutons_deux

05-07-2020, 05:44 PM

SBA slashes disaster-loan limit from $2 million to $150,000, shuts out nearly all new applicants

Congress gave the disaster loan program more than $50 billion in new funding in recent relief bills

to offer quick-turnaround loans to businesses slammed by the coronavirus (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/28/what-you-need-know-about-coronavirus/?tid=lk_inline_manual_4&itid=lk_inline_manual_4) pandemic.

But by many accounts, it is failing spectacularly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/07/sba-disaster-loans/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9. eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YS IsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNm ZGFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWViNDc0N2VmZTFmZjY1NGMyZDVkYzAxIi widXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29t L2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDUvMDcvc2JhLWRpc2FzdGVyLWxvYW 5zLz91dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d3BfdG9feW91cl9oZWFsdGgmdXRt X21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImd3 Bpc3JjPW5sX3R5aCZ3cG1rPTEifQ.y2YWMM4ztHzzHbMEBJ3Eb hojSCwM64LSPMVaoRNeVUs&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1

So broke companies, cash-short are supposed to just open up and not need any SBA support, so more tax cuts for oligarchy.

Ms of SMBs will fold, leaving the economy even more concentrated under the non-competitive thumb of BigCorp

Blake

05-07-2020, 05:53 PM

^ even being approved for a loan might not be worth accepting it with all the stipulations

boutons_deux

05-07-2020, 06:02 PM

^ even being approved for a loan might not be worth accepting it with all the stipulations

yep, BUNGLED badly by Trash

search "ppp risk confusion"

boutons_deux

05-07-2020, 06:05 PM

The White House signals a pause on coronavirus aid, even as the economic situation becomes more urgent

Taking a timeout on economic relief is a risk the country can’t afford.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/5/3/21245815/larry-kudlow-cnn-jake-tapper-state-of-the-union-coronavirus-stimulus (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/5/3/21245815/larry-kudlow-cnn-jake-tapper-state-of-the-union-coronavirus-stimulus)

boutons_deux

05-07-2020, 08:05 PM

‘It’s devastating’ —

Jobs number will be bad,

but the reality is actually much worse,

warns the Fed’s Neel Kashkari
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-devastating-the-jobs-number-will-be-bad-but-the-reality-is-actually-much-worse-warns-the-feds-neel-kashkari-2020-05-07 (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-devastating-the-jobs-number-will-be-bad-but-the-reality-is-actually-much-worse-warns-the-feds-neel-kashkari-2020-05-07)

boutons_deux

05-07-2020, 08:08 PM

Small Businesses Counting on Loan Forgiveness Could Be Stuck With Debt

Business owners who took out loans under the Paycheck Protection Program thought converting them to grants would be easy. It’s not.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/business/small-businesses-loans-ppp-coronavirus.html

boutons_deux

05-07-2020, 09:20 PM

Community Clinics Are Suddenly on Life Support

How a safety net became “a house of cards” under the economics of a pandemic.

The bottom line? “We’re losing about $26,000 a day,” the doctor said.

Community clinics are under siege in America,

an unforeseen and ironic development arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Battered by reduced federal reimbursements as patients shy away from in-person visits,

often ill-equipped to quickly pivot to the telemedicine systems that have propped up the health-care giants for years,

clinics are furloughing some employees, laying off others and – far too often – closing locations altogether.

What lies in the balance is the primary health coverage of some 29 million Americans (http://www.nachc.org/demand-for-community-health-centers-reaches-all-time-high/), most of them poor or lower-income earners who rely on the clinics for treatment and medicine.

With millions more finding themselves suddenly out of work and off company insurance plans,

the numbers of potential clinic patients could swell at precisely the time the system is undergoing a painful contraction.

https://capitalandmain.com/community-clinics-are-on-life-support-0504 (https://capitalandmain.com/community-clinics-are-on-life-support-0504)

Blake

05-07-2020, 09:31 PM

boutons_deux

05-09-2020, 08:09 AM

https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/95917354_128470668815942_4494900381565845504_n.png ?_nc_cat=1&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_ohc=qX0zzUA_NlkAX9mXsOD&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-2.xx&oh=97c4e4215e1a33b57454b0d87183c416&oe=5EDC38F8

boutons_deux

05-09-2020, 08:24 AM

Trash's TV economist says "go slow"

Trump will not sign another stimulus bill unless it contains payroll tax cuts (dictated by vampire squid BigFinance that wants it hands on a privatized SS's $Ts)

And of course Pootin's Bitch Mitch will fuck it up yet again, $100Bs to the wealthy, BigCorp, etc.

... all totally immune to the 25% unemployed, and 100Ks of small businesses failing, bankrupting

boutons_deux

05-09-2020, 10:29 AM

Republicans threaten low-wage workers with fraud charges if they're too scared to go back to work

Republicans were really not happy about passing a $600 per week increase in unemployment benefits, and

Republican governors are moving to make it impossible for many people to collect it.

they force people back to unsafe jobs, and money is the weapon making it stick.

After Ohio encouraged employers to turn in workers (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/08/workers-unemployment-states-reopen/) who don’t want to go back to unsafe jobs, 600 employers turned in 1,200 workers.

(Ohio Democrats countered (https://twitter.com/DavidPepper/status/1258458220055707649) with a website for workers to report unsafe workplaces.)

Iowa similarly has a tip line for employers to call to report reluctant workers, and

Alabama’s government has warned people that collecting unemployment rather than going back to an unsafe job is fraud.

That message came through loud and clear to Arkansas massage therapist Tracy McFetridge, HuffPost reports, when her state’s secretary of commerce said that

anyone who could return to work but kept collecting unemployment was “a fraudulent claim for us, and we will be tracking that.”

Even if work means risking your life, Republicans are all for it—

at least if you’re someone who lives paycheck to paycheck and can’t get by without unemployment.

The rich, of course, can ride this thing out safe and secure.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/8/1943578/-Republicans-threaten-low-wage-workers-with-fraud-charges-if-they-re-too-scared-to-go-back-to-work?detail=emaildkre

Winehole23

05-10-2020, 11:34 AM

That both COVID-19 relief and austerity used get used as levers for labor disciplíně is unsurprising. The deference shown to employers by both workers and the state bodes ill for workers and the state.

Life is pretty cheap in the USA. If you're not eager to die to fulfill your essential duty (stocker, cashier, driver) you suck.

Next thing you know, we'll all be asked to tighten our belts to defray the national debt.

A certain rate of excess death is expected and tolerated in normal times, so in a certain sense, there's no principle at stake, we're just arguing how high a cost in human life is too high, in an inherently dangerous world.

It's weird seeing so many people dismiss and minimize what's clearly the deadliest pandemic in our lifetimes..

boutons_deux

05-10-2020, 11:45 AM

43,000 Capitalists got an avg of $1.6M each = $70B

$70B / $600 = 115M weeks of $600/week for Labor

boutons_deux

05-10-2020, 01:29 PM

COVID bailout cash goes to big players that have paid millions to settle allegations of wrongdoing

a Florida-based cancer center that agreed to pay a $100 million criminal penalty as part of a federal antitrust investigation.

At least half of the top 10 recipients,

part of a group that received $20 billion in emergency funding from the Department of Health and Human Services,

have paid millions in recent years either in criminal penalties or to settle allegations related to improper billing and other practices

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/covid-bailout-cash-goes-to-big-players-that-have-paid-millions-to-settle-allegations-of-wrongdoing/ (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/covid-bailout-cash-goes-to-big-players-that-have-paid-millions-to-settle-allegations-of-wrongdoing/)

.. while doctors and nurses are having reduced pay, being laid off, clinics and hospitals closing

boutons_deux

05-10-2020, 01:49 PM

Once Again, Congress Will Let Wall Street Pillage Main Street

Congress has responded in typical fashion by protecting its donors—the investor class—the only people in the country who didn’t need help.

By unrecorded voice vote, Congress passed the CARES Act, rushing $1.77 trillion in taxpayer money out the door to help their friends on Wall Street.

This bailout also saved the stock market and preserved the wealth of the 10 percent of Americans who own 85 percent of the stocks and bonds.

And to add insult to injury, the Federal Reserve is providing trillions more in free money to fortify the banks

so they can continue to collect 21 percent interest on your credit cards and buy up your distressed assets.

Ordinary Americans will receive a one-time payment of $1,200, if their creditors don’t scoop it up first, and

some unemployment relief, if their state’s system is functioning after the flood of new claims.

(In the last six weeks, more than 30 million workers have applied for unemployment compensation.)

Neither of the two corporate-backed parties that share power in the U.S. believe that any drastic measures are necessary to save Main Street.

the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

But the big banks who were put in charge of distributing the loans

gave much of the money to publicly traded chains that were allowed to claim small business status under a loophole written into the bill by their lobbyists.

Many economists are predicting a dangerous explosion in a matter of months

when rents and mortgages cannot be paid,

businesses fail, and

temporary layoffs turn into permanent job losses.

As was the case in the 2008 bailout, Congress has assured that none of the pain will be borne by its big donors.

the Fed is making funds available to their Wall Street cronies to buy up distressed Main Street assets at fire-sale prices.

Big companies will pick up small companies.

Blackstone will buy up more real estate.

The economy will be even more centralized.

States and municipalities are also facing rapidly approaching disasters.

only about 5 percent of the $3 trillion in total coronavirus relief has gone to help the 50 states.

I am not smart enough to know

how people can take back power without a violent revolution.

the economy appears to be headed off a cliff and the corporations have a tight grip on all the controls.

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/once-again-congress-will-let-wall-street-pillage-main-street/ (https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/once-again-congress-will-let-wall-street-pillage-main-street/)

America is fucked and unfuckable

boutons_deux

05-10-2020, 01:51 PM

I hear that some in Congress is "worried" that the bailout has cost too much

subtext: still no money for Main St and no more money For The People, but plenty of money for the oligarchy

boutons_deux

05-10-2020, 05:10 PM

Unemployment insurance boost is tiny next to tax cuts for the rich,

this week in the war on workers (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/9/1943411/-Unemployment-insurance-boost-is-tiny-next-to-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-this-week-in-the-war-on-workers)

Republicans are doing their best to push people off of unemployment, with governors reopening states so that the most vulnerable workers are forced back into unsafe workplaces.

the extra $600 in unemployment insurance has been the best economic response to coronavirus—and it needs to be extended.

“Money spent on continuing crucial unemployment insurance provisions

will help avoid a prolonged period of high unemployment that will do far more serious and persistent damage to the economy,”

those 30 million workers would need to be provided an extra $1,400 per week for a year

to match the fiscal size of the 2017 tax cuts aimed at corporations and the rich.”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/9/1943411/-Unemployment-insurance-boost-is-tiny-next-to-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-this-week-in-the-war-on-workers

boutons_deux

05-11-2020, 07:12 AM

yep, we serious people knew it was INEVITABLE,

various Repugs saying America is broke now that the oligarchy has been paid off

===============

GOP Senator Who Voted for Trump Tax Cuts and Corporate Slush Fund Now Says

'Not Enough Money to Help Everybody' Harmed by Covid-19

"They took care of their billionaire buddies and Wall Street bankers.

Now they're trying to say there's 'not enough' left to help you and your family. It's a lie."

https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_large/public/headlines/gop_coronavirus.jpg?itok=rm7lV_4K

"There's not enough money to help everybody hurt when you shut down the government,"

"We have to reopen the economy,

we have to do it carefully,

we have to let people go back to work and earn a living," said Alexander.

"And I don't see us being able to appropriate much more money to help provide a counter to that."

Stephanie Kelton ... "can't believe we're hearing, 'We're out of money' in the early stages of a crisis. AGAIN." :lol come on Steph, you knew ... it was coming

"The truth is, Congress can appropriate whatever it chooses," Kelton said.

"It literally cannot run out of money."

Larry Kudlow, :lol President Donald Trump's top economic TEEVEE adviser, said Friday that

formal negotiations with Congress over the next Covid-19 stimulus package have been suspended (https://www.wsj.com/articles/formal-talks-paused-on-next-stimulus-package-trump-economic-adviser-larry-kudlow-says-11588952130)—

even as other White House officials predict the U.S. unemployment rate could surpass 20% by next month (https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1259519469090746371).

Trump administration and Senate Republicans stall on additional relief, claiming to be concerned (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/11/trump-administrations-monstrous-idea-direct-payments-exchange-cuts-social-security) about the rising national debt, :lol

House Democrats ...

an increase in federal nutrition assistance and Medicaid funding,

expanded unemployment benefits, and

another round of direct stimulus payments.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/11/gop-senator-who-voted-trump-tax-cuts-and-corporate-slush-fund-now-says-not-enough

Repugs "spent" $Ts in cutting taxes for the oligarchy aka BigDonor, in the 2017 Repug tax cut scam.

Whenever and wherever Repugs are in power, America is fucked and unfuckable.

boutons_deux

05-11-2020, 07:25 AM

Republicans panicked

Trump is ‘in denial’

about the economic carnage that’s happening on his watch

Trump is trying to project confidence that the economy will quickly rebound in the second half of the year —

but even many Republicans are worried that he’s setting himself up for yet another failure.

Trump White House on Friday felt “relief” that

the economy shed a record 20 million jobs in just one month, :lol victory laps all around! :lol

as they feared the number was going to be even worse. :lol counting stops in MID month :lol

Trump is “in denial” about the true depth of the economic carnage that’s occurring under his watch.

“I remember working in the White House

in 2009 and feeling the world was ending when we lost roughly 700,000 job a month,” he says.

“Now, we lost 20 million jobs in one month. There is just no comparison.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/republicans-panicked-trump-is-in-denial-about-the-economic-carnage-thats-happening-on-his-watch/ (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/republicans-panicked-trump-is-in-denial-about-the-economic-carnage-thats-happening-on-his-watch/)

boutons_deux

05-11-2020, 09:38 AM

... Repugs saying "We're Broke" while ....

Steve Mnuchin:

Actual U.S. Unemployment Rate ‘Could Be’ Close To 25%

The rate of joblessness is estimated to have peaked at 24.9% during the worst of the Great Depression.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steve-mnuchin-unemployment-rate-25-percent_n_5eb7fdf0c5b69c4b317c3e14 (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steve-mnuchin-unemployment-rate-25-percent_n_5eb7fdf0c5b69c4b317c3e14)

boutons_deux

05-11-2020, 10:32 AM

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=c5ffe9fe07&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-a:r-4498322444168204572&th=172045cfb251e469&view=fimg&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ--5b1QSCY65TbBkN7e4zq86u9uTxkpvE7WOgCzUMrk3U6kqBKzAx v7kypdMAuObVF8gTYItRNQYGBiQ_lYapL63X7S_4uWkyK8qiaU YegETTCL69lGJAoUnL0&disp=emb&realattid=ii_ka2n94jd0

boutons_deux

05-11-2020, 08:24 PM

Republican deficit peacocks emerge to tell Americans medical care, food, shelter aren't priorities (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/11/1944243/-Republican-deficit-peacocks-emerge-to-tell-Americans-they-don-t-need-medical-care-food-shelter)

Recognizing that corporations have gotten their bailout, the House intends to make this one all about the people:

"Direct payments,
unemployment insurance,
rental and mortgage help and
student loan assistance are essential,"

To which the Republican death cult screams "deficit" and "cut Social Security,"

Millions of newly homeless, starving people is apparently not bad for the economy,

but helping them is—if you're a Republican.

Cornyn, who tweeted (https://twitter.com/JohnCornyn/status/1259805583919718400) the House is "is not officially coming back yet.

They are waiting for the release of a new coronavirus bill, which will cost trillions of dollars.

Neither this bill nor anything resembling it will ever become law

When the Senate was penning the CARES Act with its

$500 billion corporate bailout and

the $300+ billion "small business" loan program,

no Republican was asking "how do we pay for it."

That the economic and health crisis is getting worse by the day doesn't matter.

Republicans see no problem in waiting weeks and weeks before doing anything more.

Democrats have Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on their side (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-11/gop-finds-deficit-scold-voice-again-adding-snag-to-talks-on-aid).

"This is not the time to act on those [debt] concerns."

We must 'Think Big' For The People now, because if we don't, it will cost more later.

Not acting is the most expensive course."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/11/1944243/-Republican-deficit-peacocks-emerge-to-tell-Americans-they-don-t-need-medical-care-food-shelter?detail=emaildkre (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/11/1944243/-Republican-deficit-peacocks-emerge-to-tell-Americans-they-don-t-need-medical-care-food-shelter?detail=emaildkre)

CosmicCowboy

05-11-2020, 08:44 PM

I hope boutons is taking his blood pressure meds. The corona stress plus the second hand smoke in his moms singlewide is pushing him right over the edge.

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 09:26 AM

Record drop in the CPI for April. It's deflation.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-12/u-s-core-consumer-price-index-posts-record-0-4-monthly-decline

DMC

05-12-2020, 09:28 AM

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 09:40 AM

Your conclusion doesn't jive with your premises.Depends on one's perspective on indoctrination to the prevailing economic ideology.

Do you think excess death is merely the cost of doing business and not avoidable in any meaningful way?

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 09:43 AM

Record drop in the CPI for April. It's deflation.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-12/u-s-core-consumer-price-index-posts-record-0-4-monthly-declineIf I were Herbert Hoover at a similar phase of the Great Depression, I would pivot to austerity now. Hope Congress doesn't get the jitters about spending.

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 11:15 AM

CRE craters in April:

https://wolfstreet.com/2020/05/11/us-commercial-real-estate-prices-plunged-in-april-mall-prices-collapsed/

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 11:18 AM

Property prices in every CRE segment fell in April, even those that were red hot. And prices of mall properties got crushed.

The overall Commercial Property Price Index (CPPI) by Green Street Advisors had peaked in the period of November 2019 through January 2020. In February and March, it ticked down. In April it plunged 9.4% from March, the second largest percent-drop in the data going back to the 1990s. The largest drop was 10.9% in October 2008, following the Lehman bankruptcy

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 01:28 PM

Sidebar: cashing in on pandemic insurance

In 2017, the Gies College of Business and the Grainger College of Engineering jointly took out a three-year contract with Lloyd’s of London to insure against a large drop in revenue from Chinese students resulting from specific events such as a trade war, a global pandemic, and visa restrictions.https://finance.yahoo.com/news/university-of-illinois-insurance-bet-224016209.html

boutons_deux

05-12-2020, 05:31 PM

The Post among five news organizations suing Small Business Administration for access to loan data

for access to government records showing who received more than $700 billion in taxpayer-backed small-business loans.

to ensure the public has access to information about how public funds are spent and to enforce federal freedom-of-information law.

The Post is joined as a plaintiff in the lawsuit by the

New York Times,
Wall Street Journal parent company Dow Jones,
Bloomberg LP and
the investigative news organization ProPublica.

“The Small Business Administration has disbursed hundreds of billions of dollars through [the Paycheck Protection Program] and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program during the COVID-19 crisis,

but it has refused to disclose who is receiving the funds and in what amounts,”

“Our lawsuit seeks to enforce federal law and enable the public to see how their tax dollars are being spent on these massive loan programs.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/12/sba-foia-lawsuit/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9. eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YS IsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNm ZGFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWViYjA0NTRmZTFmZjY1NGMyZGIyMTcwIi widXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29t L2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDUvMTIvc2JhLWZvaWEtbGF3c3VpdC 8_dXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPXdwX3RvX3lvdXJfaGVhbHRoJnV0bV9t ZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJndwaX NyYz1ubF90eWgmd3Btaz0xIn0.RgaDBPoVt4v_I07-b7obH1_XD-4oxk95-CGPfEl8eh8&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/12/sba-foia-lawsuit/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9. eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YS IsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNm ZGFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWViYjA0NTRmZTFmZjY1NGMyZGIyMTcwIi widXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29t L2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDUvMTIvc2JhLWZvaWEtbGF3c3VpdC 8_dXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPXdwX3RvX3lvdXJfaGVhbHRoJnV0bV9t ZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJndwaX NyYz1ubF90eWgmd3Btaz0xIn0.RgaDBPoVt4v_I07-b7obH1_XD-4oxk95-CGPfEl8eh8&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1)

boutons_deux

05-12-2020, 05:37 PM

Pelosi unveils $3T virus bill,

warns inaction costs more

$1 trillion for states and cities,

“hazard pay” for essential workers and

a new round of cash payments to individuals.

The Senate will wait until after Memorial Day to consider options.

nearly $1 trillion for states, cities and tribal governments to avert layoffs,

focused chiefly on $375 billion for smaller suburban and rural municipalities largely left out of earlier bills.

The bill will offer a fresh round of $1,200 direct cash aid to individuals,

increased to up to $6,000 per household, and

launches a $175 billion housing assistance fund to help pay rents and mortgages.

There is $75 billion more for virus testing.

It would continue, through January,

the $600-per-week boost to unemployment benefits.

It adds a 15% increase for food stamps,

new subsidies for laid-off workers to pay health insurance premiums under a COBRA law and

a special “Obamacare” sign-up period.

For businesses, it provides an employee retention tax credit.

There’s $200 billion in “hazard pay” for essential workers on the front lines of the crisis.

https://apnews.com/d96471ec222d17fcb6fbe9ebdd1aac91

Trill Clinton

05-12-2020, 05:43 PM

1260257058147971072

idk man...this is pretty weak

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 06:21 PM

1260257058147971072

idk man...this is pretty weakYah, the Capitol Hill lobby gets a dedicated bailout after cashing in on the PPP, but Pelosi is afraid worker bees might double dip.

baseline bum

05-12-2020, 06:25 PM

1260257058147971072

idk man...this is pretty weak

Fuck her, she should have negotiated for this shit in the first corporate welfare bill. Now this is just all for show because she'll never get it through Grim Reaper McConnell unless it adds blanket immunity for companies forcing their wage slaves back into danger, cuts payroll taxes to starve Medicare and Social Security, and zeroes out the capital gains tax like Trump has been calling for. Yeah, no thanks. Should have negotiated for a 5 month UBI as part of the corporate bailout.

boutons_deux

05-12-2020, 07:23 PM

Yah, the Capitol Hill lobby gets a dedicated bailout after cashing in on the PPP, but Pelosi is afraid worker bees might double dip.

you're uniformed as is that very incomplete tweet

another round of $1200 for everybody

$600/week for unemployed extended to 31 Dec (5 more months)

I posted AP link above

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 07:34 PM

Another magnanimous crumb for the working class, hoorah!

baseline bum

05-12-2020, 07:46 PM

you're uniformed as is that very incomplete tweet

another round of $1200 for everybody

$600/week for unemployed extended to 31 Dec (5 more months)

I posted AP link above

It's for show. She's not going to shame Trump into anything. Trump only cares about what the 30% thinks and the 30% will swallow any fucking thing he tells them to.

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 08:06 PM

Another magnanimous crumb for the working class, hoorah!
and all the Dems had to do to get that crumb was immunize business from the foreseeable social costs of putting millions of human bodies to be sacrificed on the altar of commerce.

baseline bum

05-12-2020, 08:08 PM

and all the Dems had to do to get that crumb was immunize business from the foreseeable social costs of putting millions of human bodies to be sacrificed on the altar of commerce.

No, they also have to sacrifice SS and Medicare too.

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 08:09 PM

No, they also have to sacrifice SS and Medicare too."I have a structured annuity, but I need cash now!"

boutons_deux

05-12-2020, 08:18 PM

It's for show. She's not going to shame Trump into anything. Trump only cares about what the 30% thinks and the 30% will swallow any fucking thing he tells them to.

it has to get past Bitch Mitch, who will probably add $100Bs for oligarchy, then Trash wants payroll taxes cut to destroy SS

Jared has something called "eagle plan", stupid shit again to screw people out of SS

Winehole23

05-12-2020, 08:46 PM

No, they also have to sacrifice SS and Medicare too.
The coordinated pivot to austerity rhymes with the famously ill advised precedent of Herbert Hoover to tighten the belt in the teeth of an epochal financial panic.

Winehole23

05-13-2020, 10:08 AM

Taxes and spending have distributional effects. You can have regressive taxes, regressive spending, and regressive bailouts even with liberal application of net fiscal spending up to an inflation constraint. And this article describes the finesse that has institutionalized regressive bailouts: supporting wealth at the expense of incomes. And in states that are not currency issuers (and the Eurozone is run as if it wasn’t one by not allowing for EU-level fiscal spending), it is correct to say that “taxpayers” fund bailouts. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/05/the-wealth-effects-of-bailouts-a-quantitative-assessment.html

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/the-wealth-effects-of-bailouts-a-quantitative-assessment

Winehole23

05-13-2020, 10:11 AM

side effect of the 2008 financial crisis was that the average taxpayer had to dig deep into her and her children’s pockets to save many financial assets. Given the uneven concentration of financial assets, this rescue mission was in fact a bailout of the rich.

Winehole23

05-13-2020, 10:16 AM

highly concentrated private wealth has also grown much faster than GDP itself, amounting to 5 to 6 times yearly GDP by now.

Winehole23

05-13-2020, 10:19 AM

The Average of Trees Is Not a Forest – But Likely Closer to Sawdust

Olivier Blanchard recently tweeted that “much of the progress in macro in the last 40 years came from the assumption of ergodicity” (25.04.2020). He argues that that is the reason why macroeconomic models “have a hard time dealing with the current data.” One description of an ergodic scenario is that the average outcome of a group is the same as the average outcome of an individual over time. But the almost religious belief in the usefulness of averages and aggregates is not only a problem of macroeconomics or GDP alone. In a different way, a similar problem materializes in microeconomic empirical research on inequality.

Winehole23

05-13-2020, 10:26 AM

Both GDP and wealth have increased strongly in the last decades, but private wealth has grown much faster than income, as evidenced by the strong rise in wealth-to-income ratios in the last 50 years. The decisive question is: How can it be that, after just a few weeks of income losses, large parts of the population face fears of being unable to keep servicing their debt, paying their rent, or even buying food? How can it be that we have no system in place that allows people to just live on without selling their labor power if they cannot?

boutons_deux

05-13-2020, 02:25 PM

Two oil and gas companies that inflated the value of their stock with expensive buybacks last year

have now received $15.5 million in federal loans (https://go.grist.org/e/399522/unds-5eb9b520602ff11bb117a2e7-/qt55ys/565685315?h=HKBq9HCE7Fw8bnvI17z4a6uygI_QhjgoOALmNw 2Jcro) intended for small businesses hit hard by the pandemic.

One firm, Amplify Energy Corporation, received a $5.5 million loan,

despite having spent over $26 million in 2019 to boost the value of its stock.

-- Grist email

CosmicCowboy

05-13-2020, 02:49 PM

The coordinated pivot to austerity rhymes with the famously ill advised precedent of Herbert Hoover to tighten the belt in the teeth of an epochal financial panic.

That train has already left the station. We might as well start spending like drunken Pelosi's.

boutons_deux

05-13-2020, 11:18 PM

Wave of COVID-19-related bankruptcies is the next upcoming threat to US economy

many firms now bleeding cash are in for a tough ride until the economy fully rebounds, which likely will come only after a vaccine is developed and broadly employed.

That has raised worries about a much bigger wave of bankruptcies beyond the handful of retailers that have sought to restructure

rescue measures for small businesses, large industries and workers, amounting to nearly $3 trillion.
But that infusion simply “bought time… it postponed” bankruptcies,

Kotok — who thinks it will take around five years for the US economy to fully recover — expects casualties in other sectors, including travel, leisure, real estate, energy and “more that haven’t surfaced yet,”

Federal Reserve Chief Jay Powell warned Wednesday of a potential “wave of bankruptcies” that could cause lasting harm to the world’s largest economy, and

said more fiscal support may be needed to prevent the devastation, despite the massive cost.

it was “most likely” that a major carrier would go under since the travel market is not expected to return to pre-coronavirus trends for five years.

Higher borrowing costs are just one reason analysts say it will be difficult for companies in badly-hit industries to be profitable even once the strictest COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

Until there is a vaccine, many businesses will need to respect social distancing protocols that will be demanded by consumers even if government restrictions ease.

the issue is the cost of the “gap-financing” needed to survive over two or three years.

“What is the price that market agents want to be paid to finance the gap across the valley?”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/wave-of-covid-19-related-bankruptcies-is-the-next-upcoming-threat-to-us-economy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29 (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/wave-of-covid-19-related-bankruptcies-is-the-next-upcoming-threat-to-us-economy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29)

Fauci, Wray, Powell all could be fired, who else?

MultiTroll

05-14-2020, 01:23 AM

Rap Ape arrested.
'Love and Hip Hop's' Mo Fayne accused of 'greedily' using $1.5M of coronavirus loan on jewelry and a Rolls-Royce

Fayne, 37, of Dacula, Ga., was arrested Wednesday, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. Authorities said that, on April 15, Fayne applied for a loan of $2,045,800 for his Georgia corporation, Flame Trucking, through the Paycheck Protection Program intended to stabilize the cratering economy.
“Within days” of receiving money for his company, “Fayne allegedly used more than $1.5 million of the PPP loan proceeds to purchase $85,000 in jewelry, including a Rolex Presidential watch, a diamond bracelet, a 5.73 carat diamond ring for himself, and to pay $40,000 for child support,” the news release read.

I'm so surprised this happened. What a great job of dispersing the money by the Trump administration.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/love-and-hip-hop-mo-fayne-arrested-coronavirus-loan-001939051.html

boutons_deux

05-14-2020, 08:00 AM

"Nearly 3 million laid-off workers applied for US unemployment benefits last week as

the viral outbreak led more companies to slash jobs even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen under certain restrictions.

Roughly 36 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the two months since the coronavirus

first forced millions of businesses to close their doors and shrink their workforces"

-- Boston Globe email

Repugs fleeced the CARES act (no oversight, secreted beneficiaries, huge companies take SBA $Bs) to enrich their Capitalist BigDonor (no concern for the debt),

so now the Repugs say no more money for Labor (the debt is too big).

My guess is that Moscow's little Bitch Mitch will extort $100Bs more for Repug BigDonor,

in return for passing a crippled Dem $3T bill, which is voted on Friday 15 May.

Thread

05-14-2020, 08:11 AM

"Nearly 3 million laid-off workers applied for US unemployment benefits last week as

the viral outbreak led more companies to slash jobs even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen under certain restrictions.

Roughly 36 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the two months since the coronavirus

first forced millions of businesses to close their doors and shrink their workforces"

-- Boston Globe email

Repugs fleeced the CARES act (no oversight, secreted beneficiaries, huge companies take SBA $Bs) to enrich their Capitalist BigDonor (no concern for the debt),

>>>>>>>>>so now the Repugs say no more money for Labor (the debt is too big).<<<<<<<<<

My guess is that Moscow's little Bitch Mitch will extort $100Bs more for Repug BigDonor,

in return for passing a crippled Dem $3T bill, which is voted on Friday 15 May.

Yes, & if they brazen it out they'll pay for it come November, including the old man.

They can talk big all day long, but, they're gonna have sign it.