Tag: U.S. economy

Trump’s Chaotic Leadership Is Delaying Economic Relief

Yesterday, Trump claimed his administration’s rollout of its small business loan program was “performing well,” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Trump has failed to deliver the quick economic relief he promised Americans. Chaos, vacancies, and a failure in leadership have slowed the disbursement of urgently-needed assistance.

Trump’s latest failure of leadership is his botched management of the coronavirus response package.

Politico: “Massive stimulus packages don’t just need votes. They require expertise, professionalism and skill to execute, and it’s not at all clear that the Trump administration has enough of that to make this program work.  We’re already beginning to see signs of problems.” Continue reading “Trump’s Chaotic Leadership Is Delaying Economic Relief”

Big banks took ‘free money’ in 2008. They’re turning their backs now on small businesses, SBA official says.

Washington Post logo“What they are saying is, ‘I don’t give … a hoot about the small businesses,’”one SBA district director said in a candid call with business owners.

Big banks that received taxpayer bailouts during the global financial crisis a decade ago are now too slow in helping small businesses seeking assistance through a $349 billion emergency lending program, a high-level Small Business Administration official said in a recorded teleconference obtained by The Washington Post.

Some banks “that had no problem taking billions of dollars of free money as bailout in 2008 are now the biggest banks that are resistant to helping small businesses,” SBA Nevada district director Joseph Amato said in the Monday teleconference about the Paycheck Protection Program.

Amato’s comments offer a rare candid glimpse at the frustrations of federal officials working with thousands of banks to ramp up one of the most ambitious economic stimulus programs in U.S. history. Continue reading.

Pelosi, Schumer want aid to states, hospitals in GOP small business bill

The Hill logoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) say a Republican request to funnel an additional $250 billion to a special small-business loan program for the coronavirus crisis must also include hundreds of billions of dollars for hospitals, state and local governments and food assistance.

“As Democrats have said since Day One, Congress must provide additional relief for small businesses and families, building on the strong down-payment made in the bipartisan CARES Act,” they said in a statement Wednesday morning.

The Democratic response comes a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would ask for unanimous consent on the Senate floor Thursday to approve an additional $250 billion in funding for the popular small-business Paycheck Protection Program. Continue reading.

Trump expects quick economic comeback from coronavirus, but China’s incomplete recovery hints at long-lasting problems

Washington Post logoPresident has said he envisions a V-shaped rebound from recession’s depths. Experts say damage could drag into 2021.

Two of President Trump’s closest advisers on Tuesday predicted the economy will roar back to life later this year, even as China’s sluggish recovery from the coronavirus shows such optimism might be misplaced.

With China’s months-long outbreak apparently contained, most factories and businesses there have reopened. But fears of a fresh wave of infections led the government last week to reimpose travel restrictions in Wuhan, where the pandemic began, and order the closure of several hundred movie theaters that had just reopened for the first time since January.

The halting Chinese recovery offers sobering lessons for U.S. policymakers about what is shaping up to be a more protracted economic convalescence than the White House wants, according to business executives and economists. Continue reading.

Treasury’s Mnuchin seeks additional $250 billion to replenish small-business coronavirus program

Washington Post logoDevelopment comes amid surging demand for loans under rescue bill

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday asked congressional leaders to swiftly commit an additional $250 billion to replenish the new $349 billion small-business coronavirus program that is being overwhelmed by surging demand.

President Trump said banks have processed $70 billion in taxpayer-backed loans for 250,000 small businesses since Friday, as companies seek emergency help to deal with the enormous business disruption caused by the pandemic.

He did not say, though, how many of those loans have been approved or how many firms have received any of the money. And his data suggests the program has reached a small fraction of U.S. companies: There are 30 million small businesses in the United States that employ 60 million people. Continue reading.

Former FDA chiefs outline plan to reopen the economy — when broad testing in place

Mark McClellan and Scott Gottlieb write that Congress has “no time to lose” in building public health capacity.

Two former FDA commissioners, both with bipartisan credibility, are working with lawmakers on a framework to gradually restart the economy — as long as the country builds an ample testing and disease surveillance system to rapidly diagnose coronavirus, isolate infected people and effectively quarantine their close contacts.

Mark McClellan and Scott Gottlieb foresee a need for a vast expansion of the United States’ public health system that would require hiring and training thousands of new workers to bolster coronavirus surveillance. Their paper,exclusively obtained by POLITICO, also cautions that antibody testing is not a panacea to determine if individuals can return to the workplace; scientists need to learn more about the virus — and how much immunity people have once they’ve been infected.

“There is no time to lose,” they wrote. “Building these capabilities now will accelerate our ability to assure the public’s safety — the foundation for a sustainable and secure approach to reopening our communities.” Continue reading.

Outages and delays mar new small business loan program

The system the Small Business Administration is using to establish coronavirus relief loans was not functioning for most of Monday, banking executives said.

The electronic system the Small Business Administration is using to set up new coronavirus loans was down much of Monday, according to senior banking executives, making it impossible for many new loans to be guaranteed.

Billions of dollars in loans sought by small businesses trying to pay employees and keep their doors open were on pause as the SBA, supported by the Treasury, grapples with the demand on its system.

There are an estimated 30 million small businesses in America. Many are expected to apply for the program, which offers up to $10 million in loans that can turn into free grants if the businesses follow certain rules, which include using the money primarily for payroll. Continue reading.

Pressure mounts on Congress for quick action with next coronavirus bill

The Hill logoLawmakers are facing mounting pressure to move to the next phase of coronavirus legislation, less than two weeks after passing a historic $2.2 trillion economic relief bill.

While the most recent round of federal funding was unprecedented in its scope and scale, the delivery of the aid to its intended targets has been hobbled by administrative and other logistical pitfalls, causing delays in distribution and sparking widespread anxieties about when the assistance will reach businesses, families and workers hardest hit by the swift-moving pandemic.

Those problems have unfolded just as President Trump and his public health team are warning that the next two weeks could prove to be one of the most trying stretches in modern American history, as the number of cases and deaths are expected to spike and governments at every level implement ever-more-stringent self-isolation measures, which have already devastated businesses large and small across the country. Continue reading.

Health experts call for Roosevelt-style programs to kill virus, revive economy

The Hill logoA first-of-its-kind program that will deploy almost a thousand people across Massachusetts may be a small-scale test of what public health experts hope could eventually stamp out the coronavirus even before a vaccine becomes widely available.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said Friday that his state would join with Partners In Health, a Boston-based global health nonprofit, to turn staffers into contact tracers, the backbone of any robust public health effort to squelch a deadly disease.

Those contact tracers will interview people who have been infected with the coronavirus to determine who around them might also have been exposed. Those who may have been exposed will be warned to watch for symptoms themselves, giving public health officials a window into how the coronavirus is spreading and who might next be at risk. Continue reading.

Confusion surrounds launch of $349B in small-business loans

The Hill logoBanks and industry groups say a new rescue lending program for small businesses is off to a rocky start and may fall far short of what firms need to stay afloat during the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration (SBA) on Friday rolled out applications for small businesses to receive forgivable loans for payroll and other basic expenses amid the economic toll of the coronavirus.

But banks, credit unions and other lenders say the $349 billion program lacks clear guidelines to handle a looming wave of loan applications that could overwhelm the system while leaving some firms in the lurch. Continue reading.