Stimulus & Bailout Watch Thread

[boutons_deux]

China’s Slow Economic Rebound from the Coronavirus

Points to an Extended U.S. Slump

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/chinas-slow-economic-rebound-from-the-coronavirus-points-to-an-extended-us-slump?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_051420&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd6795524c17c1048022fcc&cndid=43758549&hasha=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031&hashb=542eb31d958e85ddd5a4c3ccf3faae18526a77bd&hashc=54b3612ab970ce13a64a16665b1987080ca5b72e2ee7 62b722fbba6ab378f2f5&esrc=bounceX&utm_term=TNY_Daily (https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/chinas-slow-economic-rebound-from-the-coronavirus-points-to-an-extended-us-slump?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_051420&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd6795524c17c1048022fcc&cndid=43758549&hasha=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031&hashb=542eb31d958e85ddd5a4c3ccf3faae18526a77bd&hashc=54b3612ab970ce13a64a16665b1987080ca5b72e2ee7 62b722fbba6ab378f2f5&esrc=bounceX&utm_term=TNY_Daily)

[Splits]

1260645957651185665

[CosmicCowboy]

1260645957651185665

Those charts that just show base percentage rates are such crap. There were a million ways back then to shelter income and deduct expenses. Nobody really paid those tax rates.

[boutons_deux]

Time is running out:

Small businesses and households are burning through what’s left of their cash

Low-wage workers who had little in savings to begin with have been some of the hardest hit by shutdowns at hotels, restaurants, stadiums, gyms, bars and many other businesses,

As a result, many are struggling to pay their bills, even with government aid.

for small businesses. About half will be out of cash within a month,

many owners have told The Washington Post the grants came with too many strings attached.

Others say they worry about taking on loans when they do not know how long they will be closed or operating at half-capacity.

Nearly 40 percent of low-income Americans lost a job in March.

Over a third of people who were laid off couldn’t pay their bills in April

Fewer than 1 in 5 businesses could hold out for even three months

Nearly half of laid-off Americans are barely “getting by”

Supply-chain problems hit two in three retailers

Falling revenue hits three in four businesses

Three quarters of businesses sought PPP help

Puerto Rico has been hit harder than anywhere else

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/14/federal-reserve-census-data-coronavirus-survey/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9. eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YS IsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNm ZGFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWViZGFiZmZmZTFmZjY1NGMyZGQxYTY5Ii widXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29t L2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDUvMTQvZmVkZXJhbC1yZXNlcnZlLW NlbnN1cy1kYXRhLWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXN1cnZleS8_dXRtX2Nh bXBhaWduPXdwX3RvX3lvdXJfaGVhbHRoJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW 1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJndwaXNyYz1ubF90 eWgmd3Btaz0xIn0.QmyMxR2mViTQ4t5R4CFjNN53vtKFHQD33j a0r6F5Se4&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/14/federal-reserve-census-data-coronavirus-survey/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9. eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YS IsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNm ZGFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWViZGFiZmZmZTFmZjY1NGMyZGQxYTY5Ii widXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29t L2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDUvMTQvZmVkZXJhbC1yZXNlcnZlLW NlbnN1cy1kYXRhLWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXN1cnZleS8_dXRtX2Nh bXBhaWduPXdwX3RvX3lvdXJfaGVhbHRoJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW 1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJndwaXNyYz1ubF90 eWgmd3Btaz0xIn0.QmyMxR2mViTQ4t5R4CFjNN53vtKFHQD33j a0r6F5Se4&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1)

[Winehole23]

That train has already left the station. We might as well start spending like drunken Pelosi's.Then Congress goes on vacay, how long will that be? One month or two?

Seems this is end of the spending for now.

[CosmicCowboy]

Then Congress goes on vacay, how long will that be? One month or two?

Seems this is end of the spending for now.

Lazy bums have been on paid vacation for a month. They need to skip their summer break.

[boutons_deux]

Then Congress goes on vacay, how long will that be? One month or two?

Seems this is end of the spending for now.

The Repugs have hosed $100Bs to their donors, $70B to 43,000 millionaires, so Their Work is Done.

Repugs now tell lower 90%, 10Ks of SMBs (who thought they chasing the American dream) to go fuck themselves.

[CosmicCowboy]

Boo, you need to get out of that smokey single wide and take a deep breath. It's probably time to change your moms oxygen bottle anyway. That nicotine stained laptop screen makes you crazier every day.

[Blake]

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106535568-1589390129593-20200513_public_companies_keeping_loans-01.png?v=1589390170&w=720&h=385&imgcrop=n

Ridiculous

[Spurtacular]

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106535568-1589390129593-20200513_public_companies_keeping_loans-01.png?v=1589390170&w=720&h=385&imgcrop=n

Ridiculous

Tell us why this upsets you.

[boutons_deux]

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106535568-1589390129593-20200513_public_companies_keeping_loans-01.png?v=1589390170&w=720&h=385&imgcrop=n

Ridiculous

I'm surprised at the small number, less than $1B?

$70B is what Mnuchin gave 43,000 millionaires, then there's the $500B helicoptered in total secrecy, we cannot know who got it, nor how much.

Why did Mnuchin give $1B to non-SMBs in the first place?

Now Mnuchin threatens them to give it back, they won't, so does he carry out his threat? Tough talk from a wimp

[boutons_deux]

Many of the “temporary” store closures from Covid-19 are going to be permanent
Nordstrom announced it would close its stores (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/nordstrom-is-closing-all-of-its-stores-in-the-us-due-to-coronavirus.html) in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico to help slow the outbreak. Those stores included all 116 full-line Nordstrom department stores in those regions. Sixteen of those shops, or nearly 14%, will never reopen,

“If they’re taking that sort of reflective look at their physical footprint, I suspect others will as well.”

Some stores might reopen only to close for good shortly after, as it becomes clear they won’t last.

Stephens predicted (https://twitter.com/RetailProphet/status/1255456498546769920) at least 20% of brick-and-mortar stores in places such as North America and Western Europe could close due to the pandemic.

Coresight Research, a research and advisory firm, estimates 15,000 US retail stores (https://www.retaildive.com/news/15k-stores-could-permanently-close-in-2020-coresight-says/574827/) might shutter this year alone as many closed stores never reopen.

Investment firm UBS thinks by 2025 as many as 100,000 stores could close (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/21/100-000-retail-stores-could-close-by-2025-ubs-report/2997122001/) in the US.

roughly 500 small-business owners found 43% believed they wouldn’t survive another six months of shutdowns.

The pandemic has forced consumers to do more of their shopping online. For many it could become a long-term habit.

https://qz.com/1855489/temporary-store-closures-from-covid-19-are-becoming-permanent/

Trash and his mafiya are fucking black hole of a disastrous MISgovenment, sucking in, sucking down lives, businesses, colleges, all so Trash can be re-elected.

[CosmicCowboy]

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106535568-1589390129593-20200513_public_companies_keeping_loans-01.png?v=1589390170&w=720&h=385&imgcrop=n

Ridiculous

It's still a loan that they have to pay back assuming they don't meet the guidelines..

[Blake]

It's still a loan that they have to pay back assuming they don't meet the guidelines..

Not the point, genius

[Blake]

I'm surprised at the small number, less than $1B?

$70B is what Mnuchin gave 43,000 millionaires, then there's the $500B helicoptered in total secrecy, we cannot know who got it, nor how much.

Why did Mnuchin give $1B to non-SMBs in the first place?

Now Mnuchin threatens them to give it back, they won't, so does he carry out his threat? Tough talk from a wimp

Could have been more given out to private companies. The chart shows public companies

[boutons_deux]

Fed Warns of Financial Risks as Coronavirus Downturn Persists :lol no shit

The central bank said the financial system “amplified” the shock in March, and warned that vulnerabilities remain heightened.

highly indebted businesses remained a vulnerability that could hurt the broader economy.

the annual report to sound a warning bell on

persistent weaknesses that have the potential to worsen the fallout in markets —

which could then spill back into the rest of the economy —

as coronavirus lockdowns slow growth, spurring job losses and causing consumers to pull back spending.

Businesses went into the crisis highly indebted

As they miss out on sales and income, they may default on their debts.

That could have knock-on effects:

Credit losses could pair with low interest rates to hurt profitability at banks,

which entered the crisis well capitalized and are, at least for now, holding up and lending steadily.

Hedge funds may have worsened turmoil.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/business/economy/fed-financial-stability-coronavirus.html

fuck the fucking markets, Capitalists, and Capitalism

[boutons_deux]

Fact Sheet:

Private Equity Industry Poised to Profit from the Federal Reserve’s New Lending Programs

The private equity (PE) industry is known for a business model that involves

purchasing companies,

loading them with debt, and

laying off employees,

all while paying themselves large sums of money in dividends.

This business strategy rests on using the shield of corporate immunity to avoid liability of the parent private equity fund for obligations of the portfolio companies they own,

so that the private equity firm can impose debt upon or remove assets from its portfolio firm and

face no accountability to creditors or stakeholders of the portfolio company.

This private equity business model is dangerous in normal times,

but it is especially perilous during an economic crisis when large amounts of government financial aid is available.

Private equity funds could access government assistance for their portfolio companies

while avoiding any responsibility to repay any debt or obligations to the public purse.

Private equity firms could also tap government aid to finance leveraged buyout purchases of additional companies,

using taxpayer money to load target companies with debt and drain their assets

while avoiding any responsibility for paying that debt back.

Private equity owned businesses were mostly ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) run by the Small Business Administration (SBA)

due to the “affiliation rule” that excludes parent firms that control a company employing more than 500 employees across all its businesses.

On the other hand, it seems clear that unless the rules are changed substantially,

private equity will be able to draw large benefits from most or all of the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities launched as part of the CARES Act.

The multiple, combined Federal Reserve credit facilities that provide loans and other financial support to companies are much larger than the PPP program.

The Federal Reserve credit facilities have few limitations on size or type of companies that can access the financial assistance program,

making it possible for private equity firms and private PE-owned companies to get taxpayer-backed aid.

Although the programs were supposed to target viable but struggling firms,

the Federal Reserve has expanded the eligibility criteria of some of the programs in ways that would allow more highly indebted companies owned by private equity firms to access them.

https://ourfinancialsecurity.org/2020/05/fact-sheet-private-equity-industry-poised-to-profit-from-the-federal-reserves-new-lending-programs/ (https://ourfinancialsecurity.org/2020/05/fact-sheet-private-equity-industry-poised-to-profit-from-the-federal-reserves-new-lending-programs/)

[CosmicCowboy]

Not the point, genius

So what's the point cuckadoodle?

[Blake]

So what's the point cuckadoodle?

This ppp loan was intended for small businesses, not Taco Cabana, fuckadoodle.

[boutons_deux]

"The Federal Reserve’s Nowcast, a statistical model based on economic indicators, forecasts a31% contraction in GDP (http://email-tracking.qz.com/ls/click?upn=uWyz7puBiZ6ruZh9YQShczB23PhEAfe4U2r7R9cC fsPB-2BnJ0s87RwcGMiW6NnfuJyeeDcYie0mcjJa0QqSi-2FYA-3D-3DlRvO_F-2FjFyIdBZlpHmcNALv2d6a2C6qvqBDChn9ih8XTsszcRJhTQxK w7VMjcigwewDM31vBbVSv6zX1CINJScHH1T9RIbMl5se5i5byC KebyiK6ETSe-2FP8l7eToTkPKG1JF3UxzKMLVvh0s8miCJSKRIlaf8l082DcR9 k60SAj13asc8xCbwz7CgncNQYSDtn7DOW-2BOpjIoE88Hx7Vx72CdDvgi4ja3fGeUdwiTdAEir40FymvgARR F3x13Jz5VqSqRUY18xU5vQMbvuIwz9DmdFCfk8EunBEggZwLas XlgNOLPQ97FpESpbxqiVYvnL6MIgd-2Byyju2gE7sBeLzVWVcHmXUhLnnAovmDVDSUclxbawfn85R-2FaPRGW5E-2BHqw2u4M5uYQpCJOufRPxaR-2BgBPJM-2BPnHSKPovXFYD8ND5Wn-2FVUE4FEqF0IvdgPctH4EGF1E0hKhIYcsnml35aVCz61FpZBKk TKpzkKyM7CkK5rvUTKUir-2BXoYV-2BUoVUcU-2BWNn2MX3xe1Zn6UgDXNkesCXbDBmw-3D-3D),

while economists at JPMorgan estimate the economy could shrink as much as 40%."

-- Quartz email

https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/policy/nowcast (https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/policy/nowcast)

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/jpmorgan-now-sees-economy-contracting-by-40percent-and-unemployment-reaching-20percent.html

... while Repugs block anymore "Keynesian counter-cyclical" govt spending (unless, no doubt, they can extort the Dems for $100Bs more for their BigDonor and $100Bs less for Labor)

[boutons_deux]

The Nonprofit Grifters Who Want a Cut of the Coronavirus Bailout

After years of undermining health policy to aid their Big Pharma patrons, patient advocacy groups are making claims to federal pandemic relief.

American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

the ADA takes in millions of dollars of funding from insulin manufacturers.

Both the ADA and the JDRF, which also partners with pharmaceutical companies (http://grantcenter.jdrf.org/industry-partnerships/), have been criticized (https://diabetesvoice.org/en/advocating-for-diabetes/the-insulin-affordability-crisis-advocacy/) for their

lackluster response to the insulin crisis and,

in JDRF’s case, for prioritizing (https://twitter.com/lollydaggle/status/1223271754942111744?s=20) technological research

at a time when one in four diabetics have admitted (https://newrepublic.com/article/156664/insulin-became-poster-child-medicare) to cost-related skipping or underdosing.

underneath the familiar public face of such groups,

these kinds of conflicts and controversies are par for the course.

In recent years, such groups have raked in (https://khn.org/news/patient-advocacy-groups-take-in-millions-from-drugmakers-is-there-a-payback/) more in donations from drugmakers

than lobbyists have earned representing the industry,

all while touting controversial treatments and stifling efforts to reform the drug industry.

as “nonprofits,” these groups pay no taxes.

While their CEOs earn seven figures, many of their constituents struggle to afford basic treatments.

these groups have harmed the interests of patients, their families, and wider society.

That mission seems all the more imperative now, as

these organizations join the long line of suitors seeking a coronavirus bailout from the federal government.

https://newrepublic.com/article/157686/nonprofit-grifters-want-cut-coronavirus-bailout (https://newrepublic.com/article/157686/nonprofit-grifters-want-cut-coronavirus-bailout)

The corruption is wide and deep is fucked and unfuckable America.

for laughs, remember the American Red Cross raised $500M for the Haiti earthquake disaster and built only a handful of houses.

[Trill Clinton]

Just give everyone $10K and call it a day. These lil $1200 checks aren't moving the needle.

[boutons_deux]

Just give everyone $10K and call it a day. These lil $1200 checks aren't moving the needle.

$600 week / 40 hours = $15/hour

Make the Federal minimum equal to the pandemic pay so stopping the pandemic pay won't be painful for 10Ms of Americans.

[boutons_deux]

Another private jet company owned by a Trump donor got a bailout — this one for $20 million

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/another-private-jet-company-owned-by-a-trump-donor-got-a-bailout-this-one-for-20-million/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4542&recip_id=298460&list_id=1 (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/another-private-jet-company-owned-by-a-trump-donor-got-a-bailout-this-one-for-20-million/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4542&recip_id=298460&list_id=1)

[DMC]

Small businesses bad now. If you're not eating porridge and watching povertyball on a black and white CRT TV, you're part of the problem.

[Spurminator]

I don't get the outrage with larger companies getting PPP loans. The loans are to fund payroll. The people who work in a Ruth's Chris restaurant are no different from people who work at an independent local restaurant. This isn't like corporate tax cuts that can be used for stock buybacks. Maybe I'm wrong somewhere but I don't get it.

[Will Hunting]

I don't get the outrage with larger companies getting PPP loans. The loans are to fund payroll. The people who work in a Ruth's Chris restaurant are no different from people who work at an independent local restaurant. This isn't like corporate tax cuts that can be used for stock buybacks. Maybe I'm wrong somewhere but I don't get it.
I think the complaint is that larger brands and companies have alternative means to get liquidity. They have access to credit markets that small businesses don’t have.

It’s also understandable for there to be public disdain towards companies getting forgivable loans when they have C-Suite executives making into the 7 figures vs a mom and pop company where the owners might scrape into the 6 figures in a good year.

The way they set this up for banks to administer the loans at their discretion was also total bullshit, that’s the part I take issue with. The banks prioritized larger companies that they had exposure to because larger loan = larger fees (in some cases the banks got 5% processing fees) and because it’s in a bank’s interest for its borrower to get free money. The company I work for for example shouldn’t have gotten a PPP loan for a variety of reasons but because Wells Fargo is exposed to us they moved our application to the top of the pile and fast tracked it.

[boutons_deux]

The loans are to fund payroll.

I think a distinction would with be with "mass", the small business have less mass, less momentum, have no organization cushion to fall back on, maybe less credibility, and track record, credit number when applying for a loan compared to large that have in past laid of 10K or 100Ks of employees (to make more profits) and still function.

And of course, it's well known that small companies are the job creators, while large companies are job killers (eg, mergers, offshoring, etc)

[Blake]

I think the complaint is that larger brands and companies have alternative means to get liquidity. They have access to credit markets that small businesses don’t have.

It’s also understandable for there to be public disdain towards companies getting forgivable loans when they have C-Suite executives making into the 7 figures vs a mom and pop company where the owners might scrape into the 6 figures in a good year.

The way they set this up for banks to administer the loans at their discretion was also total bullshit, that’s the part I take issue with. The banks prioritized larger companies that they had exposure to because larger loan = larger fees (in some cases the banks got 5% processing fees) and because it’s in a bank’s interest for its borrower to get free money. The company I work for for example shouldn’t have gotten a PPP loan for a variety of reasons but because Wells Fargo is exposed to us they moved our application to the top of the pile and fast tracked it.

Good post

[Blake]

Small businesses bad now. If you're not eating porridge and watching povertyball on a black and white CRT TV, you're part of the problem.

Unintelligible post.

[CosmicCowboy]

I think the complaint is that larger brands and companies have alternative means to get liquidity. They have access to credit markets that small businesses don’t have.

It’s also understandable for there to be public disdain towards companies getting forgivable loans when they have C-Suite executives making into the 7 figures vs a mom and pop company where the owners might scrape into the 6 figures in a good year.

The way they set this up for banks to administer the loans at their discretion was also total bullshit, that’s the part I take issue with. The banks prioritized larger companies that they had exposure to because larger loan = larger fees (in some cases the banks got 5% processing fees) and because it’s in a bank’s interest for its borrower to get free money. The company I work for for example shouldn’t have gotten a PPP loan for a variety of reasons but because Wells Fargo is exposed to us they moved our application to the top of the pile and fast tracked it.

I agree with most of what you said, but the banks weren't getting 5% on those big loans. It was a sliding scale. As I remember it the 5% stopped at 300K. They were only getting 1% on those big ones.. But you were right on their motivation to take care of those big customers. If the bank had exposure through loans and credit lines they made sure they went to the top of the stack.

[boutons_deux]

I agree with most of what you said, but the banks weren't getting 5% on those big loans. It was a sliding scale. As I remember it the 5% stopped at 300K. They were only getting 1% on those big ones.. But you were right on their motivation to take care of those big customers. If the bank had exposure through loans and credit lines they made sure they went to the top of the stack.

Banks still pocketed $5B (= $600/week for 8.3M weeks) for writing no-risk govt-guaranteed loans.

43K millionaires got $69B ( = $600/week for 100M+ weeks)

I think I read the banks were reticent to write small loans because the small borrowers, even guaranteed, were too high risk.

Capitalism has a pro-Capitalist bias.

[Will Hunting]

I agree with most of what you said, but the banks weren't getting 5% on those big loans. It was a sliding scale. As I remember it the 5% stopped at 300K. They were only getting 1% on those big ones.. But you were right on their motivation to take care of those big customers. If the bank had exposure through loans and credit lines they made sure they went to the top of the stack.
Yeah what I said was misleading in that respect.

Still though, I’ll take 1% of $20 million over 5% of $300k if it’s the same amount of work. Banks should have been given a smaller flat fee per loan to incentivize then in the other direction.

[boutons_deux]

Fed Chair Powell says

without more stimulus,

economy won’t recover

(but Trump and McConnell “Just Say NO”)

Says Powell:


The record shows that deeper and longer recessions can leave behind lasting damage to the productive capacity of the economy.

Avoidable household and business insolvencies can weigh on growth for years to come.

Long stretches of unemployment can damage or end workers’ careers as their skills lose value and professional networks dry up, and leave families in greater debt.

The loss of thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses across the country

would destroy the life’s work and family legacy of many business and community leaders and

limit the strength of the recovery when it comes.

These businesses are a principal source of job creation—something we will sorely need as people seek to return to work.


Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calls the House stimulus bill “dead on arrival.” Obviously,

he and the other Trump sycophants are determined to make the problems pointed out by Powell even worse.


http://redgreenandblue.org/2020/05/13/fed-chair-powell-says-without-stimulus-economy-wont-recover-trump-mcconnell-just-say-no/

How hard will the Dems campaign for the $3T? My guess is that they will lose, yet again.

Moscow Mitch will extort more $100Bs for the oligarchy, or no deal

[MultiTroll]

I think the complaint is that larger brands and companies have alternative means to get liquidity. They have access to credit markets that small businesses don’t have.

It’s also understandable for there to be public disdain towards companies getting forgivable loans when they have C-Suite executives making into the 7 figures vs a mom and pop company where the owners might scrape into the 6 figures in a good year.

The way they set this up for banks to administer the loans at their discretion was also total bullshit, that’s the part I take issue with. The banks prioritized larger companies that they had exposure to because larger loan = larger fees (in some cases the banks got 5% processing fees) and because it’s in a bank’s interest for its borrower to get free money. The company I work for for example shouldn’t have gotten a PPP loan for a variety of reasons but because Wells Fargo is exposed to us they moved our application to the top of the pile and fast tracked it.
Phuck that is interesting.

How disgusting. I know a fair amount of smaller and even one person shop owners (barbershops etc). What a travesty they are so far getting nothing while the fat corps are leeching again.

[boutons_deux]

$500 billion Treasury fund meant for coronavirus relief has lent barely any money so far, oversight commission finds

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/05/18/treasury-coronavirus-bailout-fund-cares-act/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/05/18/treasury-coronavirus-bailout-fund-cares-act/)

So Repugs are going to say "see, CARES failed to stimulate the economy, so block the HEROES act"

[boutons_deux]

Mnuchin to face grilling about small-business lending effort

Fed Chair Powell pledged to reveal the names and other details of the entities that borrow from the emergency programs the central bank has set up to offset the economic hit from the viral outbreak.

In his prepared testimony, Powell said the central bank will disclose the amounts borrowed and the interest rates it levies under its programs to provide credit for large corporations, state and local governments, and medium-sized businesses.

“We are deeply committed to transparency, and recognize that the need for transparency is heightened when we are called upon to use our emergency powers,”

https://apnews.com/450ebe852275ab7dc47e0af9ee518c48?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningwire&pnespid=jLF9raRYCR2NG0gPA6q6KYEily2qIO80OCRlKMIJ

[boutons_deux]

As coronavirus crushes small restaurants,

big chains see room to move in

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-restaurants-chains/as-coronavirus-crushes-small-restaurants-big-chains-see-room-to-move-in-idUSKBN22V1J5?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F +US+%2F+Top+News%29

The homogenization by corporatization continues.

The same corporate chain, faceless, boring, cookie-cutter shit no matter where you go, crushing entrepreneurs.

[boutons_deux]

Wedding Planner, Caterer, “Brand Builder”:

Trump’s Food Aid Program Is Paying $100+ Million to Unlicensed Dealers

Contractors with no experience in food distribution are looking for suppliers on Facebook while some food banks scramble to find desperately needed deliveries.

A food relief program championed by President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka :lol is relying on some

contractors who lack food distribution experience and aren’t licensed to deal in fresh fruits and vegetables. :lol

Forty-nine out of the 159 contractors ... don’t have a requisite license from the same agency

other contractors have eclectic backgrounds with little track record in food distribution, such as a wedding planner, a caterer and a “brand builder.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/wedding-planner-caterer-brand-builder-trumps-food-aid-program-is-paying-100-million-to-unlicensed-dealers?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=river (https://www.propublica.org/article/wedding-planner-caterer-brand-builder-trumps-food-aid-program-is-paying-100-million-to-unlicensed-dealers?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=river)

The INcompetence and corruption are UnPresidented

[spurraider21]

I think the complaint is that larger brands and companies have alternative means to get liquidity. They have access to credit markets that small businesses don’t have.

It’s also understandable for there to be public disdain towards companies getting forgivable loans when they have C-Suite executives making into the 7 figures vs a mom and pop company where the owners might scrape into the 6 figures in a good year.

The way they set this up for banks to administer the loans at their discretion was also total bullshit, that’s the part I take issue with. The banks prioritized larger companies that they had exposure to because larger loan = larger fees (in some cases the banks got 5% processing fees) and because it’s in a bank’s interest for its borrower to get free money. The company I work for for example shouldn’t have gotten a PPP loan for a variety of reasons but because Wells Fargo is exposed to us they moved our application to the top of the pile and fast tracked it.
my boy's wicked smart

[baseline bum]

my boy's wicked smart

:lmao fuck

[Will Hunting]

Phuck that is interesting.

How disgusting. I know a fair amount of smaller and even one person shop owners (barbershops etc). What a travesty they are so far getting nothing while the fat corps are leeching again.
I’m not sure how a sole proprietorship would be eligible to get either way since the eligible loan size was primarily dependent on run rate payroll, but to use your example a barbershop that employees a small number of people is a small business that got screwed.

They could have done a much better job altogether creating a criteria. Even employee size is a narrow way to look at it. A real estate investment trust with tens of billions in assets under management isn’t going to have 500 employees or anything close, but I’d hardly classify that as a small business the government should be looking for ways to help.

[Spurminator]

I’m not sure how a sole proprietorship would be eligible to get either way since the eligible loan size was primarily dependent on run rate payroll, but to use your example a barbershop that employees a small number of people is a small business that got screwed.


Sole proprietors and self employed can count themselves as the payroll, FYI

[Will Hunting]

Sole proprietors and self employed can count themselves as the payroll, FYI
Yeah I wasn’t sure but I imagine they have to have historically been paying themselves a salary. If they were taking all their income as K-1 income then they shouldn’t get to claim payroll relief, imo.

[Winehole23]

Adam Tooze's FP article is EU facing, the politics are pertinent IMO. Central banks backstop the so-called free market.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/13/european-central-bank-myth-monetary-policy-german-court-ruling/

[boutons_deux]

Sole proprietors and self employed can count themselves as the payroll, FYI

The self-employed pay the employee's AND employer's payroll taxes, so of course the self-EMPLOYED is eligible for PPP to pay himself, both the Fed and TX documents make this clear, with 10Ms Americans stuck in no-future gig work.

[Winehole23]

Unintelligible post.The perception that banks acted as bailout concierges and helped large employers elbow small ones aside, seems to be the case. A lot of indy restaurants didn't get the PPP.

[CosmicCowboy]

The perception that banks acted as bailout concierges and helped large employers elbow small ones aside, seems to be the case. A lot of indy restaurants didn't get the PPP.

There is still PPP money available if they want it.

[Winehole23]

There is still PPP money available if they want it.Man, quit staring at the finger.

[CosmicCowboy]

Man, quit staring at the finger.

???? WTF?

[Winehole23]

???? WTF?The problem isn't the diligence of the applicants, many of whom already went out of business. A bunch of little guys got sucked out to sea in the tide.

The problem is a government that sees pandemic and suffering as political liabilities rather than opportunities to lead.

[boutons_deux]

CBO projects 38% drop in GDP,

$2.1 trillion increase in the deficit

The Congressional Budget Office projects GDP dropping 38% in the second quarter as 26 million Americans remain unemployed.


The forecast is about in line with most Wall Street projections.


In addition, the CBO sees the federal budget deficit swelling to $2.2 trillion in fiscal 2020.


https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/19/cbo-projects-38percent-drop-in-gdp-2point1-trillion-increase-in-the-deficit.html

Pootin's Bitch Mitch and Repugs:

pandemic is over,

everybody back to work,

no more stimulus needed,

HEROES act is DOA, like Trash's impeachment trial

[boutons_deux]

Fed minutes show

fears of ‘extraordinary amount of uncertainty and

considerable risks’ because of coronavirus

Minutes from the Fed’s April meeting show deep concern not just about the current state of the economy but what is ahead.

Officials expressed concern about a second wave of coronavirus infections as well as the impact on lower-income households.

They also worried about the impact that company bankruptcies might have on the banking sector.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/20/fed-minutes-released.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/20/fed-minutes-released.html)

So we have the public health experts and the financial experts being overridden by Trash and Repug shitbags

[boutons_deux]

As Reopening Starts, Americans Expect Recovery to Take Years

Even those financially unaffected by the coronavirus shutdown don’t foresee a rapid rebound for the economy,

Americans don’t expect life — or the economy — to return to normal any time soon.

Only one in five Americans expects overall business conditions to be “very” or “somewhat” good over the next year,

Sixty percent said they expected the next five years to be characterized by “periods of widespread unemployment or depression.”

Economists, who once expected a swift, “V-shaped” recovery, now say unemployment is likely to remain elevated for years.

Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, both warned that further job losses were likely

Democrats are more pessimistic than Republicans, as they have been throughout President Trump’s term.

But confidence has fallen sharply among members of both parties.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/business/economy/coronavirus-economy-survey.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/business/economy/coronavirus-economy-survey.html)

Thanks, Trash, you destructive, sick motherfucker

[boutons_deux]

Another 2.4 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims last week,

adding to the ranks of jobless Americans even as states begin to reopen their economies.

Nearly 40 million people have now lost their jobs since the beginning of the shutdowns in mid-March.

-- Boston Globe email

and that's just last week, not all of May

[boutons_deux]

https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/98104107_2984502344929389_4515724586335076352_n.pn g?_nc_cat=101&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_ohc=HmS9-ROPPlkAX_NtMYN&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=39b48f891b0eda85e0ded6d935a413e2&oe=5EEE2CA4

[CosmicCowboy]

Submit a bill that addresses pandemic relief that was negotiated by both parties without the single party wish list and it would already be passed. Pelosi never intended for that bill to be passed in the Senate as is.

[boutons_deux]

Wealthiest Hospitals Got Billions in Bailout for Struggling Health Providers

Twenty large chains received more than $5 billion in federal grants even while sitting on more than $100 billion in cash.

A multibillion-dollar institution in the Seattle area

invests in hedge funds,
runs a pair of venture capital funds and
works with elite private equity firms like the Carlyle Group.

But it is not just another deep-pocketed investor hunting for high returns.

It is the Providence Health System,

one of the country’s largest and richest hospital chains.

It is sitting on nearly $12 billion in cash, which it invests, Wall Street-style, in a good year generating more than $1 billion in profits.

And this spring, Providence received at least $509 million in government funds, one of many wealthy beneficiaries of a federal program that is supposed to prevent health care providers from capsizing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Twenty large recipients, including Providence, have

received a total of more than $5 billion in recent weeks,

Those hospital chains were already sitting on more than $108 billion in cash,

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/business/coronavirus-hospitals-bailout.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/business/coronavirus-hospitals-bailout.html)

But all you poor mofos, get back to work, risk your health and lives, for shitty wages in shitty, dead-end jobs

[baseline bum]

Submit a bill that addresses pandemic relief that was negotiated by both parties without the single party wish list and it would already be passed. Pelosi never intended for that bill to be passed in the Senate as is.

McConnell already said nothing is getting through the senate that doesn't include waiving employees' rights to sue their companies for giving them COVID.

[boutons_deux]

Up to 2.4 million people in Texas were denied pandemic relief, including thousands of U.S. citizens (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/25/1946438/-Up-to-2-4-million-people-in-Texas-were-denied-pandemic-relief-including-thousands-of-U-S-citizens)

. Under the CARES Act,

only taxpayers who have a Social Security number are eligible for relief,

shutting out

immigrants who filed returns using an IRS-issued Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN)

as well as their U.S. citizen spouses if they filed joint returns.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/25/1946438/-Up-to-2-4-million-people-in-Texas-were-denied-pandemic-relief-including-thousands-of-U-S-citizens (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/25/1946438/-Up-to-2-4-million-people-in-Texas-were-denied-pandemic-relief-including-thousands-of-U-S-citizens)

https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Up-to-2-4M-Texas-immigrants-left-out-of-15271457.php

(Racist) Cruelty Is The Point

[boutons_deux]

The Brutal Clarity of the Trump-McConnell Plan to Protect Businesses

The liability-protection ruse is an excuse to coerce Americans back to work by refusing desperately needed help.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/05/25/opinion/25Wilkenson/25Wilkenson-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/trump-mcconnell-reopening.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/trump-mcconnell-reopening.html)

[Trill Clinton]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YhTrlSnNhU


Anyone here apply for mortgage forbearance and get approved?

[spurraider21]

Anyone here apply for mortgage forbearance and get approved?
nah everybody on spurstalk bought their homes straight cash

[boutons_deux]

Pootin's Bitch Mitch will fuck it up for the non-oligarchy and makes sure the wealthy oligarchy gets $100Bs of unneeded support.

Trash, otoh, wants to keep supporting employees and small businesses, thinking they will vote for his rotten carcass.

If people can't pay rent, 100Ks more homeless, great boost for any incumbent President

[Trill Clinton]

nah everybody on spurstalk bought their homes straight cash

You right, I forgot where I was at

[boutons_deux]

A prolonged depression is guaranteed without significant federal aid to state and local governments

The incredibly steep recession we’re currently in is guaranteed to torpedo state and local governments’ ability to collect revenues (https://www.epi.org/blog/as-economic-forecasts-worsen-up-to-1-trillion-in-federal-aid-to-state-and-local-governments-could-be-needed-by-the-end-of-2021key-takeaways/).

Further, nearly all of these governments are tightly constrained—

both by law as well as by genuine economic constraints—

from taking on large amounts of debt to maintain spending in the face of this downward shock to their revenues.

The result will be intense pressure for large cutbacks in public spending by state and local governments in coming years.

Such cutbacks would be absolutely devastating to the cause of restarting the economy and allowing people to find jobs,

even if the virus has completely abated.

These subnational governments spend about $4 trillion every year in the economy,

making them the second-largest source of spending outside of the federal government.

If they are forced into crash-cutting, the entire economy will suffer.

And this crash-cutting is unnecessary—

the federal government has the capacity to transfer resources to these governments to keep this suffering from happening.

They need to use it.

https://www.epi.org/blog/a-prolonged-depression-is-guaranteed-without-significant-federal-aid-to-state-and-local-governments/?utm_source=Economic+Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=047d47e208-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_22_11_12_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e7c5826c50-047d47e208-59312805&mc_cid=047d47e208&mc_eid=3f6f7e5a76 (https://www.epi.org/blog/a-prolonged-depression-is-guaranteed-without-significant-federal-aid-to-state-and-local-governments/?utm_source=Economic+Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=047d47e208-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_22_11_12_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e7c5826c50-047d47e208-59312805&mc_cid=047d47e208&mc_eid=3f6f7e5a76)

Will Pootin's Bitch Mitch and his Repug accomplices commit a fuckup?

[ElNono]

nah everybody on spurstalk bought their homes straight cash

mah nig

[CosmicCowboy]

I have no problem with the federal government printing whatever it takes to reimburse states and cities 100% for their covid costs including documented loss of tax revenue because of the shutdown and covid caused recession. I do take issues with states wanting bailouts of their unfunded pension obligations.

[pgardn]

So much MAGA in here that is laughable

https://apple.news/A3OukBqu-RmGp5z34FQv8pg

[boutons_deux]

Fed says so, and now lefties

A prolonged depression is guaranteed without significant federal aid to state and local governments

nearly all of these governments are tightly constrained—both by law as well as by genuine economic constraints—from taking on large amounts of debt to maintain spending in the face of this downward shock to their revenues.

The result will be intense pressure for large cutbacks in public spending by state and local governments in coming years.

Such cutbacks would be absolutely devastating to the cause of restarting the economy and allowing people to find jobs,

even if the virus has completely abated.

https://www.epi.org/blog/a-prolonged-depression-is-guaranteed-without-significant-federal-aid-to-state-and-local-governments/?utm_source=Economic+Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=684e44f2fd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_02_03_08_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e7c5826c50-684e44f2fd-59312805&mc_cid=684e44f2fd&mc_eid=3f6f7e5a76 (https://www.epi.org/blog/a-prolonged-depression-is-guaranteed-without-significant-federal-aid-to-state-and-local-governments/?utm_source=Economic+Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=684e44f2fd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_02_03_08_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e7c5826c50-684e44f2fd-59312805&mc_cid=684e44f2fd&mc_eid=3f6f7e5a76)

Pootin's Bitch Mitch wants states and cities to go bankrupt so they can abandon their underfunded pension plans, but as with corps, those pension plans would be pickup by the Feds.

I see Dallas is going to hold an election to raise property taxes

and no doubt sales-taxing TX and FL will be raising sales taxes

[boutons_deux]

40M+, still being laid off, and Pootin's Bitch Mitch says no more $$$ for Labor

Get back to work (there are no jobs, 1000s of companies and their jobs are gone)

[boutons_deux]

Paul Krugman Is Pretty Upbeat About the Economy

In a Q&A, the Nobel-winning economist says the pandemic recovery probably won’t be like the one from the last recession.

What's happening now is that we've shut down both supply and demand for part of the economy because we think high-contact activities spread the coronavirus.

It looks as if the private sector surplus has risen by enough to accommodate public deficits, with room to spare -- that is, it's deflationary.

The fall in demand isn't just households postponing consumption until they can go to restaurants again;

it's also a crash in construction of houses, commercial real estate and so on.

Who wants to build an office park in a plague?

First, anyone who is peddling known zombie ideas like the magical efficacy of tax cuts should be dismissed out of hand.

Second, anyone who is just rolling out their usual ideas without making allowance for the special nature of the situation shouldn't be taken seriously.

, it's only worth listening to people making a real effort to grapple with the novelty of this crisis.

I don't see battling orthodoxies this time around.

Until now we’ve had two kinds:

1979-82-type slumps basically caused by tight money and

the 2007-09 type caused by private-sector overreach.

The first kind was followed by V-shaped “morning in America” recoveries;

the second by sluggish recoveries that took a long time to restore full employment.

the Covid slump is more like 1979-82 than 2007-09

would suggest fast recovery once the virus is contained.

But some big caveats.

One is that we don’t know how long the pandemic will last.

Right now, we’re probably opening too soon, which will actually extend the period of economic weakness.

If we didn’t have big imbalances before, the slump may be creating them now.

Think of business closures, which will require time to reverse.

right now I don’t see the case for a multiyear depression.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-05-27/paul-krugman-is-pretty-upbeat-about-coronavirus-economic-recovery (https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-05-27/paul-krugman-is-pretty-upbeat-about-coronavirus-economic-recovery)

As we saw with Obama and The Banksters Great Depression,

once the Dems are in power, the eternally bad faith Repugs will do everything they can (unlike now)

to lengthen the pain for Americans (about whom THEY DON'T GIVE A SHIT),

thinking the pained voters will vote Repugs back into power in 2022.

[dbestpro]

There really is a difference between what we call small business in the past and what they call small business today. They should have let the micro-small business to the front of the chow line with application assistance.

[boutons_deux]

TALE OF TWO CRISES:

BILLIONAIRES GAIN

AS WORKERS FEEL PANDEMIC PAIN

Between March 18—the rough start date of the pandemic shutdown, when most federal and state economic restrictions were in place—and May 19,

the total net worth of the 600-plus U.S. billionaires jumped by $434 billion or 15%,

The billionaires’ worth rose from $2.948 trillion to $3.382 trillion.

The top five U.S. billionaires—Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison—saw their wealth grow by a total of $75.5 billion, or 19%.

Together they captured 21% of the total wealth growth of all 600-plus billionaires in the last two months.

The fortunes of Bezos and Zuckerberg together grew by nearly $60 billion, or 14% of the $434 billion total.

In March there were 614 billionaires on the Forbes list, and 630 two months later, including newcomer Kanye West at $1.3 billion.

During that same approximate period,

more than 38 million working Americans lost their jobs (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/coronavirus-unemployment-claims-numbers-257875),

nearly 1.5 million Americans fell ill (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html) with the virus and

almost 90,000 died from it.

Among other COVID-19 victims are the more than 16 million Americans (https://www.epi.org/blog/16-2-million-workers-have-likely-lost-employer-provided-health-insurance-since-the-coronavirus-shock-began/) who have likely lost employer-provided healthcare coverage.

Low-wage workers (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/economy/coronavirus-jobless-unemployment.html), people of color (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/28/african-americans-unemployment-covid-19-economic-impact) and women (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/looking-at-the-pandemic-through-gender-lens-women-are-facing-the-brunt-of-covid-19-with-more-job-cuts-less-pay/articleshow/75735303.cms) have suffered disproportionately in the combined medical and economic crises.

Billionaires are overwhelmingly white men.

https://americansfortaxfairness.org/issue/tale-two-crises-billionaires-gain-workers-feel-pandemic-pain/?link_id=1&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-re-six-hundred-billionaires-are-riding-the-pandemic-profiteering-wave&email_referrer=email_816206&email_subject=re-six-hundred-billionaires-are-riding-the-pandemic-profiteering-wave

[boutons_deux]

Sanders and Schumer Respond to

CBO Estimate Pandemic

May Cause $16 Trillion in Long-Term Economic Harm

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/06/01/sanders-and-schumer-respond-cbo-estimate-pandemic-may-cause-16-trillion-long

[boutons_deux]

Don’t Expect A Quick Recovery.

Our Survey Of Economists Says It Will Likely Take Years.

Overall, the researchers predicted that although

the economy will probably start to improve in the second half of this year,

there won’t be a quick rally from this recession.

“The panelists believe, on the whole, that

“We’re going to be seeing serious effects for years and years.”

https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ATD.Paine_.ECONOMIST-SURVEY.0526-2.png

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/dont-expect-a-quick-recovery-our-survey-of-economists-says-it-will-likely-take-years/

[boutons_deux]

Hidden in the New House Coronavirus Relief Bill: Billions for Defense Contractors

A section of the HEROES Act championed by Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly would cover

executive compensation and other perks for defense and intel contractors.

The legislation’s wording mirrors what an industry group proposed.

the HEROES Act goes beyond just reimbursing wages.

It says that such firms can bill the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies for

a range of other costs associated with “the financial impact incurred” of keeping workers employed during the health crisis.

That includes for “fees,” a term of art in federal contracting, and “general and administrative expenses (https://www.acquisition.gov/chapter_99/part-9904-cost-accounting-standards#d1e5971),”

a catch-all phrase associated with the costs of running a business such as (http://www.dcaaconsulting.com/indirect-cost-explained/) paying executives, running the corporate office and even marketing and sales.

https://www.propublica.org/article/hidden-in-the-new-house-coronavirus-relief-bill-billions-for-defense-contractors?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=river

The corruption of the political class is wide and deep.

[boutons_deux]

This Treasury Official Is Running the Bailout. It’s Been Great for His Family.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich has an increasingly prominent role.

He still has ties to his family’s investment firm, which is a major beneficiary of the Treasury’s bailout actions.

A major beneficiary of that bailout so far: Muzinich & Co.,

the asset manager founded by his father where Justin served as president before joining the administration.

He reported owning a stake worth at least $60 million when he entered government in 2017.

Ethics experts say the arrangement is troubling because

his father received the shares for no money up front, and

it appears possible that Muzinich can simply get his stake back after leaving government.

The Treasury is understaffed (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/11/mnuchin-treasury-department-staffing-1159065), and Muzinich was overseeing two-thirds of the department before the crisis hit.

He spent his first year as the Trump administration’s point man on its only major legislative achievement,

the landmark $1.9 trillion (https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-04/53651-outlook-2.pdf) tax cut that mainly benefited the wealthy and corporations.


Muzinich & Co. Profited From the Government’s Actions

Muzinich & Co.’s largest fund, with over $10 billion in assets, jumped in value when the Treasury and the Federal Reserve announced plans to buy bonds

https://www.propublica.org/article/this-treasury-official-is-running-the-bailout-its-been-great-for-his-family?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=feature

[boutons_deux]

The Trump Pandemic creating homeless people and foreclosed homes for Capitalistic vultures to gobble up cheap

Millions Of Americans Skip Payments As Tidal Wave Of Defaults And Evictions Looms

Americans are skipping payments on mortgages, auto loans and other bills.

Normally, that could mean massive foreclosures, evictions, cars repossessions and people's credit getting destroyed.

efforts aim to create a financial bridge to the future for people who've lost their income in the pandemic — but the bridge is only half-built.

For one thing, the help still isn't reaching many people who need it.

"My wife has filed, certified every week for her unemployment for 10 weeks now, and they have done nothing," says Jonathan Baird of Bruceton, Tenn. "We've struggled."

"We're paycheck to paycheck like most people," he says.

"And when you take away that paycheck, especially for this length of time, we have to make the decision — a vehicle or food."

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/03/867856602/millions-of-americans-skipping-payments-as-tidal-wave-of-defaults-and-evictions- (https://www.npr.org/2020/06/03/867856602/millions-of-americans-skipping-payments-as-tidal-wave-of-defaults-and-evictions-)

100,000 small businesses, so far, have shut down permanently.

[boutons_deux]

Scotland bans companies based in tax havens from accessing coronavirus bailout money

‘Any company which avoids its responsibility to contribute to society

should not be getting handouts when things go wrong,’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/scotland-tax-have-ban-coronavirus-bailout-fund-a9526006.html?fbclid=IwAR0offmaV21gqptDOkOaeiGoeHt w3DYwe3BA5EP6Vdhgf02Th9fQosicRik#gsc.tab=0

[boutons_deux]

The Brutal Clarity of the Trump-McConnell Plan to Protect Businesses

The liability-protection ruse is an excuse to coerce Americans back to work by refusing desperately needed help.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/05/25/opinion/25Wilkenson/25Wilkenson-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/trump-mcconnell-reopening.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/trump-mcconnell-reopening.html)




An Amazon worker in NY got C19 at work, brought it home, his cousin got it and died. The worker is suing Amazon.

He won't have chance: Bezos will crush him legally.

[GAustex]

I’ll be damned
Got my guberment debit card
Woo boo
BBQ ribs for me

[boutons_deux]

Don't we (the smart ones) know that Moscow Mitch, having hosed $100Bs to his wealthy donors, and seeing 2.5M job increase,

will say "no more help for 35M Labor.

Capital, otoh, will need $100Bs more.

Economists Warn of Disastrous Consequences as GOP Cites One Positive Jobs Report to Say "We Don't Need" More Relief

Republicans in Congress and a prominent adviser to President Donald Trump wasted no time seizing upon the relatively positive May jobs report released Friday

to throw cold water on the possibility of another federal coronavirus relief package—

despite the fact that

unemployment is still at historic highs (https://twitter.com/eliselgould/status/1268522919631753217) and

millions remain (https://time.com/5833008/us-unemployment-coronavirus/) on the brink of financial ruin.

Stephen Moore, a right-wing economist and White House adviser, told (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-say-may-jobs-report-suggests-new-coronavirus-spending-unnecessary-n1225841) NBC that

"we certainly don't need any new spending"

"We don't need another spending bill for sure...

We are in the recovery stage and we're no longer in the contraction stage," Moore said.

"The most important thing now is to get rid of the extra unemployment benefits." :lol wow

economists warned (https://www.epi.org/press/while-welcome-gains-job-losses-since-february-still-total-19-6-million-now-is-not-the-time-to-stop-providing-relief/) that

failing to provide additional relief for the unemployed, frontline workers, and state and local governments

could send the economy into another catastrophic tailspin.

the jobs report "definitively kills any chance of trillions of new spending."

Another anonymous GOP official told (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/world/coronavirus-updates.html) the New York Times, "Goodbye phase 4."

jobs losses since February still total 19.6 million, and are currently 13% below its February level,"

"really should not have been surprising, since we should have expected more people to be working when it was legal to work than when it was not, due to the shutdown."

"we are still looking at

unemployment that is far worse than the Great Recession and

the recovery will be seriously impaired by more layoffs in the state and local government sectors unless there is a large rescue package."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/05/economists-warn-disastrous-consequences-gop-cites-one-positive-jobs-report-say-we (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/05/economists-warn-disastrous-consequences-gop-cites-one-positive-jobs-report-say-we)

Repugs and Capitalists WILL FUCK LABOR at every turn, been happening for 45 years.

The Repug strategy could be, All BAD FAITH Politics, All The Time, knowing they will get clobbered in Nov, to slow the recovery, even worsen it, to hand the Dem administration a pile of shit, like they did in 2009.

Then block the Dems efforts to help people, hoping angry citizens vote the Repugs back into destructive power in 2024.

And then of course, red/slave states are all spreading the virus which will get worse in the coming weeks.

[boutons_deux]

To Reach a Single A.T.M., a Line of Unemployed Stretches a Block

“It’s terrible,” said a woman who spent 45 minutes traveling from her Brooklyn home to the A.T.M.

It took her more than two-and-a-half hours to reach the machine.

They are all waiting to access the same thing: the lone A.T.M. inside the only New York City branch for KeyBank,

a regional Ohio bank in charge of distributing unemployment benefits to out-of-work New Yorkers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/nyregion/keybank-nyc-coronavirus.html

[boutons_deux]

Labor Bureau Says 'Misclassification Error' Is Making Unemployment Rate Look Lower Than It Really Is

a "misclassification error (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/05/may-2020-jobs-report-misclassification-error/)" during the agency's data-collection process made the unemployment rate look significantly lower than it really is.

Those workers, the agency explained, should have been classified as "unemployed on temporary layoff" by household survey interviewers but were not.

If those workers had been categorized correctly, the agency said, the "overall [May] unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported."

Because the classification error also affected the March and April jobs reports—

the actual unemployment rate in April, according to BLS, was likely 19.7%

rather than the reported 14.7%

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/06/labor-bureau-says-misclassification-error-making-unemployment-rate-look-lower-it?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=AO&utm_campaign=Weekly%20Newsletter&utm_content=email&utm_source=Weekly%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email

[boutons_deux]

Fed expands Main Street program to allow for both smaller and bigger loans



The Fed has changed the terms of its Main Street lending program to allow for greater participation.
The central bank said Monday that it is lowering the initially stated minimum loan and raising the maximum that can be borrowed.
The Fed is also expanding the loan terms to five years.


https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/fed-expands-main-street-program-to-allow-for-both-smaller-and-bigger-loans.html

[Winehole23]

To 500 hundred billion given from the public purse to private enterprise, Sec. Mnuchin says no peeks.

*slushfund*

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-06-11/mnuchin-says-names-of-small-business-borrowers-won-t-be-released

[ElNono]

To 500 hundred billion given from the public purse to private enterprise, Sec. Mnuchin says no peeks.

*slushfund*

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-06-11/mnuchin-says-names-of-small-business-borrowers-won-t-be-released

Yep, called it!

[Winehole23]

Yep, called it!
For better and for worse, 500 billion is no longer a shocking number.

Did.you call it, El Nono?

[ElNono]

For better and for worse, 500 billion is no longer a shocking number.

Did.you call it, El Nono?

He still has ~3 more trillion to fan around, IIRC.

[boutons_deux]

Katie Porter fact-checks Steve Mnuchin with five reasons he is wrong to hide size of stimulus handouts

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) elaborated on her previous remark that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin “gets an F”

for his explanation of why the administration is

blocking congressionally required disclosure of information on coronavirus stimulus funds.

“First, the traditional SBA loan already have to be disclosed,” said Porter.

“Two,
the PPP application itself, the application small business owners filled out, clearly stated that
it would be disclosed,
the amount of the loan,
terms of the loans,
all of these things.
Borrowers here have no expectation of privacy.

Third,
the size of the PPP program is unprecedented.
This is a tremendous amount of expenditure.
This is the largest small business loan in our government’s history.

Fourth,
there are already numerous examples of abuse of the PPP program.
We saw it with requests from Ruth’s Chris [Steakhouse] and others.

Then, the PPP limitation has been plagued by inequities.

Different states not given the same amount of resources,
minority-owned businesses,
smallest, most vulnerable businesses not getting help.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/katie-porter-fact-checks-steve-mnuchin-with-five-reasons-he-is-wrong-to-hide-size-of-stimulus-handouts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

Florida's broken unemployment system could cost Trump the election

Republicans worry that thousands of unemployed people "will bring their frustration to the voting booth."

"Much of her anger is directed at Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally," Calvan writes.

"DeSantis has acknowledged that

the unemployment system known as CONNECT was like a 'jalopy in the Daytona 500' being 'left in the dust.'"

Social unrest, an ongoing pandemic, and the resulting economic fallout has caused a dip in Trump's support,

especially among older people in battleground states, Florida being one of them.

stretching from Orlando to Tampa Bay. In Orange County, home to Disney World, nearly a fourth of the workforce lost jobs.

In nearby Osceola County, about a third of workers are unemployed,"

Carolina Nunez and her husband Chris Kee are

blaming Republicans for their financial woes during the coronavirus fallout.

"They won't be voting for Trump in November."

https://www.salon.com/2020/06/13/floridas-broken-unemployment-system-could-cost-trump-the-election-report_partner/ (https://www.salon.com/2020/06/13/floridas-broken-unemployment-system-could-cost-trump-the-election-report_partner/)

[Winehole23]

He still has ~3 more trillion to fan around, IIRC.My understanding was BlackRock controls that, am i wrong?

[ElNono]

My understanding was BlackRock controls that, am i wrong?

Sorry to answer with a question, but is BlackRock a company that you trust with public funds? What does the contract between the government and BlackRock looks like for that money?

[Winehole23]

Sorry to answer with a question, but is BlackRock a company that you trust with public funds? What does the contract between the government and BlackRock looks like for that money?The nominal fee is small, but the discretion is huge. The multi-trillion dollar alphabet soup Fed lending facility is run by a private equity firm -- for valid legal reasons -- but it sure looks bad, doesn't it?

[Winehole23]

with a half a trillion dollar taxpayer funded heat sink for bad investments, like we do now.

[Winehole23]

just another shock absorber for the uber rich and well connected!

[ElNono]

The nominal fee is small, but the discretion is huge. The multi-trillion dollar alphabet soup Fed lending facility is run by a private equity firm -- for valid legal reasons -- but it sure looks bad, doesn't it?

I make no claims it's illegal, but the optics are certainly terrible. Like sending stimulus payments on debit cards with a 2 year expiration date. Who keeps the unclaimed money when the card expires? With checks it's the government, with these third party cards?

[Winehole23]

I make no claims it's illegal, but the optics are certainly terrible. Like sending stimulus payments on debit cards with a 2 year expiration date. Who keeps the unclaimed money when the card expires? With checks it's the government, with these third party cards?
Wait, where do I get mine!

[ElNono]

Wait, where do I get mine!

If you make too much, you might need to fudge and evade some taxes. It's the American way!

[Winehole23]

If you make too much, you might need to fudge and evade some taxes. It's the American way!I lack wherewith to evade, sadly. It's so tidy to already have the money! There is such a thing as a free lunch!

[boutons_deux]

The Fed Just Pulled Off
Another Backdoor Bailout of Wall Street

https://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzone/2020/06/ETF-Sellers-to-Federal-Reserves-Secondary-Market-Corporate-Credit-Facility.jpg

The Federal Reserve has authorized 11 financial bailout programs thus far.

Despite Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s reassurances at his press conferences that these programs are to help American families, :lol

a full 10 of these programs are actually bailouts of Wall Street banks or their trading units.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/06/12/the-fed-just-pulled-off-another-backdoor-bailout-of-wall-street/#gsc.tab=0

[Winehole23]

The Fed Just Pulled Off
Another Backdoor Bailout of Wall Street

https://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzone/2020/06/ETF-Sellers-to-Federal-Reserves-Secondary-Market-Corporate-Credit-Facility.jpg

The Federal Reserve has authorized 11 financial bailout programs thus far.

Despite Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s reassurances at his press conferences that these programs are to help American families, :lol

a full 10 of these programs are actually bailouts of Wall Street banks or their trading units.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/06/12/the-fed-just-pulled-off-another-backdoor-bailout-of-wall-street/#gsc.tab=0The bailout of banks, investors, incipient financial garbage and the President's rich cronies is ongoing.

https://sirota.substack.com/p/news-trump-just-fulfilled-his-billionaire

1272998380814336006
1272690308334055424

[Winehole23]

this is like something China would do

[Winehole23]

I don't see why it would be desirable that $450B of the $500B in Mnuchin's bailout fund would be disclosure-free.

How is that diffefent from a slush fund? What would prevent DJT from dipping in?Called it.

I was just thinking about this, pulled up the thread and lighted quite by accident on page 3.

Ask not for whom the Fed's money cannon tolls, it tolls not for thee or me.

[Winehole23]

Mf said diffefent

[boutons_deux]

the nasty, racist, xenophobic so-called Christian (supremacist) gets bitch slapped

California Judge Blocks DeVos Rule Banning DACA Students From Stimulus
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2020/06/17/california-judge-blocks-devos-rule/#7119f58f6096

goddamn, Repugs and Christian nationalists are FUCKING nasty, inhumane, cruel bastards

[Winehole23]

Bailout dollars in a little over two months have already exceeded such unaffordable extravagances as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.

[BSfromTX]

Bailout dollars in a little over two months have already exceeded such unaffordable extravagances as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.


Yep, and it won't stop. You can bet with every presidency it will get worse. The fed is the parasite that all presidents bow to..

[boutons_deux]

Having refused the House Dems' HEROES act,

Senate Repugs will not even address any more stimulus until after the 2-week 4th of July recess

Mnuchin, defying Congress, still blocking who is getting the slush fund $500B

[CosmicCowboy]

Having refused the House Dems' HEROES act,

Senate Repugs will not even address any more stimulus until after the 2-week 4th of July recess

Mnuchin, defying Congress, still blocking who is getting the slush fund $500B

Smart politics. Pelosi tried to shove her wish list up the Senates ass. Now they will return the favor. July 31 is the drop dead date where the extra $600 a month goes away. The natives will get restless if they dont have a deal by then and the checks quit coming. It's the new fake deadline.

[ChumpDumper]

Meh, Trump already promised moar stimulus. Done deal.

[Reck]

Smart politics. Pelosi tried to shove her wish list up the Senates ass. Now they will return the favor. July 31 is the drop dead date where the extra $600 a month goes away. The natives will get restless if they dont have a deal by then and the checks quit coming. It's the new fake deadline.

So your justification for that is that hells yes fucking over actual american citizens who need this money asapwill show PELOSI!

:lol

It's not about dems or republicans.

[boutons_deux]

Meh, Trump already promised moar stimulus. Done deal.

McConnell says no, and if he doesn't pass the bill, it won't reach Trash.

McConnell MIGHT say yes, but only after shaking down taxpayers for $100B more for his BigDonors

[CosmicCowboy]

So your justification for that is that hells yes fucking over actual american citizens who need this money asapwill show PELOSI!

:lol

It's not about dems or republicans.

It is what it is. I'm not advocating anything. There will be negotiations. Both sides will have to compromise. July 31 will give them a deadline to get it done. BTW if you think either side cares if ordinary Americans get fucked over you havent been paying attention.

[boutons_deux]

IMF says global economic collapse caused by coronavirus will be even worse than feared

Emerging recovery likely to disappoint even if countries refuse to shut down during a resurgence of the coronavirus

the coronavirus (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/28/what-you-need-know-about-coronavirus/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2) pandemic has caused more widespread damage than expected and will be followed by a sluggish recovery.

The global economy will shrink this year by 4.9 percent, worse than the 3 percent decline predicted in April (https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/04/14/global-finance-ministers-say-they-are-prepared-offer-debt-relief-struggling-nations-world-continues-reel-coronavirus-fallout/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4),

The U.S. economy, the world’s largest, is expected to shrink this year by 8 percent.

the strength of the recovery is highly uncertain because there is no solution yet to the health crisis.

By the end of next year, the pandemic will have cost the global economy $12.5 trillion in lost output

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/imf-global-economy-coronavirus (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/imf-global-economy-coronavirus/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9. eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YS IsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNm ZGFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWVmM2JlYTNmZTFmZjY1NGMyMDQ0NTA1Ii widXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29t L2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDYvMjQvaW1mLWdsb2JhbC1lY29ub2 15LWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLz91dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d3BfdG9feW91 cl9oZWFsdGgmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fc291cmNlPW 5ld3NsZXR0ZXImd3Bpc3JjPW5sX3R5aCZ3cG1rPTEifQ.2TiSI ENy9gPMJ1SZ3DuIIBtwWY2JuC92m3OZAoPhDeo&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1)

[boutons_deux]

Unemployment claims worse than expected as nation hits

14th week with more than 1 million claims

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/25/1955824/-Unemployment-claims-worse-than-expected-as-nation-hits-14th-week-with-more-than-1-million-claims
McConnell and Repugs plan to screw the unemployed with a shitty stimulus plan

Dems showed some serious empathy with their HEROES act, but Repugs don't do empathy For The People

[boutons_deux]

More Than $38 Billion in PPP Loans for Small Firms Canceled


About $38.5 billion in coronavirus relief loans for small businesses were canceled as of the end of May as

many firms rushed to return loans after a public outcry about larger companies that took funds,

while others were spurred by concerns about having the debt become a grant.

The value of the canceled loans was included in a Government Accountability Office report Thursday based on data from the Small Business Administration that showed

more than 170,000 loans had been canceled as of May 31 with more still being reported.

The GAO report didn’t specify the reasons for the cancellations.

The SBA reported Wednesday night that more than 4.7 million loans totaling $516.5 billion have been approved, including cancellations.

There was about $128 billion in remaining funds as of June 20 with only a few days until the agency stops accepting new applications on Tuesday.

Small businesses also reported they were holding or considering returning their loans because of uncertainty about whether they would be required to repay debt.

The loans are forgiven if most proceeds are spent on payroll,

but the SBA and Treasury Department were late in releasing guidance and rules about the loan forgiveness process.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-38-billion-ppp-loans-143944736.html

Mnuchin and pals fucked it up.

[CosmicCowboy]

The new guidelines were clear and released in plenty of time before the 8 week deadline. Only stupid people like Boutons couldn't understand them.

[boutons_deux]

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=c5ffe9fe07&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-a:r7497705195573373312&th=1733bf25a9436f3e&view=fimg&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ-fWhulfq2SGEQ0aRFGxmw_ifG5tPKCNg_kFiipfTwyeidVuoSEo 9hywdd7ZXYNJRrNzAnUFLm6OabowatfI7AtpTLz4u1v37PJjOG 0yc3Bif_CmPYT0-NL1LA&disp=emb&realattid=ii_kch3kn1e0

[ducks]

Link no good

[Winehole23]

Thumb on the scale for Apple and Disney. I wonder what the current stock market rally would look like without FANG.

1281630531994689539

[boutons_deux]

Trump donors among early recipients of coronavirus loans

As much as $273 million in federal coronavirus aid (https://apnews.com/2099a53bb8adf2def7ee7329ea322f9d) was awarded to more than 100 companies that are owned or operated by major donors to President Donald Trump’s election efforts,

Many were among the first to be approved for a loan in early April,

And only eight businesses had to wait until early May before securing the aid,

All told, the Trump supporters who run these companies have contributed at least $11.1 million since May 2015 to Trump’s campaign committees,

There is no evidence the companies received favorable treatment as a result of their ties to Trump


Nearly half of all PPP support scooped up by health care, professional, construction and manufacturing sectors

Figures through June 30, 2020






SECTOR
NET DOLLARS
LOAN COUNT
% OF AMOUNT


Health Care and Social Assistance
$67,356,500,071


506,263


12.9%


Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
$66,430,801,754


638,221


12.7%


Construction
$64,568,137,994


466,221


12.4%


Manufacturing
$54,002,922,769


229,591


10.4%


Accommodation and Food Services
$42,099,336,178


367,502


8.1%


Retail Trade
$40,355,657,949


450,181


7.7%


Other Services (except Public Administration)
$31,145,678,051


531,572


6.0%


Wholesale Trade
$27,726,783,463


167,237


5.3%


Administrative, Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services
$26,482,972,198


240,947


5.1%


Transportation and Warehousing
$17,088,399,318


191,609


3.3%


Real Estate and Rental and Leasing
$15,631,026,225


245,697


3.0%




NewsMax, which was approved for a loan up to $5 million on April 13, the data shows. NewsMax CEO Christopher Ruddy has donated $525,000 to political committees supporting Trump,

Muy Brands, a San Antonio, Texas-based company that operates Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Wendy’s franchises, was approved for a loan worth between $5 million and $10 million. Its owner, James Bodenstedt, has donated $672,570 to Trump

Mi Cocina chain, was approved for between $5 million and $10 million. Ray Washburne, one of the company’s founders, was vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee in 2016 and donated $100,000

https://apnews.com/00a34243825661313f2cb6a0f6a21720?fbclid=IwAR3FZG0N YXvHv3gR7ayKiZZIcoilx_FCx1wvBN_StCEuksIbsDK7aHZg5T s

[boutons_deux]

At least $1.4 billion in tax-funded COVID-19 relief has gone to tax-exempt Catholic church

The U.S. Roman Catholic Church got at least $1.4 billion in those loans

"with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or

sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups."

The AP has found that the Catholic Church

got between $1.4 billion and at least $3.5 billion from the program,

split among at least 3,500 forgivable loans to dioceses, parishes, schools, and other church programs.

The report found that the church, by

"aggressively promoting the payroll program and marshaling resources to help affiliates navigate its shifting rules,"

"The government grants special dispensation, and that creates a kind of structural favoritism,"

"And that favoritism was worth billions of dollars."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1959689

[boutons_deux]

always trying to get the big picture, reading everything I can

CARES, conceived in March, was based on the pandemic being essentially no longer an economic impediment by August.

CARES was to carry the country through to the "effective" end of the pandemic

Since that's not the case, one view is that CARES was wasted, since during the CARES months, the pandemic was not only not decreasing, but thanks to Repug MISgoverance WORSENING beyond what was known in March.

So now a couple weeks from ending the CARES unemployment support, there is still a worse need for another CARES Act, like the HEROES Act killed by Moscow Mitch.

The stock market and Capital, the controlling priority for Congress, must see now that Capital will LOSE capital if not given more from Congress.

btw, apparently, poverty went down under CARES, even as unemployment exploded, because Labor that works for poverty wages, was temporarily lifted out of poverty :lol $600/week = $15/hour for 40 hours

[boutons_deux]

https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/p960x960/107516477_3113500918696197_8524889613523817733_o.p ng?_nc_cat=102&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_ohc=aMV6X5YYZvYAX_K2av_&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-2.xx&oh=8dde1bb3d28ae6d865faded99f48259d&oe=5F314D8B

[ElNono]

What's with the whole Latinx shit? Is that the "inclusive" language?

[boutons_deux]

What's with the whole Latinx shit? Is that the "inclusive" language?

de-gender-izing the gendered Spanish nouns?

[boutons_deux]

Why the 3rd Quarter US Economic ‘Rebound’ Will Falter

Economies experiencing deep and rapid contractions—

which is typical of both great recessions and economic depressions—

inevitably experience periods of leveling off for a time, or even a slight bounce back—i.e. a rebound.

But that’s not a recovery.

‘Recovery’ means a sustained, quarter to subsequent quarter economic growth that a continues more or less unabated until the lost economic ground is ‘recovered’.

But a rebound is typically temporary, followed by subsequent economic relapses in the form of stagnant growth or even second or third dip recessions.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/13/why-the-3rd-quarter-us-economic-rebound-will-falter/

As Repugs did throughout Obama's term and the Banksters Great Depression, the Repugs will now block everything like HEROES, knowing they are going to lose big in Nov.

If McConnell retains the Senate, he will do exactly like he did under Obama, sadistically maximize and prolong the economic pain 2020-2022 by blocking stimulus For The People (but approving stimulus for his BigDonor oligarchy), planning to win big in 2022, just like in 2010.

[boutons_deux]

Covid-19 Bankruptcies Bleeding Out Jobs, Economic Capacity


Commercial tenants, particularly of retail space and office space, are either not paying or are pushing their landlords to give a major rent reduction.

Upscale business hotels remain closed in major cities.

I am told there are lots of moving vans in New York City, and they aren’t for move ins.

Restaurants are trying to figure out how to get by.

Operators that depended on corporate activity,

be it shops and food vendors catering to office cube dwellers commuting or retailers in airports,

are thinning out their locations and their staffing.What has kept the bottom from dropping out of the economy is the emergency response.

even though residential mortgage delinquencies are elevated, they aren’t at the post financial crisis level, when 9 million mortgages went into foreclosure.

companies that received PPP loans, on the whole, expect to cut employment levels once they’ve met the eight week requirement to turn the loan into a grant. That bleeding is just starting.

Keynes observed that there isn’t the political will to run big enough deficits long enough to lift an economy out of a depression absent a war.

Recall how the US dialed back support in 1937
when activity was improving and the economy promptly fell over. :lol that was Repugs undoing FDR's progress

I’m curious to get a grip on why Americans seem to be underreacting to what is happening.

Thing will only get more turbulent. Hope you are well bunkered.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/07/covid-19-bankruptcies-bleeding-out-jobs-economic-capacity.html

[Winehole23]

Thumb on the scale for Apple and Disney. I wonder what the current stock market rally would look like without FANG.

1281630531994689539Ritholtz suggests the relative competence of other countries in dealing with COVID-19 has already given them an economic advantage, and that foreign investment in tech is driving the current bull market.

1282678175257055232

[boutons_deux]

Coronavirus Surge Is Killing America’s Small Businesses

More owners are permanently shutting their doors after new lockdown orders,

realizing that there may be no end in sight to the crisis.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/business/small-businesses-coronavirus.html

[DMC]

Ritholtz suggests the relative competence of other countries in dealing with COVID-19 has already given them an economic advantage, and that foreign investment in tech is driving the current bull market.

1282678175257055232

So now the stock market is about the economy? Make up your mind.

[Winehole23]

So now the stock market is about the economy? Make up your mind.Not sure what you're driving at, I was trying to describe Ritholtz's take, not mine.

As usual, your complaint is a bit lacking for specificity, what's your question?

[Winehole23]

So now the stock market is about the economy? Make up your mind.Almost complete elliipsis and inference here, but I'll give it a go.

Massively front-loaded Fed stimulus in the trillions + QE + trillions more in follow up lending through a dozen alphabet soup SPVs managed by BlackRock, plausibly had an effect on US equities and animal spirits.

It's just as plausible that Europe and Asia reopening their economies does too.

Both of things can be true at the same time. No need to pick a lane.

[Winehole23]

Pandemic and depression spread misery in the country, but for those with money to invest the misery of others is the opportunity of a lifetime.

The rich ripped us off this way eleven years ago, they're already doing it again.

[Winehole23]

Jesus Christ, the Fed is buying corporate bonds at this point.

[baseline bum]

Scary shit from Kyle Kulinski today. But thank god we bailed out the corporate Americans.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG9HIu6p3hs

[Winehole23]

just another day ending in "Y"

1283081918179835905

[Nbadan]

Pretty clear by now that the vast majority of those who benefited from PPP loans and SBA loans are taking that extra money and pumping it into the stock market and where safer to put it into technology stock which in the long run is almost certainly a winner. The only program that has really helped the little guy, the $600 per week addition to unemployment is scheduled to end on the 24th and the Mitch McConnell Senate is in no hurry to renew the program even though economists have reported that the program works and has actually added 3% gains to the GDP despite the pandemic.

[Winehole23]

Pretty clear by now that the vast majority of those who benefited from PPP loans and SBA loans are taking that extra money and pumping it into the stock market and where safer to put it into technology stock which in the long run is almost certainly a winner. The only program that has really helped the little guy, the $600 per week addition to unemployment is scheduled to end on the 24th and the Mitch McConnell Senate is in no hurry to renew the program even though economists have reported that the program works and has actually added 3% gains to the GDP despite the pandemic.Dude, poverty in the went down measurably since the CARES Act. Who knew giving poor people money alleviates poverty?

[boutons_deux]

Dude, poverty in the went down measurably since the CARES Act. Who knew giving poor people money alleviates poverty?

not only did national poverty rate down due to CARES Act's $600/week as the pandemic exploded,

one estimate was that GDP would go up by nearly 4% next year if the $600/week were continued.

[boutons_deux]

Big banks prepare for protracted recession, report significant drop in profits

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo set aside billions in capital as they prepare for customers to default on loans

The recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic will be deeper and longer than initially expected, according to three big banks that reported significant decreases in quarterly profits Tuesday.

“Our view of the length and severity of the economic downturn has deteriorated considerably”

The banks’ more pessimistic outlooks come as millions of people remain out of work, thousands of small businesses close permanently and some states begin to shut down for a second time to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

A Fed analysis of the banks’ finances showed they are in good shape now but some could struggle in the worst-case scenarios of the economic recovery.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo said Tuesday they would set aside $8.9 billion and $8.4 billion, respectively, as they prepared for customers to begin defaulting on their loans later this year.

Citigroup increased its reserves to $7.9 billion.

JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, said its quarterly profit fell more than 50 percent, to $4.7 billion, as it built up its reserves.

“The recessionary part of this you’re going to see down the road.”

The past three months have been tougher for Wells Fargo. The bank reported its first quarterly loss, $2.4 billion, in more than a decade

Citigroup’s profit fell more than 70 percent, to $1.32 billion, in the second quarter, compared with $4.8 billion during the same period last year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/big-banks-prepare-protracted-recession-report-drastic-drop-profits (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/big-banks-prepare-protracted-recession-report-drastic-drop-profits/?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.e yJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSI sImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNmZ GFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWYwZTE1ZTJmZTFmZjY0ODJkYmU3Mjg1Iiw idXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL 2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDcvMTQvYmlnLWJhbmtzLXByZXBhcmU tcHJvdHJhY3RlZC1yZWNlc3Npb24tcmVwb3J0LWRyYXN0aWMtZ HJvcC1wcm9maXRzLz91dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d3BfdG9feW91cl9 oZWFsdGgmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld 3NsZXR0ZXImd3Bpc3JjPW5sX3R5aCZ3cG1rPTEifQ.L7bvYVQV qJIBCYiAnCQT-RUHKC6cLorjNKSovfpCgR4)

[boutons_deux]

Nancy Pelosi says coronavirus aid bill

will cost at least $1.3 trillion,

but ‘that’s not enough’

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/16/coronavirus-stimulus-nancy-pelosi-discusses-next-relief-bill.html

I've sen 40% of GDP, or $8T, but given For The People, not to the oligarchy.

but any amount will be WASTED AGAIN only if USA emulates serious, adult countries and shuts down the pandemic.

[baseline bum]

Big banks prepare for protracted recession, report significant drop in profits

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo set aside billions in capital as they prepare for customers to default on loans

The recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic will be deeper and longer than initially expected, according to three big banks that reported significant decreases in quarterly profits Tuesday.

“Our view of the length and severity of the economic downturn has deteriorated considerably”

The banks’ more pessimistic outlooks come as millions of people remain out of work, thousands of small businesses close permanently and some states begin to shut down for a second time to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

A Fed analysis of the banks’ finances showed they are in good shape now but some could struggle in the worst-case scenarios of the economic recovery.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo said Tuesday they would set aside $8.9 billion and $8.4 billion, respectively, as they prepared for customers to begin defaulting on their loans later this year.

Citigroup increased its reserves to $7.9 billion.

JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, said its quarterly profit fell more than 50 percent, to $4.7 billion, as it built up its reserves.

“The recessionary part of this you’re going to see down the road.”

The past three months have been tougher for Wells Fargo. The bank reported its first quarterly loss, $2.4 billion, in more than a decade

Citigroup’s profit fell more than 70 percent, to $1.32 billion, in the second quarter, compared with $4.8 billion during the same period last year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/big-banks-prepare-protracted-recession-report-drastic-drop-profits (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/big-banks-prepare-protracted-recession-report-drastic-drop-profits/?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.e yJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSI sImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNmZ GFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWYwZTE1ZTJmZTFmZjY0ODJkYmU3Mjg1Iiw idXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL 2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDcvMTQvYmlnLWJhbmtzLXByZXBhcmU tcHJvdHJhY3RlZC1yZWNlc3Npb24tcmVwb3J0LWRyYXN0aWMtZ HJvcC1wcm9maXRzLz91dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d3BfdG9feW91cl9 oZWFsdGgmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld 3NsZXR0ZXImd3Bpc3JjPW5sX3R5aCZ3cG1rPTEifQ.L7bvYVQV qJIBCYiAnCQT-RUHKC6cLorjNKSovfpCgR4)




Hopefully when the wave of the Trump Depression homelessness comes people burn down the banks instead of the small businesses around them.

[Winehole23]

Hopefully when the wave of the Trump Depression homelessness comes people burn down the banks instead of the small businesses around them.If the bull market continues while the country is in recession and being ravaged by a pandemic, it may at some point become clear where the burning needs to start.

[boutons_deux]

Florida, Georgia and California show a rise in jobless claims.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/business/florida-georgia-and-california-show-a-rise-in-jobless-claims.html

[boutons_deux]

Minimum wage workers cannot afford rent in any U.S. state

the average minimum wage worker in the U.S. would

need to work almost 97 hours per week to afford a fair market rate two-bedroom and 79 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom

That’s well over two full-time jobs just to be able to afford a two-bedroom rental.

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106615550-1594739489691map_2br_ppt.jpg?v=1594739556&w=678&h=381

defines “affordable” as spending no more than 30% of monthly income on rent,

the “housing wage” for 2020 —

or what a full-time worker must make in order to afford a fair market rental without spending more than 30% of his or her income —

at $23.96 per hour for a two-bedroom rental and

$19.56 per hour for a one-bedroom.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/14/minimum-wage-workers-cannot-afford-rent-in-any-us-state.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/14/minimum-wage-workers-cannot-afford-rent-in-any-us-state.html)

[boutons_deux]

The Terrifying Next Phase of the Coronavirus Recession

The U.S. prioritized the economy over public health—and got the worst of both worlds.

Trump has railed against shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders, tweeting in all caps (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1241935285916782593?lang=en) that

“we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself” and

pushing for employees to get back to work and businesses to get back to business.

But the country has failed to get the virus under control,

through masks, contact tracing, mass testing, or any of the other

strategies other countries have tried and found successful.

That has kneecapped the nascent recovery, and

raised the possibility that the unemployment rate, which eased in May and June after nearly reaching 15 percent in April,

could spike again later this year.

instead of setting up a national viral-control strategy during this time, as other rich countries did,

the United States did close to nothing.

Congress underfunded disease research and contact-tracing efforts.

No federal agency coordinated the procurement of personal protective equipment.

Months into the pandemic, health professionals were still reusing masks for days at a time.

The Trump administration punted responsibility for public-health management to the states, each (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-state-budget-crisis-is-not-just-a-blue-state-crisis-its-an-every-state-crisis/2020/05/21/89cfe904-9b95-11ea-ac72-3841fcc9b35f_story.html) tipping (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-state-budget-crisis-is-not-just-a-blue-state-crisis-its-an-every-state-crisis/2020/05/21/89cfe904-9b95-11ea-ac72-3841fcc9b35f_story.html) into a budgetary crisis (https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/states-grappling-with-hit-to-tax-collections).

After a springtime peak, caseloads declined only modestly.

Outbreaks seeded across the country.

States reopened, and counts exploded (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html) again.

the economy is traveling sideways, as business failures mount and the virus continues to maim and kill.

New applications for unemployment insurance, for instance, are leveling off (https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) at more than 1 million a week

consumer spending is falling again (https://www.safegraph.com/dashboard/covid19-commerce-patterns), down 10 percent from where it was a year ago (https://tracktherecovery.org/).

the rebound has hit a “plateau (https://joinhomebase.com/blog/main-street-health-how-did-businesses-fare-in-june/),” in terms of hours worked, share of employees working, and number of businesses open.

The next, terrifying phase of the coronavirus recession is here:

a damaged economy,

a virus spreading faster than it was in March.

. The statistical value of American lives already lost (https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/18/economic-rationale-strong-action-now-against-coronavirus/) to the disease is something like $675 billion.

States with unmitigated outbreaks have been

forced to go back into lockdown,

or to pause their reopening,

killing weakened businesses and roiling the labor market.

Where the virus spreads, the economy stops.

decreases in economic activity are closely tied to “fears of infection” and

are “highly influenced by the number of COVID deaths reported” in a given county.

Countries that successfully countered the virus seem to have enjoyed better financial recoveries;

countries that did not shut down saw major hits to their economy anyway.

The supposed trade-off between public health and the economy doesn’t exist.

And right now, the country is choosing not to save either.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/terrifying-next-phase-coronavirus-recession/614140/

Thanks, Repugs, you sociopathic, ignorant motherfucking assholes

[ElNono]

Trump demands payroll tax cut in next Covid relief bill

President Donald Trump has signaled to Hill Republicans that he will not sign a new coronavirus stimulus package without the inclusion of a payroll tax cut, according to three sources close to the issue.

This new red line from the White House serves to illustrate the challenges that lay ahead in negotiating another Covid-19 relief package. GOP and Democratic congressional leaders are trillions of dollars apart in funding goals for the package, as well as how those funds will be spent.

Republicans have pushed for an overhaul to liability laws, which Democrats are skittish of, and Democrats are insisting on state and local funding, and enhanced unemployment benefits, which Republicans are cool to.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/16/trump-payroll-tax-cut-coronavirus-relief-bill-366506

---

wtf, get some aid to people, especially the unemployed... who cares about fucking liability right now unless you're planning to force people back into work? and smh at these fucks tripping over each other to give handjobs to big business.

[boutons_deux]

"you're planning to force people back into work"

that's the Repug tactic.

stay jobless until your shitty UI benefits run out and live on the streets,

or go back to work to risk your and your family's / friends' health where your employers will not be liable for your on-the-job health

cut payroll taxes helps no employee (payroll tax in your pocket on hourly of less than $15/hour? LOL),

and is meant to defund SS to death, kill govt retirement fund, and force $Ts into BigFinance's "retirement" funds which will be depleted by secret, unchallengeable "fees" of $Ts

[CosmicCowboy]

The liability issue IS a reasonable concern. Society still needs to function as best we can through this pandemic. Having Thomas J Henry suing HEB for selling groceries so millions of people can eat doesn't solve anything except driving up the cost of groceries and making TJ Henry richer than he already is.

[pgardn]

Now we have StAte suing a city in Georgia.
this is part of the reason for having a federal government that functions during disasters.
The federal government unifies a coordinated response for states in very different circumstances. We have no leader ship at the federal level, this is what we get.
A consistent, truthful, introspective message to the entire country concerning planning and how the plans might have to change based on circumstances. It’s clearly written out in the CDC handbook for JUST this purpose. But Donald decides he wants to play by his own rules and his own rules in this case were to try to beat a virus in down using familiar tactics that don’t work by nature’s rules. And then the second stage was to give up and blame it on everybody else.

The United states my ass.

No unifying messages because that does not serve his purposes.
instead he becomes more twisted and intransigent.
get this fcker out.
R team, get a new candidate to beat Biden.

[pgardn]

Oh great, now NISD teachers say they won’t go back.
what a surprise. R team congressmen, governors, mayors, local officials will have to be concerned with the reelection of Trump while battling how to Deal with a natural disaster and the economy because there are no guidelines.

how to deal with the virus

pretend it’s not a problem

shit it is a problem, what do we do now?

it’s only a problem because the economy has been affected

let’s get this economy up and working, no one will notice if they are working,
we can’t stop this thing

oh shit, civilians care about getting real sick and or dying... don’t they understand this is a war and there must be sacrifices?

take control of the information so that they don’t care

story to be continued

[boutons_deux]

Trump threatens to veto any COVID-19 bill that doesn’t cut Social Security

advocacy groups urged (https://socialsecurityworks.org/2020/07/16/trump-is-holding-covid-aid-hostage-for-his-1-priority-defunding-social-security/) Congress to “call Trump’s bluff”

and pass a stimulus bill free of any stealth attacks on the New Deal program.

“Cutting Social Security contributions advances a longstanding right-wing ideological goal:

Weakening our Social Security system,”

“Congress must not give into Trump’s hostage-taking.”

“Payroll contributions are Social Security and Medicare’s dedicated funding.

A ‘payroll tax cut’ is a Trojan Horse for cutting earned benefits.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/congress-urged-to-reject-hostage-taking-as-trump-threatens-to-veto-any-covid-19-bill-that-doesnt-cut-social-security/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4988

[CosmicCowboy]

:lmao @ how Boutons pretends there is a social security trust fund.

[boutons_deux]

:lmao @ how Boutons pretends there is a social security trust fund.

You said that, I didn't.

You think that US govt will default on its obligations to the SS trust fund, and default on its obligations to SS retirees.

Those two defaults are equivalent to US govt default on Treasury bonds.

[CosmicCowboy]

You said that, I didn't.

You think that US govt will default on its obligations to the SS trust fund, and default on its obligations to SS retirees.

Those two defaults are equivalent to US govt default on Treasury bonds.

No I don't think the US government will default on it's obligations to SS retirees.

That's why your whining over a proposal for a temporary cut in SS payroll tax is so stupid.

The "SS payroll tax" goes straight into the general fund and gets spent.

[boutons_deux]

No I don't think the US government will default on it's obligations to SS retirees.

That's why your whining over a proposal for a temporary cut in SS payroll tax is so stupid.

The "SS payroll tax" goes straight into the general fund and gets spent.

Cutting SS for any length of time is depleting

SS contributions get spent in the general fund?

so fucking what with your fear-mongering?

As long as SS retirees get paid, your "SS-to-general fund spent" is total bullshit.

[CosmicCowboy]

Cutting SS for any length of time is depleting

SS contributions get spent in the general fund?

so fucking what with your fear-mongering?

As long as SS retirees get paid, your "SS-to-general fund spent" is total bullshit.

No, your whining about a temporary tax cut during a pandemic caused recession to help keep the economy from crashing is bullshit. Considering how regressive payroll taxes are I would thing a socialist like you would support it.

[Winehole23]

The liability issue IS a reasonable concern. Society still needs to function as best we can through this pandemic. Having Thomas J Henry suing HEB for selling groceries so millions of people can eat doesn't solve anything except driving up the cost of groceries and making TJ Henry richer than he already is.

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!

[CosmicCowboy]

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!

Like most complicated issues the issue is not always either black or white. Automatically assigning fault to an employer for an employee's covid sickness when the average employee spends at least 2/3 of their time not at work is pretty arbitrary.

[Winehole23]

Like most complicated issues the issue is not always either black or white. Automatically assigning fault to an employer for an employee's covid sickness when the average employee spends at least 2/3 of their time not at work is pretty arbitrary.Go talk to a meat packer, could be illness and injury are mainly related to unsafe working conditions.

Why do you want to deprive workers of legal recourse for injuries suffered in unsafe -- sometimes negligently unsafe -- workplaces?

[Winehole23]

(in b4 CC blames it on the "culture")

[CosmicCowboy]

Working in a meat plant is voluntary. Is it more dangerous than some other jobs? Yes.

How exactly do you make any work place 100% safe from a covid infection, especially when we are finding out it can be spread by aerosol from non symptomatic people.?

[Winehole23]

Working in a meat plant is voluntary. Is it more dangerous than some other jobs? Yes.

How exactly do you make any work place 100% safe from a covid infection, especially when we are finding out it can be spread by aerosol from non symptomatic people.?You didn't answer my question. Why is the solution to protect employers and leave workers bootless?

[ElNono]

The liability issue IS a reasonable concern. Society still needs to function as best we can through this pandemic. Having Thomas J Henry suing HEB for selling groceries so millions of people can eat doesn't solve anything except driving up the cost of groceries and making TJ Henry richer than he already is.

What does that even mean? If TJ wanted to sue HEB, he would've already done so, and he still would actually need to win that case.

It's ridiculous we need to trounce due process rights because of potential lawsuits. Everybody is entitled to their day in court (if you can afford it).

[Winehole23]

What does that even mean? If TJ wanted to sue HEB, he would've already done so, and he still would actually need to win that case.

It's ridiculous we need to trounce due process rights because of potential lawsuits. Everybody is entitled to their day in court (if you can afford it).1t's a great system if you have the money to fight

[boutons_deux]

McConnell has ‘given up’ on Trump’s re-election and

is making plans to handcuff Biden

Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both know that

the economy is headed for another collapse due to the coronavirus pandemic

unless Congress comes up with another stimulus package — and

yet they seem in no hurry to avert the fall.

they face an electoral catastrophe that might be mitigated by easing America’s economic pain,”

the president is hampered by his “combination of ignorance and his own peculiar personality flaws,” and

“simply doesn’t understand what the country needs.”

“He [McConnell] has already given up on the idea of Trump being reelected,

the Kentucky Republican would rather the economy continue to flounder about under the current president and

let former Vice President Joe Biden inherit a mess —

then blame him if he doesn’t clean it up quickly.

“McConnell knows what’s happening. ...

there is simply no way the economy is going to come roaring back before November,”

“From where he [McConnell] sits,

the best outcome now may be to use the next stimulus package to win some minor ideological victories, but

not allow it to be substantial enough to set the stage for a genuine recovery,”

in 2021, the situation will be no less dire than it is now — and maybe more so.

And the worse things are in the country at that point,

the better it is for Republicans.

Just as they did when Barack Obama was president,

they can blame Democrats for their own mistakes,

then force austerity measures that

sabotage the economy and slow the recovery.”

only someone who was singularly “amoral” would be willing

to allow the continuing destruction of the country to advance his personal agenda

“In other words, you’d have to be Mitch McConnell.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/mcconnell-has-given-up-on-trumps-re-election-and-is-making-plans-to-handcuff-biden-columnist (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/mcconnell-has-given-up-on-trumps-re-election-and-is-making-plans-to-handcuff-biden-columnist/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29)

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

How Trump and McConnell are prolonging our economic nightmare

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/mcconnell-has-given-up-on-trumps-re-election-and-is-making-plans-to-handcuff-biden-columnist (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/mcconnell-has-given-up-on-trumps-re-election-and-is-making-plans-to-handcuff-biden-columnist/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29)

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

McConnell and similar assholes (simpson - bowles, etc) slowed the recovery under Obama, blamed Obama.

Repugs will repeat under Biden to win Congress back in 2024.

[Trainwreck2100]

Working in a meat plant is voluntary. Is it more dangerous than some other jobs? Yes.

How exactly do you make any work place 100% safe from a covid infection, especially when we are finding out it can be spread by aerosol from non symptomatic people.?

What happens if a worker tries to call in sick, but the employer tells them "show up or your fired" if that person shows up and infects people, should the employer be liable? According to what the Republicans want the answer is no

[CosmicCowboy]

What happens if a worker tries to call in sick, but the employer tells them "show up or your fired" if that person shows up and infects people, should the employer be liable? According to what the Republicans want the answer is no

That's a fucking stupid question. No employer wants a sick employee infecting others. Personally, if anyone calls in sick I tell them to go get tested and dont come back until they have a clean test.

[Trainwreck2100]

That's a fucking stupid question. No employer wants a sick employee infecting others. Personally, if anyone calls in sick I tell them to go get tested and dont come back until they have a clean test.
:lol clearly you've never worked retail. That's not a stupid question it happens quite frequently

[boutons_deux]

Predatory lenders got billions out of COVID-19 small business loan program (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/17/1961540/-Predatory-lenders-got-billions-out-of-COVID-19-small-business-loan-program)

Predatory lenders set their sights on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in the coronavirus relief CARES Act—

money intended to go to small businesses to prevent their having to lay off workers—

and cashed in, netting anywhere from $9 billion to $23 billion.

35 companies that provide payday loans—

the loans taken out against car titles and other high-interest, low-dollar borrowing options—

got the money after lobbying Congress and filing lawsuits to get their hands on the money.

"Taxpayer money should not go to payday lenders who rip off working families and trap consumers in cycles of debt."

"It should go without saying, predatory lenders who charge working Americans up to 400% for payday loans should not be given taxpayer grants or near zero interest loans,"

Too many legitimate small businesses,

run by women and by people of color particularly,

have been shut out of the process.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1961540

[baseline bum]

:lol clearly you've never worked retail. That's not a stupid question it happens quite frequently

Food service too

[CosmicCowboy]

:lol clearly you've never worked retail. That's not a stupid question it happens quite frequently

I'm pretty confident I have had shittier jobs than any of you because I wanted to work and make money.

[Trainwreck2100]

I'm pretty confident I have had shittier jobs than any of you because I wanted to work and make money.

I'm pretty sure that you didn't learn anything because, in your pie in the sky world you can pay rent working at dollar tree and dominos, and your employer cares whether or not your sick.

[CosmicCowboy]

I'm pretty sure that you didn't learn anything because, in your pie in the sky world you can pay rent working at dollar tree and dominos, and your employer cares whether or not your sick.

My worst job was getting up at 3 in the morning and carpooling out to national gun club to wade through foot deep bird shit in the dark to catch pigeons for pigeon shoots. Put them in crates. Then go load skeet traps all day then pick up dead pigeons covered with fire ants till dark, then get home about 10 and do it again the next day. Had 127 hours in one week @ 1.25 an hour with no OT and was glad to get it.

[Trainwreck2100]

My worst job was getting up at 3 in the morning and carpooling out to national gun club to wade through foot deep bird shit in the dark to catch pigeons for pigeon shoots. Put them in crates. Then go load skeet traps all day then pick up dead pigeons covered with fire ants till dark, then get home about 10 and do it again the next day. Had 127 hours in one week @ 1.25 an hour with no OT and was glad to get it.

Ok that's great, good for you, but that's not how the world works anymore, you have shown time and again how naive you are to the way it works now. You actually believe an employer won't force their employee to come in sick. They will, because it happens all the time and you didn't know that.

[Winehole23]

DOA in the House, Mitch McConnell proposes five year immunity shield for employers

--but no fiscal stimulus

--no rent/mortgage abatement

-- no UI

-- no money for healthcare

-- no money for COVID-19 testing

-- nor PPE,

-- nor public housing etc


Depressions are more severe and last longer when the government doesn't get out in front of foreseeable problems.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/507836-senate-gop-proposing-five-year-shield-from-coronavirus-lawsuits

[CosmicCowboy]

Ok that's great, good for you, but that's not how the world works anymore, you have shown time and again how naive you are to the way it works now. You actually believe an employer won't force their employee to come in sick. They will, because it happens all the time and you didn't know that.

I am one of those evil employers you are referring to. I demand my employees stay home if they are sick and send them home if they show up sick. I pay them to stay home and did so even before covid. I have already paid two employees to stay home post covid till they felt better and had negative covid tests. It makes zero sense for an employer to force a sick employee to come to work and infect the rest of the employees.

[Winehole23]

because CC is a good employer, no employee anywhere should be allowed sue his employer for catching COVID-19 at work.

[TimDunkem]

I am one of those evil employers you are referring to. I demand my employees stay home if they are sick and send them home if they show up sick. I pay them to stay home and did so even before covid. I have already paid two employees to stay home post covid till they felt better and had negative covid tests. It makes zero sense for an employer to force a sick employee to come to work and infect the rest of the employees.

This girl I'm fucking works at Burlington and her whole store was exposed by an employee who tested positive after already showing symptoms. Eventually he was sent home, but obviously management was aware he was sick and exposed others. They didn't inform anyone directly because they didn't want to start a panic or have people call out until they knew for sure.

The only way she or anyone else found out was through a small sign posted in the break room the morning after management got the confirmation saying what happened, and anyone possibly exposed should look to get tested and contact management with any questions. :lmao They pay like 10 bucks an hour.

[boutons_deux]

DOA in the House
Depressions are more severe and last longer when the government doesn't get out in front of foreseeable problems.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/507836-senate-gop-proposing-five-year-shield-from-coronavirus-lawsuits

McConnell is going to allow the pandemic and economy to remain horrible, no matter the pain, then beat on President Biden and the Dems for not immediately fixing everything in Fed 2021, expecting a Repug comeback in 2022. Same strategy as 2009/2010

[CosmicCowboy]

Technically it is illegal for an employer to identify a specific employee as being covid positive. They can only generalize and say "someone" was infected.

[Winehole23]

McConnell is going to allow the pandemic and economy to remain horrible, no matter the pain, then beat on President Biden and the Dems for not immediately fixing everything in Fed 2021, expecting a Repug comeback in 2022. Same strategy as 2009/2010I'm not so sure Biden is going to win.

[Winehole23]

Technically it is illegal for an employer to identify a specific employee as being covid positive. They can only generalize and say "someone" was infected.we get it man, you're one of the goodns

[TimDunkem]

Technically it is illegal for an employer to identify a specific employee as being covid positive. They can only generalize and say "someone" was infected.

But to not even call employees and tell them that they could've been infected. They just put out a small sign and walked backwards whistling to their office and waited for the fallout. :lol

And this shit happens all the time with these companies and also in the culinary industry where there's a culture of showing up and grinding it out no matter what.

[Winehole23]

But to not even call employees and tell them that they could've been infected. They just put out a small sign and walked backwards whistling to their office and waited for the fallout. :lol

And this shit happens all the time with these companies and also in the culinary industry where there's a culture of showing up and grinding it out no matter what.At my place of work we were notified when a coworker tested positive, but none of our employees qualified for a test under the testing criteria of four months ago.

Out of abundance of caution we were also notified when a manager's child's teacher tested positive and he had to work at home for a spell.

YMMV

[Trainwreck2100]

I am one of those evil employers you are referring to. I demand my employees stay home if they are sick and send them home if they show up sick. I pay them to stay home and did so even before covid. I have already paid two employees to stay home post covid till they felt better and had negative covid tests. It makes zero sense for an employer to force a sick employee to come to work and infect the rest of the employees.

It makes sense to some employers because when you're short-staffed, it costs you money. And management don't give a fuck they just want someone there to make their shit job less shitty

[Trainwreck2100]

At my place of work we were notified when a coworker tested positive, but none of our employees qualified for a test under the testing criteria of four months ago.

Out of abundance of caution we were also notified when a manager's child's teacher tested positive and he had to work at home for a spell.

YMMV

is that retail or food service?

[ElNono]

It makes sense to some employers because when you're short-staffed, it costs you money. And management don't give a fuck they just want someone there to make their shit job less shitty

Yep, and if immunity is available, some managers have no excuse not to bring workers back in.

No all upper management is like CC, tbh...

[Winehole23]

is that retail or food service?Neither. Wholesale.

[boutons_deux]

Jamie Dimon’s warning for the U.S. economy —

nobody knows what comes next



The range of outcomes for the economy in the second half is incredibly wide: JPMorgan Chase sees no fewer than five different paths it can take.
The bank has gotten more pessimistic, seeing unemployment in its default “base” scenario hitting nearly 11% by the end of this year, 4.3% worse than when it made the same forecast in April.
In a worst-case scenario where the virus surges further in the fall, forcing another round of widespread shutdowns, unemployment could peak at roughly 23%, the bank said.
“The word unprecedented is rarely used properly,” Dimon said this week. “This time, it’s being used properly. It’s unprecedented what’s going on around the world, and obviously Covid itself is a main attribute.”


https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/18/jamie-dimons-warning-for-the-us-economy.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/18/jamie-dimons-warning-for-the-us-economy.html)

[boutons_deux]

Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen Give Republicans in Congress a Lesson on Coronavirus Economics

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5f131fa10cba56ee7e66f69e/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/Cassidy-CVeconomics.jpg


they have both emerged in recent months as vocal supporters of using monetary and fiscal policy aggressively to support the stricken economy.

Last month, they signed a public letter (https://equitablegrowth.org/press/more-than-150-economists-tell-congress-more-relief-needed-to-avoid-prolonged-suffering-and-stunted-economic-growth/) from more than a hundred and fifty economists that called on Congress to

pass another big spending bill to extend and broaden the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (cares) Act, which was enacted in March. :lol House Dems HEROES Act

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/ben-bernanke-and-janet-yellen-give-republicans-in-congress-a-lesson-on-coronavirus-economics (https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/ben-bernanke-and-janet-yellen-give-republicans-in-congress-a-lesson-on-coronavirus-economics?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_071920&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd6795524c17c1048022fcc&cndid=43758549&hasha=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031&hashb=542eb31d958e85ddd5a4c3ccf3faae18526a77bd&hashc=54b3612ab970ce13a64a16665b1987080ca5b72e2ee7 62b722fbba6ab378f2f5&esrc=bounceX&utm_term=TNY_Daily)

[boutons_deux]

An eviction and foreclosure crisis is looming

Expect the economic situation to decay tremendously between now and fall 2020

Come autumn 2020, the convergence of disease, death and economic misery across our wounded nation will likely be without living precedent.

will be most keenly felt in the nation's poorest and least secure neighborhoods.

last year, when the economy was supposedly doing well, 40 percent of Americans said they would not be able to come up with $400 (https://www.salon.com/2015/12/23/american_exceptionalism_has_never_rung_hollower_ha lf_the_country_is_either_living_in_poverty_or_damn _near_close_to_it_partner/) in the event of an emergency,

happened in less than two fiscal quarters. It's the scale and the velocity that's different this time, with a global pandemic in the mix.

5.4 million American workers lost their employer-linked health insurance.

estimated 27 million Americans had been stripped of their health coverage in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic.

by the end of September more than 20 million Americans —roughly one-in-five of the nation's 110 million renters — will face eviction.

As Zinn recounts, they created an extensive makeshift encampment for that Spring and Summer in and around Capital Hill. And while

the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, responded by voting for the Wright Patman Bonus bill,

the measure was rejected by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

On July 29, 1932 (https://www.thoughtco.com/bonus-army-march-4147568), Hoover ordered General Douglas MacArthur to forcibly clear the veteran encampments, which he did with four troops of calvary, a machine gun squadron, and six tanks near the White House. He used tear gas, and the U.S. military also set fire to the encampments.

According to Zinn, two veterans were fatally shot and 1,000 veterans were injured by the deployment of the tear gas.

health experts are undercounting the toll it is exacting. In one estimate,

CDC (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/25/coronavirus-cases-10-times-larger/) reporting is only catching 10 percent (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/25/coronavirus-cases-10-times-larger/) of the actual cases.

based on a comparative excess death analysis comparing the death rates of previous years, the world was

undercounting the pandemic related deaths by as much as 60 percent. (https://www.ft.com/content/6bd88b7d-3386-4543-b2e9-0d5c6fac846c)

many Americans will suffer from life-long disabilities (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/06/coronavirus-covid-19-mild-symptoms-who) even if they survive a bout with it.

CT scans of the 76 asymptomatic passengers on the infamous Diamond Princess (https://time.com/5783451/covid-19-princess-diamond-cruise-ship/) cruise ship indicated

54 percent of them "showed significant lung abnormalities."

https://www.salon.com/2020/07/19/an-eviction-and-foreclo​sure-crisis-is-looming/ (https://www.salon.com/2020/07/19/an-eviction-and-foreclosure-crisis-is-looming/)

I expect the 2020 Repugs to repeat the 1932 Repugs' sociopathy and reject HEROES Act or any similar bill.

[boutons_deux]

Special Interests Mobilize to Get Piece of Next Virus Relief Package

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/us/politics/coronavirus-relief-lobbyists-special-interests.html

[boutons_deux]

Double-Dipping By PPP Healthcare Loan Recipients

Despite Massive Government Cash Infusions, Healthcare Companies Belly Up to the Public Trough for More

Healthcare providers have faced significant challenges during the pandemic,

but it was still surprising to see that sector show up as the largest recipient of assistance under the Paycheck Protection Program.

That’s because hospitals and other providers were already receiving tens of billions of dollars in federal aid from other CARES Act programs.

To the growing list of PPP defects, we can add: double-dipping by healthcare recipients.

https://www.dcreport.org/2020/07/20/double-dipping-by-ppp-healthcare-loan-recipients/ (https://www.dcreport.org/2020/07/20/double-dipping-by-ppp-healthcare-loan-recipients/)

[boutons_deux]

“The jobs aren’t there”:

Why cutting off enhanced unemployment benefits would leave workers in the lurch

Republican arguments about unemployment insurance ignore a harsh reality.

millions of workers who still don’t have jobs to go back to.

, many don’t have jobs they can return to at this point.

“If you cut off the $600 to incentivize people to go back to work, that will just be cruel, because for millions of people the jobs aren’t there,”

as many as 11.9 million workers (https://www.epi.org/blog/nearly-11-of-the-workforce-is-out-of-work-with-zero-chance-of-getting-called-back-to-a-prior-job/) have zero chance of returning to their prior jobs as temporary job losses become permanent ones.

The GOP approach, however, ignores a dismal reality. With small businesses continuing to shutter, new job postings slowing to a halt, and companies issuing fresh rounds of layoffs, unemployed workers are left with few options to pursue.

the number of people who are unemployed has far surpassed the number of new jobs that have been added to the economy.

According to the June jobs report (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while

4.8 million new jobs were added that month, at least 17.8 million people remained unemployed.

A weekly report on jobless claims (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-tell-us-30-million-people-are-unemployed-but-many-doubt-its-that-bad-2020-07-08) also notes that as many as

33 million people were receiving state and federal UI benefits as of late June.

In the short term, the industries that have been forced to shutter or reduce their operations to promote safe practices during the pandemic — including restaurants, gyms, and hair salons — are among those that won’t see many jobs coming back any time soon.

“[There are] industries that we can assume that will be really, really suppressed until we have a vaccine or effective treatment,”

the fallout that would result from an end to the expanded UI.

These cuts could be devastating for the economy, Shierholz notes — affecting as many as 5 million other jobs.

https://www.vox.com/2020/7/21/21325541/unemployment-insurance-jobs-covid-19-congress (https://www.vox.com/2020/7/21/21325541/unemployment-insurance-jobs-covid-19-congress)

[Winehole23]

Mitch better have my money

https://wjla.com/news/local/protesters-march-to-mitch-mcconnells-dc-home-demanding-extension-of-benefits

[boutons_deux]

CARES gave 43K wealthy r/e investors a $68B tax break for "paper losses", iow, 13M weeks @$600/week

[boutons_deux]

Repugs beat Trash, no payroll tax removal

https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/p843x403/112797027_3143353505710938_1494822758206446517_o.p ng?_nc_cat=102&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=fIc9jVndWBIAX-V76--&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-2.xx&oh=4fa37bdec5de5a9327ea301725508405&oe=5F3E0B8C

[boutons_deux]

GOP coronavirus relief package to include Romney bill that would ‘fast-track Social Security and Medicare cuts’

“They will use every opportunity and every crisis—

including the mass death and economic carnage from Covid—

as cover for their sick desire to destroy our Social Security system.”

Romney’s TRUST ACT as “a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Senate Democrats, to help a future Congress evaluate bipartisan proposals for

protecting and strengthening :lol

the programs that Americans count on.”

would initiate a secretive process that could result in cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, a longtime objective (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/22/gop-plot-gut-social-security-behind-closed-doors-gains-steam-senate-covid-19-talks) of lawmakers like the Utah Republican.

statements praising the legislation from a slew of right-wing advocacy groups, including the Koch-funded organization Americans for Prosperity.

Romney’s bill would give the Treasury Department 45 days to deliver a report to Congress on America’s “endangered” trust funds.

”restores solvency and otherwise improves each trust fund program.” :lol

“This would allow benefit cuts to be fast-tracked through Congress,”

the TRUST ACT is “a way to undermine the economic security of Americans without political accountability.”

they are plotting to use the cover of the pandemic to slash Social Security.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/gop-relief-package-to-include-romney-bill-that-would-fast-track-social-security-and-medicare-cuts/

The oligarchy enriches itself and impoverishes everybody else.

America is fucked and unfuckable

[Winehole23]

article is new, the story isn't


A new study by Oxford University Professor Ludovic Phallipou concludes that all this transacting has generated $230 billion in management fees over the past decade for performance no better than an index-tracking fund. "This wealth transfer from several hundred million pension scheme members to a few thousand people working in private equity might be one of the largest in the history of modern finance," he told (https://www.ft.com/content/803cff77-42f7-4859-aff1-afa5c149023c) the Financial Times.https://www.newsweek.com/private-equity-captures-rather-creates-value-opinion-1519748

[boutons_deux]

WASHINGTON (AP) — AP-NORC poll:

Nearly half of Americans whose families lost jobs during the pandemic believe

the jobs will not return.

—@JonLemire (https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1286632732987142144)

[boutons_deux]

‘A Band-Aid on a bullet wound’:

Workers are getting laid off anew as PPP runs out

Layoffs are beginning to spike again across the country —

the number of new unemployment claims rose last week for the first time since March (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/23/another-14-million-workers-filed-unemployment-benefits-last-week-pandemic-continues-weigh-labor-market/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9)—

as coronavirus (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/28/what-you-need-know-about-coronavirus/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9) cases soar,

spurring cities and states to backtrack on reopenings only a month after appearing to turn the corner.

Those losing their jobs in late June and July are part of a wave of new layoffs from companies whose PPP money is expiring,

“It was the wrong bet. This wasn’t just a transitory event.”

22 percent of PPP recipients surveyed have laid off or expect to lay off employees after using up their PPP loan, up from 14 percent in June.

only about one in six businesses that received loans said they were confident they could pay their employees without further assistance.

The Small Business Administration,

in the spotlight since the creation of the program for the way it doled out loans,

which businesses received them (many were not small),

the lack of transparency surrounding the troubled loan program.

layoffs due to the PPP’s expiration will probably continue to grow

as the pandemic’s toll continues. :lol not probably, but CERTAINLY
fears are growing about another hit to the economy as the PPP loans continue to expire.

“It basically says the same thing as our outlier status in the numbers of death and infections: We blew it,”

“Other countries managed to both

contain the coronavirus after three months and

also keep large numbers of workers on payrolls.

We didn’t do either.”

PPP stimulus saved between 1.5 million and 3.5 million jobs, “PPP was focused on keeping businesses alive and reducing the burden on the unemployment insurance system,”

“It did both of those, but for only eight weeks. But that’s got to be the thrust of any story here. It worked.”

Reich disagrees,

saying he does not believe the program should be considered a success,

citing the hefty premium — about $10 billion in fees (https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/840678984/small-business-rescue-earned-banks-10-billion-in-fees)— banks were paid for offering loans for which they assumed no risk,

issues that minority (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-minority-owned-businesses-are-struggling-to-get-ppp-loans) and women-owned (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-finds-women-owned-businesses-were-passed-over-in-the-ppp-loan-process-301046329.html) businesses experienced securing loans, and

the flood of applications that overwhelmed banks and the SBA alike (https://www.ocregister.com/2020/04/27/lenders-sba-relief-program-already-overwhelmed-again/).

(https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/23/ppp-layoffs/?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.e yJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSI sImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNmZ GFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWYxYjQ5YjhmZTFmZjY1ODhkMTQ1N2YwIiw idXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL 2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDcvMjMvcHBwLWxheW9mZnMvP3V0bV9 jYW1wYWlnbj13cF90b195b3VyX2hlYWx0aCZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtP WVtYWlsJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ3cGlzcmM9bmx fdHloJndwbWs9MSJ9.a8EmnLhnlsPdm37eGEBdKBrhBJGniZdW 08TcQ4yNMq4)Reich pointed to Europe, where countries used a different model:

universal payroll aid in which governments paid as much as 80 percent of workers’ salaries to keep them on payroll for a longer time,

which has kept more businesses afloat and less people out of work.

(https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/23/ppp-layoffs/?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.e yJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSI sImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNmZ GFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWYxYjQ5YjhmZTFmZjY1ODhkMTQ1N2YwIiw idXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL 2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDcvMjMvcHBwLWxheW9mZnMvP3V0bV9 jYW1wYWlnbj13cF90b195b3VyX2hlYWx0aCZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtP WVtYWlsJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ3cGlzcmM9bmx fdHloJndwbWs9MSJ9.a8EmnLhnlsPdm37eGEBdKBrhBJGniZdW 08TcQ4yNMq4)The number of job#less workers in Europe in#creased by 316,000 from February through the end of May.

The rise in the U.S. over the same period was 9.8 mil#lion.

the lack of a national program of testing, contact tracing and other public health measures has haunted the PPP and other attempts at economic recovery.

“This is not just about death rates. It’s about health of the labor force, and customers coming in and not being afraid. We have to stop denying the reality.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/23/ppp-layoffs (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/23/ppp-layoffs/?utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.e yJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSI sImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk3NDBkYjNhZGU0ZTIxYTg0OTNmZ GFlIiwidGFnIjoiNWYxYjQ5YjhmZTFmZjY1ODhkMTQ1N2YwIiw idXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL 2J1c2luZXNzLzIwMjAvMDcvMjMvcHBwLWxheW9mZnMvP3V0bV9 jYW1wYWlnbj13cF90b195b3VyX2hlYWx0aCZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtP WVtYWlsJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ3cGlzcmM9bmx fdHloJndwbWs9MSJ9.a8EmnLhnlsPdm37eGEBdKBrhBJGniZdW 08TcQ4yNMq4)

[Winehole23]

CC, get your ass back in here

1287003809034641410

[boutons_deux]

article is new, the story isn't

https://www.newsweek.com/private-equity-captures-rather-creates-value-opinion-1519748

Ain't unregulated Capitalism great for the predatory, destructive, extractive Capitalists?

[CosmicCowboy]

CC, get your ass back in here

1287003809034641410

My bad. Chilling at the lake. Just got off the jet ski and then cooked steaks for dinner. Now sipping on garrison brothers on ice.What did you want to discuss? Modern Monetary Theory in action?

[Winehole23]

My bad. Chilling at the lake. Just got off the jet ski and then cooked steaks for dinner. Now sipping on garrison brothers on ice.What did you want to discuss? Modern Monetary Theory in action?Is that what it is?

If only Trump was willing to use it to save regular folks, what's the hold up?

[CosmicCowboy]

Is that what it is?

If only Trump was willing to use it to save regular folks, what's the hold up?

Sorry, I'm not responsible for Trump. Last time I checked all these programs came from congress, not Trump. Do you understand it differently?

[Winehole23]

Sorry, I'm not responsible for Trump. Last time I checked all these programs came from congress, not Trump. Do you understand it differently?Defensive much? That was a rhetorical question.

It's not law til the President signs it, so your claim that Trump is clout-free is piffle.

[CosmicCowboy]

Apparently Trump is pretty clout free. His push to temporarily suspend social security withholdings (which is essentially a regressive tax) got shoved up his ass by republicans and democrats.

[ChumpDumper]

If his unemployment scheme is ignored we can start calling him a lame duck for anything but judicial appointments.

[boutons_deux]

Republicans prepare to unveil long-awaited $1 trillion coronavirus relief package

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says the GOP is angling to reduce enhanced unemployment insurance to $200 a week.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/26/21339089/senate-stimulus-bill-coronavirus-relief-aid (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/26/21339089/senate-stimulus-bill-coronavirus-relief-aid)

[baseline bum]

Republicans prepare to unveil long-awaited $1 trillion coronavirus relief package

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says the GOP is angling to reduce enhanced unemployment insurance to $200 a week.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/26/21339089/senate-stimulus-bill-coronavirus-relief-aid (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/26/21339089/senate-stimulus-bill-coronavirus-relief-aid)



Can't imagine that's going to play well in Florida with how puny their state unemployment payouts are. They probably would have been better off with the 70% payout.

[boutons_deux]

also another $1200 check, one month's rent

[ChumpDumper]

My guess it will end up higher than $200. Republicans have to publicly say bootstraps and welfare queens but know that this is maintaining a good deal of economic activity right now.

[boutons_deux]

Republican turmoil from Donald Trump has reached a whole new level of frustration in the Senate

frustration among Senate Republicans (https://www.axios.com/senate-republicans-white-house-covid-stimulus-a7490c48-fa66-455f-82f3-24405b351621.html) reached a whole new level of turmoil this week after Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told members

they could leave for the August Recess without passing a new coronavirus stimulus bill.

“Multiple GOP Hill aides involved in the stimulus negotiations tell me they feel Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows have undermined the legislative process,”


the White House zeroed out funding for testing and wanted to funnel it into paying for a new FBI headquarters.

Mnuchin is under fire because he has been willing to deal with House Democrats, while Republicans in the Senate refuse to do so.

“He’s also been given vast powers under the CARES Act on how the implementation is done,

“He can make a lot of decisions unilaterally, and that has added to the skepticism on the Hill,”

July was the third month in a row where over 30 percent of Americans weren’t able to pay their rent or mortgages on time or at all.

“Republican leaders privately admit that ​

if negotiations are a failure,

the White House and Republicans will take the political hit since they’re running the show,”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/republican-turmoil-from-donald-trump-has-reached-a-whole-new-level-of-frustration-in-the-senate-report/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[ElNono]

If Democrats bend over to this shit (70% of previous wages and liability) they can go fuck themselves.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/26/meadows-extend-unemployment-benefit-381598

[baseline bum]

If Democrats bend over to this shit (70% of previous wages and liability) they can go fuck themselves.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/26/meadows-extend-unemployment-benefit-381598

Why wouldn't they? They already bent over for Trump's and Mnuchin's corporate bailout without getting a UBI and with the peanuts cut in half vs what Mnuchin was promising on TV regarding the stimulus checks.

[Trainwreck2100]

If Democrats bend over to this shit (70% of previous wages and liability) they can go fuck themselves.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/26/meadows-extend-unemployment-benefit-381598

Don't forget the "going back to work" credit, fuck you i been working this whole time

[ElNono]

:lmao @ Teddy's plan:

"What we ought to focus on instead of just shoveling trillions out the door, we ought to be passing a recovery bill," Cruz said. "A recovery bill would be lifting the taxes and the regulations that are hammering small businesses so that people can go back to work. A recovery bill would suspend the payroll tax, which would give a pay raise to everyone in America who's working."

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/26/shoveling-cash-problem-coronavirus-cruz-381673

---

Like a suspension of payroll taxes wouldn't disproportionately benefit large employers much more than small business, not to mention wrecking social security and medicare, which very likely would end up costing trillions in the long run too.

And this is to address an actual, specific problem which is that the federal minimum salary is shit and hasn't been updated since 2009.

[ElNono]

Obviously, Rafael had no problem handing out tax-cuts for the 1% on the backs of everyone else, so this isn't surprising either, tbh

[boutons_deux]

payroll tax cut is an avg of + $50K for the top end who are not in financial peril,

and peanuts for the low-end facing homelessness and hunger

[boutons_deux]

Double-dipping temp agencies get rich off COVID-19 bailouts as small businesses suffer

temp staffing companies like Employnet were among the biggest beneficiaries of small-business loans under the Paycheck Protection Program,

which is designed to help hard-hit firms keep paying their employees.

More than 11,000 such companies took in a total of between $3.6 billion and $7.9 billion, with about 4,600 of those getting more than $150,000 each.

And there was an oddity in the numbers: 174 claimed they saved 500 jobs each, the maximum under the law, at a rate seven times higher than the share of recipients overall that said they retained 500 jobs.

Many were counting workers contracted by other companies as saved jobs,

That means many temp companies were able to double dip,

getting paid twice for the same worker, once by the client and then again by taxpayers.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/double-dipping-temp-agencies-get-rich-off-19-bailouts-as-small-businesses-suffer/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[boutons_deux]

“State unemployment agencies have been so swamped with claims that more than $100 billion of benefits owed still haven’t been paid,”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/republicans-claim-unemployment-cash-is-making-people-not-want-to-work-turns-out-those-checks-never-arrived-for-some/

= 17M weeks @ $600/week

[boutons_deux]

Republican plan to cut enhanced unemployment benefits by $400 would cost 3.4 million jobs: analysis

GOP plans to propose a $1,600 monthly cut to unemployment benefits. Economists warn the move may tank the economy

reducing federal unemployment benefits by $400 would cost the US 3.4 million jobs and shrink the economy by 2.5% over the next year.

The move would reduce Americans' personal income by about $339 billion over the next 12 months,

costing the U.S. about 2.5% in gross domestic product and

resulting in 3.388 million fewer jobs created over that time period

"Let's be clear:

if you lost your job through no fault of your own and

can't go back to work because the Trump administration has mismanaged the crisis,

Republicans want you to take a pay cut of 30 percent or even more," Schumer said (https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1286721094595026949).

https://www.salon.com/category/economy-and-innovation (https://www.salon.com/category/economy-and-innovation)

[Winehole23]

1287801931084238848

[ElNono]

Dems should not bend over on corporate liability immunity, but they will.

The whole GOP 'rescue' plan can be summarized as: let's make unemployed people desperate to pick up any shitty job, where they'll likely get infected, and since we're shielding companies from liability, they can just go back home and hope they survive.

Also, let's add a $1200 carrot so we can shame Democrats if they don't want to pass this bill.

[Winehole23]

I don't think people have internalized how bad the initial economic shock was. Gonna be rugged when second and third order effects kick in.

1288132102492499969

[Trill Clinton]

1287947590559031296

more toys. fucc the American peoplehttps://www.thecoli.com/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/rejoice.png

[ElNono]

1287947590559031296

more toys. fucc the American peoplehttps://www.thecoli.com/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/rejoice.png

yeah, but all we're going to hear is how Democrats don't want to give the poor a $1200 check.

[Winehole23]

The Fed has been doing this for at least 20 years

1288167336571277314

[Winehole23]

He left out immunity from lawsuits for employers and the $2 billion to remodel the J. Edgar Hoover Bldg.

1288187190007275520

[Winehole23]

Looks like the Senate GOP cribbed its corporate immunity law from Andrew Cuomo.

https://sirota.substack.com/p/scoop-senate-gop-copied-and-pasted-25d

[ElNono]

Looks like the Senate GOP cribbed its corporate immunity law from Andrew Cuomo.

https://sirota.substack.com/p/scoop-senate-gop-copied-and-pasted-25d

Cuomo good now

[Winehole23]

Looks like GOP fears that UI will reduce employment isn't empirically supported


The report found that workers receiving larger increases in unemployment benefits experienced very similar gains in employment by early May relative to workers with less-generous benefit increases. People with more generously expanded benefits also resumed working at a similar or slightly quicker rate than others did, according to the report.

“The data do not show a relationship between benefit generosity and employment paths after the CARES Act, which could be due to the collapse of labor demand during the COVID-19 crisis,” said Joseph Altonji (https://economics.yale.edu/people/faculty/joseph-altonji), the Thomas DeWitt Cuyler Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and a co-author of the report.


Critics argued that the expanded benefits, which exceeded many people’s normal weekly wages, would incentivize businesses to lay off workers to cut costs and disincentivize recipients from returning to work. If the enhanced benefits had these effects, the researchers said, the data should show a significant drop in employment in the week after the CARES Act took effect; it should also show subsequent decreases in relative employment as workers with more generous unemployment benefits put off returning to work. The data did not yield results that support these predictions.

https://news.yale.edu/2020/07/27/yale-study-finds-expanded-jobless-benefits-did-not-reduce-employment
study: https://tobin.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/C-19%20Articles/CARES-UI_identification_vF(1).pdf

[Winehole23]

Cuomo good nowCuomo and DeBlasio are horrible.

[ElNono]

Cuomo and DeBlasio are horrible.

I know, I was being facetious.

[boutons_deux]

Cuomo and Deblasio, and "smart" New Yorkers, have gotten NY new cases way down from the MAR/APR peak.

https://www.statnews.com/feature/coronavirus/covid-19-tracker/?utm_campaign=hp_widget

otoh, red states and their ignorant freedumb fighters ... :lol

eg, Trash-fellator Desantis and FL now have more cases than NY

[boutons_deux]

$600 A Week:

Poverty Remedy Or Job Slayer?

the additional $600 weekly payment has become a financial lifeline (https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/20/892476371/the-end-of-600-unemployment-benefits-will-hit-millions-of-households-and-the-eco) for many households, helping pay for rent, food and clothing since the beginning of April.

the payment now also makes up about 15% of the entire nation's wages and is actually fueling a portion of the U.S. economy —

because unemployed people are spending more than they did before the pandemic, while those who have jobs are spending less.

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/27/895674685/-600-a-week-poverty-remedy-or-job-slayer

iow, in (and out of) the pandemic, $600/week IS a critical economic stimulus, poverty reducer, raiser of GDP by a few percent.

Repugs' proposed "stimulus" plan is to de-stimulate the economy and produce Ms more job losses and business failures.

Racist/misogynist Repugs/Capitalists just gotta keep Labor oppressed and in eternal, enslaving financial precarity,

and of course, esp blacks and browns and women are the main targets.

[Winehole23]

Making lobbyists eligible for PPP without a cap comes awfully close to Congress putting campaign cash into its own pocket.


However, the legislation’s rules on trade association eligibility were significantly altered just before the bill was formally introduced by Rubio and by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. The version they introduced would expand PPP eligibility generally to include lobbying groups with up to 299 employees, and the $500,000 loan cap was removed.

The last minute switch means that if the GOP bill passes, lobbying organizations for huge companies could get a giant government subsidy for their work influencing the government. https://sirota.substack.com/p/gop-bill-could-funnel-cash-to-corporate

[ElNono]

Florida man charged in federal court with using coronavirus relief funds to buy himself a brand-new Lamborghini

David T. Hines, a 29-year-old man in Miami, Florida, was charged in federal court with fraudulently obtaining $3.9 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans and then using the money to buy himself a 2020 Lamborghini Huracan, among other things.

Hines was charged with "one count of bank fraud, one count of making false statements to a financial institution and one count of engaging in transactions in unlawful proceeds," the US Department of Justice announced on Monday.

A complaint alleges that through applying from different companies, Hines tried to secure about $13.5 million in PPP loans. It accuses Hines of submitting loan applications with misleading and false statements about those companies' payroll expenses.

The aim of the program, part of the federal CARES Act enacted on March 29, is to give emergency financial help to Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the program, qualifying small businesses can apply for forgivable loans to cover expenses like job retention, payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent, and utilities.

Hines said in his PPP loan applications that he had four businesses with 70 employees and $4 million in monthly expenses, The New York Times reported. But an affidavit said that in reality, his monthly expenses totaled about $200,000.

The Justice Department said the complaint alleges that "within days of receiving the PPP funds," Hines went and bought a 2020 Lamborghini Huracan that cost about $318,000, "registered jointly in his name and the name of one of his companies."

After he received the funds, Hines didn't make the payroll payments he said he would on his loan applications, the complaint alleges. Instead, he apparently went on a "spending spree" involving "luxury jewelry, expensive clothes, visits to resorts in Miami Beach and expenses on dating websites," The Times reported, citing officials.

https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-man-buys-lamborghini-charged-coronavirus-covid-ppp-funds-huracan-2020-7

[boutons_deux]

I bet the next stimulus act will not be done before Congress takes a month summer break.

[Winehole23]

Dude, poverty in the went down measurably since the CARES Act. Who knew giving poor people money alleviates poverty?If Trump stays the course on CARES and demands $2000 monthly for all the American people, he could win. A heavy bribe might be magnified economically too.

It really weird to me that no one wants to be Santa Claus and shovel money out the door. For a bonus, it's Keynesian doctrine: if the government fails to replace lost aggregate demand, the contraction is steeper and recovery slower.

[boutons_deux]

2nd qtr GDP down 33%

Repugs' "stimulus" proposal is to increase poverty, decrease GDP, increase unemployment by Ms.

[boutons_deux]

If Trump stays the course on CARES and demands $2000 monthly for all the American people, he could win.

he can't win.

Santa Claus comes EVERY DAY for the oligarchy, making out like thieves (they are, money making money bullshit) by many $100Bs in 2020, so far.

New UI claims again 1.4M+ this week.

[DMC]

Dems should not bend over on corporate liability immunity, but they will.

The whole GOP 'rescue' plan can be summarized as: let's make unemployed people desperate to pick up any shitty job, where they'll likely get infected, and since we're shielding companies from liability, they can just go back home and hope they survive.

Also, let's add a $1200 carrot so we can shame Democrats if they don't want to pass this bill.

What do you suggest, that they remain unemployed and just be wards of the state?

[DMC]

He left out immunity from lawsuits for employers and the $2 billion to remodel the J. Edgar Hoover Bldg.

1288187190007275520

Didn't see your complaint about the Kennedy Center.

[Winehole23]

Didn't see your complaint about the Kennedy Center.Can't say I'm surprised they're porking it out in the sausage factory, thanks for adding a detail. :tu