What’s really happening which Trump isn’t saying: the failing delivery of appropriated funds to small business is no accident. The administration is helping big business use this opportunity to kill small businesses that compete for their market share.
Yesterday on Trail Mix, Trump’s Deadly Bargain to undermine testing and force opening economy by Election Day.
.
from the throw a party and nobody comes file
wapo:
i’ve heard of indentured servitude, but what about dentured servitude? sorta an involuntary slavery for pay?
Responding to reports that Americans might experience meat shortages as soon as this week, President Trump moved to force meat processing plants to keep operating.
fmr Sen Claire McCaskill just said on mojo that u.s. with only 4 per cent of world population has now almost a quarter of the covid deaths. really??? and why??? what happened to that oft repeated GOPer line about America having the best healthcare in the world?
*
wapo:
To support Poobah’s theme on this, the PPP program requires small businesses to use 75% of the loan funds received for payroll and the remaining money for utilities and mortgage expenses in order to have the loan forgiveness that’s dangled out there to entice borrowers to apply for the loans. Any laid off workers (after 2/15) have to be rehired by 6/30. There are no similar requirements for the $500B in loans available to large businesses. To them it’s just revenue. It’s in a word, bullshit.
Didn’t Trump get rid of the oversight of SBA funds? Those big companies (the ones we know about) say they are returning the funds in order to avoid bad PR. Will we have proof that they did so?
Harvard said it got funds it never requested? The Lakers, too. How did that happen, if it’s true?
Big Pharma is happy about Trump’s save-the-sausages mandate. Gotta keep selling statins for cholesterol and BP meds.
If only there was such a thing as unions to ensure the safety of workers. OSHA sure isn’t doing it.
ad now running on fox from the repubs for rule of law folk
And, they only have to keep employees for 8 weeks after rehire, in order to have the loans forgiven. Eight weeks to see if they can restructure the workload and cross-train folks. There will be jobs that don’t come back…at least not long term.
Meltdown
Bring it on
Hey Hey Trump Plague, how many did you kill today?
There is no question about the fact that there will be jobs lost over the long term to a number of changes that occur in the economy as a result of CV19 and changed consumption patterns. Our small office won’t experience that. Other, larger businesses will. The economy won’t come roaring back as SFB predicts. It will improve as restrictions are eased, but businesses that rely on customer volume on site will probably struggle. Others that rely on delivery of goods should prosper, and UPS, FEDEX, DHL etc. might be worth buying into. And Amazon…Bezos’ bottom line is going to look great as it expands into its own deliver system.
That “tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth” thing is largely meaningless, as both sides claim the other side is doing all the lying.
Meaningless, because while most people accept that premise, there is no information contained in it which could sway the vote of someone belonging to a “base”.
I doubt that Trump is smart enough to know how eliminate small business competition through legislation. The careful construction of the “small business” loan program that diverted most of the funds to big businesses was devised by Congressional lobbyists and the members of both parties who wrote the bill.
Don’t just blame the Republicans. The economically conservative “Establishment” Democrats care more about “Wall Street” than “Main Street” because that’s where they get their biggest campaign contributions.
Just received an invite for a hike and brunch with a bunch of church folks. No! They do not get it. Restaurants can open at 25% capacity on Friday. That does not mean to gather folks from several households to sit together, come into contact with other idiots, and, possibly start the spread, again.
It’s not just retail/foot traffic, because so much shopping is online now. Folks have to have jobs to be able to buy online, too. I work for a manufacturing company; business was down before I was laid off, due to the shutdowns around the country/world. We are still up, because we are manufacturing, supplying to essential businesses and direct to consumers online. What will matter is consumer confidence. Republicans have fought to keep aide away from everyone but the 1%. Folks will not only remember that in November, they will still be feeling it. The incumbent will lose, because he has done a piss-poor job of handling both the health and economic fallout of the pandemic. Trump has said he is not responsible. Use that as a tagline on ads showing all the ways Trump has destroyed America. No consumer confidence = dump Trump. JarJar says the economy will be rolling, again by July. Another lie.
Nash, the PPP program (3rd round of stimulus funding) was “negotiated” between House Dems and Repugs with Mnuchin over several days. Its deficiencies probably were as you say, the fault of Dems and Repugs, Wall Street lobbyists and the admin. However, there were oversight provisions written into the legislation of the 3rd round of stimulus that were written out by SFB’s Presidential signing statement, and a flat refusal by the WH to allow that oversight by Congress in any timely manner. By that time the legislation is passed and what is the House to do (it should be Congress as a whole, but GMAFB re McMertle joining any efforts) but go to Court to try and get the signing statement reversed? All I can say is good luck with that. Yes, both parties suck at the money tit from Wall Street, but distribute blame where it is due – in this case the bulk of it falls on the SFB administration and the Goldman Sachs wing of it – the Treasury Department.
Inside the mind of a Republican:
”I wonder what will happen if i pour gasoline on a fire? Maybe something really good!”
Hey Hey Trump Plague, how many did you kill today?
Hey Hey Trump Plague, how many did you kill today?
Hey Hey Trump Plague, how many did you kill today?
BiD, how many folks are going to need something from a boutique in McKinney?
How many people have Jar Jar and Ivanker evicted today?
Just have to share this comment from NotoriousMD in WaPo re: Pence.:
Pogo… OTOH… maybe Pence will get it… and bring it back to trumpty. Now THAT would be a thing of beauty!
Rick and I went on a BIG adventure this morning. We went to our local Dunkin Donuts drive-through. A breakfast sandwich… big iced coffee… and a vanilla frosted donut. It felt like heaven!
The prez of Brazil seems to be as big of a heartless idiot as Trump. Going to rallies and not taking any responsibility. Unchecked power is a virus.
Mike Pence covid19 carrier
Stacey Abrams would be in the attack position for the campaign and she is 1 billion times smarter than Pence and Trump She would light up the race in the best way possible
TT – There are, without a doubt, ladies-who-lunch whose lives revolves around spending money. I’ve known a few. Boutiques are weird and usually not a good credit risk. They have one or two of many items, so they have no critical suppliers; no need to pay vendors until it’s at the point of being placed for collection. Many just seem to submit purchase orders to see if they can get product shipped with open terms. If credit isn’t extended, the PO goes away. Some other sucker will send them something.
The top is getting richer but smaller. Many are dropping into the middle, which is also shrinking as those toward the bottom drop into poverty.
Make America Gasp for Air.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/politics/donald-trump-white-house-fox-news/index.html
Maybe he won’t go away after the election, but there is no need for anyone except his base (racists) to pay attention to him, nor is there any reason for anyone other than Fox Noise (the fascist, propaganda arm of the Republican Party) to give him any air time. Trump will continue to infect America. Socially distancing from him will be our best defense.
The small business loan/grants seem to be designed for those who are least hit and can keep their employees working. Maybe that is why construction companies are said to dominate. BTW, whos definition of small business did they use? There are some mghty big “small businesses” out there.
If I was a mom and pop small business that is shut down. I would put a sign in the window “out of business” tell the landlord maybe I’ll be back and maybe not. Then put everything in storage and go shopping for a better location at a cheaper rent. Don’t try to save the current business that way leads to personal bankruptcy, far different from business bankruptcy.
Jack
Maybe Pence and Trump don’t use a mask because they have a secret vaccine they are keeping from the public.
(see wut i did there😎)
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/business/starbucks-reopening-coronavirus/index.html
This will be a test of economic bounce-back. The little luxury of a fancy coffee. If folks are worried, they won’t be stopping at Starbucks every morning nor even every weekend. When folks start to feel secure and aren’t worried about how fast those $5 drinks can add up, then you’ll know we’re on the road to recovery.
Bink – Ha! I thought the same thing. And, were other higher-ups actually sick/recovered?
Still no word from Flatus?
gov Cuomo sounded like a fire & brimstone preacher this morning, calling out the sinners and daring them to repent
https://youtu.be/Jj8y0geRBw8
Ooooo, starting to see ads on TV from attorneys looking to represent workers who are/were infected with Covid-19 and think that their employers didn’t adequately protect them.
please note his show and tell on “who do they want to fund” segment starting at 5:17 minutes in on above video.
his point of ‘They want to fund corporate America. I say fund working americans” would make a good bumper sticker.
Boy, I wish Cuomo were the Dem nominee, right now.
Jack, it’s the SBA definition of a small business – less than 500 employees. HOWEVER, the stimulus program allows subsidiaries to get loans, so the total number of employees when measuring all of them including subsidiaries can exceed 500. I’ve seen nothing that suggests that the value or the cash position of the company is factored in. It’s stupid. L.A. Lakers is a prime example. It’s a $4.3B franchise that qualified for the money. Same for Harvard, which at 16,000 staff and faculty, including 2,400 professors, lecturers, and instructors. and a $40B endowment I have no idea how it could have qualified.
“I have no idea how it could have qualified.”
pogo, just ask their banks (who raked in a big fee) who contacted them and told them they qualified
The Mayo Hospital had various options for dealing with pence. The most sensible would have been to call the police and demand his arrest for tresspass.
More effective would have been to escort the creep into the morgue and drown his big gummint ass in the sink.
The clawback is going to be a non-stop show of bigbiz/ripuplican criminality.
Lock them ALL up.
Trump thinks small business just a bunch of losers you don’t have to pay. Just ask the construction subcontracters he put out business.
Hey, hey, donald j, how many grannies did you kill today ?
Also
Just like a turd that’s floating on the wa-a-ter, trump must be removed.
XR, grannies? Harsh. (I like it as a bumper sticker).
‘Harsh’ is okay. ‘Mauling’ would be better.
In the hospital I lie, thinking mother, dear, of you
And our bright and happy home so far away.
And the tears they fill my eyes, in spite of all that I can do
Though I try to cheer my children and be brave.
[Chorus]
trump, trump, trump! Our country’s dying.
Cheer up, men, for help will come,
And beneath the starry flag, we shall breathe the air again
Of the free land in our own beloved homes
Bid
From Sondheim’s 90th birthday celebration.
https://youtu.be/h7A5xLT77Fg
Kamala, Kirsten G & Bernie trying to get the work requirement (that Trump & the Repugz put in) removed from SNAP benefits. The local news said about 70% of those in food lines are first-timers. Charities can’t keep up with the demand for food, but so many aren’t eligible for SNAP because of the work requirement. The Republican motto: If you can’t beat ‘em, starve ‘em.
Jamie – That song was destined for a sad, Zoom cocktail party! (I actually had lunch with Christine Baranski…well, she came into the restaurant right after us, so near her, not with.) I loved Elaine Strich’s performance for Sondheim’s 80th on PBS.
Dear Donald J. Trump, Why do you hate my grandma?
Answer: She no longer produces. She’s on Social Security. Your grandma has no value.
The same answer you would get if you asked the pseudo-pro lifer, Dan Patrick.
They don’t believe in making sure anyone, including children, have food and shelter, either, the swine.
Dr. Fauci has announced that a Covid-19 “treatment” drug trial has had positive results. More research will be needed but Fauci says this is a very hopeful sign that the virus can be treated by this drug or similar but better drugs that will follow.
When Biden becomes President, he should award Dr. Fauci the Medal of Freedom. He’s the person at the White House Covid-19 briefings/campaign rallies that we can trust.
Trump will probably fire Dr. Fauci next week, because Trump hates it when someone gets more attention from the news media than he does.
Pogo:
Biden’s chief economic adviser if Larry Summers, Wall Street’s favorite economist. The Establishment Democrats do not give a damn about small businesses, or workers either.
The Democrats want everyone to blame Trump for any problems with this legislation but if Biden was in the White House all of these “stimulus” bills would have the same authors, the corporate lobbyists.
Remember how the 2009 bailout worked, and that was when the Democrats held both houses of Congress and the White House. The banks got bailed out and home mortgage holders got nothing. That was Larry Summer’s plan. He was Obama’s chief economic adviser.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/politics/trump-social-distancing-guidelines/index.html
Trump says social distancing will fade out. Huh? About the same number of Covid deaths in the US in a little over two months as died from flu in Oct – Feb…AND THAT IS WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING AND STAY-AT-HOME ORDERS. The orange man is either nuts or a monster, but either way, he’s gonna get more folks killed.
Nash – And that’s why Elizabeth Warren should be in a powerful cabinet position. I would love to have her on the ticket, but somewhere I read that VPs were referred to as “Your Superfluousness.” She deserves better, as do we.
I believe (and hope) that larry summers is just a guy on the advisory team and that ‘progressive’ Jared Bernstein is still the decider. I’d hate to think that summers would have responsibility over any policy more important than shoe polishing.
The dumb, blonde most-likely Trumper who has opened her salon (and who seems to love the attention and probably just wants to be on Faux Noise as a talking head) now has armed protestors with her. Yep, give me highlights or give me death. By disregarding public health mandates, why is this just a civil issue? Endangering public health, willfully, is a felony. Just waiting for the good word that she and the clients stupid and vain enough to show up have the cofeve. Maybe she can be a cautionary tale and up doing good in the end.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.texastribune.org/2020/04/27/texas-abbott-reopen-unemployment/amp/
In Texas, and probably elsewhere, if you get called back to work but fear an unsafe workplace, you get kicked off of unemployment. In Texas, you can be poor or dead, the choice is yours.
Wailing and gnashin’ ob the teefs about “both sides-ism” with absolutely no attainable end in sight is, at best, bullshit at the present time and needs to be treated as such. There is currently one side which is trying to kill America for everyone but the rich and kvetching about “both sides” is poisoning the well. It’s going to be close enough as it is without a Democrat 5th column of whiners undermining the effort.
If you want to whine about Democrats, please just go on over to the Susan Sarandon section and have a seat.
I hope the UFCWU tells trump and abbott to fuck themselves with meathooks.
Nash, what’s the point in arguing with you? I was unhappy with Obama’s relief package, tarp program, just as you were back then. So don’t give me this Obama did it too bullshit when Trump’s got McConnell and the goddamn ex exec VP o whatever the hell Dickneck was of Goldman Sachs negotiating on his part and then you’re complaining about the goddamn favoring of the rich and corporations when the oversight that would’ve prevented that was written into the legislation and then taken out of it by the president. Obama never did that shit. So you’re both side-ism doesn’t fly with me.
That eff-ing stimulus check site is ridiculous! If I ever see a check, I’ll eat my hat.
Sturg, yeah. It’s a binary choice. Pick a side, right? Advocate for it, right? Don’t fucking argue against it, right? Criticize the other side, right? How hard is this?
Better yet, call faux nooz and accuse larry summers of molesting you in the office.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-messaging/index.html
Your daily dose of whiplash: Now, Trump says testing is not important.
Meanwhile, JarJar Goebbels has decided to brand it a mission-accomplished moment.
That’s right declare victory and go home.
It ‘s in lardbutt’s best interest for this to not be on the nightly news.
Bleach, Lysol and lightbulbs did the trick.
THE GREAT RED FLOUNDER
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/polls-had-trump-stewing-and-lashing-out-at-his-own-campaign/ar-BB13onMY?ocid=spartanntp
There’s a really good series on PBS. Good and a little scary. Hopefully, reduced human action, reduced consumerism will help.
H2O: The Molecule That Made Us
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/politics/jared-kushner-coronavirus-success-story/index.html
JarJar, There are 61,361 Americans who would not call the Trump administration’s response to Covid a “success.” Well, they would disagree if they could, but they can’t…because they’re dead.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/us/nfl-salary-spt-trnd/index.html
Wow, pay cuts in NFL admin.
blueINdallas:
I would love to see Warren as Biden’s VP but he will not choose her. She threatens the corporate interest that he represents.
Biden was the one who pushed through the current federal bankruptcy laws that favor lenders over borrowers. He was always the guy in the Senate that the financial services industry went to when they wanted something.
pogo: Obama was an economic conservative.
“Obamacare” is a program that forces people to buy expensive private insurance and leaves millions of Americans without any insurance at all. This is not a liberal healthcare program. It is an economically conservative healthcare program and Obama considered it his most important achievement.
Larry Summers, Obama’s chief economic adviser, is a conservative economist who has made tens of millions as a consultant for Wall Street investment banks, and he is now Biden’s chief economic adviser.
So, yes, Biden is an economic conservative, just as Obama was. If Biden wins there will not be any substantial change in economic policy from Trump’s Wall Street team.
Also, Summers lost his job as President of Harvard University when he stated publicly that women were not as intelligent as men and should not study math or science. This reveals a lot about Biden’s view of women.
Nash – Joe beats Trump. I agree that we need change. We must rid ourselves of Trump’s mismanagement of everything, first. That’s the end game; beat Trump.
Covid may, eventually, turn into the equalizer, moving things to the left. The healthcare system is broken, not because we don’t have great doctors and facilities, but because access is limited due to costs (even if insured). There will be many unemployed for a long time. There will more layoffs in October, just in time for the election. (The airlines can’t have job cuts until then as part of their bailout.). And, the virus will still be with us.Joe is going to inherit an enormous mess. He’s going to need Warren’s input (plans for everything) to re-weave everything that has unraveled, hopefully, in a more equitable way.
The October surprise. Huge layoffs in the airline industry, for one. Also, how far things are from “normal.” Consumer confidence still in the crapper. Even if the virus is under control, we won’t have a vaccine.
I’ll be damned if I’m going to vote for putin because Obama leaned over backwards to get bipartisan support for ACA, the healthcare coverage bill.
I have a suspicion that we aren’t dealing with 3.0 today.
Ok Nash, I see you’ve decided you’re going to whine your way thru the election…….that’s too bad.
NEW THREAD