covid-19 bailout bill
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">primary on smash and grab dereg eg coal blk lung?!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">see covid bailout 2 CARES</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">motherfrackers: not only got covid bailout but changed rules to pay down their DEBT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div><div><a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2020/05/11/oil-and-gas-companies-asked-then-received-changes-to-fed-coronavirus-stimulus-program/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2020/05/11/oil-and-gas-companies-asked-then-received-changes-to-fed-coronavirus-stimulus-program/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">o</font><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">il and gas companies asked, then received changes to Fed coronavirus stimulus program</span></b></div><h2 class="subTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 2.25rem; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Help with refinancing debt could help shale companies in PA</font></h2><ul class="si-accordion" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; list-style: outside none; line-height: 1.65; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="si-divider" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 1rem; border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 42rem; left: -1rem; position: relative; transition: padding 0.5s ease 0s;"><byline class="accordion-head title-color si-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 1.65rem; letter-spacing: 0px; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reid Frazier</font></byline></li><li class="si-divider" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 1rem; border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 42rem; left: -1rem; position: relative; transition: padding 0.5s ease 0s;"><byline class="accordion-head title-color si-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; line-height: 1.65rem; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0px; cursor: pointer;"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-transform="text-transform" uppercase="uppercase">mAY 11, 2020 </span></byline></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil and gas companies in Pennsylvania could benefit from a change to a Federal Reserve stimulus program aimed at helping businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Critics have attacked the changes, calling them a “stealth bailout” for heavily indebted oil and gas companies.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The changes were made in late April to the Fed’s Main Street Lending program, part of the $2 trillion coronavirus </span><a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;">relief bill</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> passed by Congress in March. The </span><a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/mainstreetlending.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;">$600 billion loan program</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> is intended to help small- and medium-sized businesses that were in good financial shape before the pandemic struck. </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b>When the Fed rolled out the program, it prohibited companies from using the loans to pay off debts.</b></span><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </i></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil and gas companies and their advocates asked the central bank to loosen up those guidelines. One of their biggest asks: They wanted to be allowed to use the loans to pay off other debts, too. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Fed’s final guidelines gave those companies their wish — companies could use the loans to pay off some types of debt. And the maximum loan size increased from $150 million to $200 million. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil-state Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota praised the changes.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> “It’s another arrow in the quiver” to help the oil industry in his state, Cramer said in a </span><a href="https://senatorkevincramer.app.box.com/s/6yae7q4g7gzsa8angdpaq8g423wtuiyn" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;">video statement</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">. </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmentalists questioned whether the government should be throwing a lifeline to the fossil fuel industry — one of the country’s biggest sources of greenhouse gases. <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/tag/climate-change/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;">Emissions must be cut dramatically, scientists say, if the world is to avoid the worst effects of climate change</a>.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Others saw the Federal Reserve — an independent institution that is supposed to stay outside politics — giving preferential treatment to a powerful industry with substantial ties to the Trump administration. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“This is an oil bailout for a specific set of companies,” said Graham Steele, the director of the Corporations and Society Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Steele, a former aide to Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said the program is risky because climate change risks making these companies’ assets — oil and gas reserves — “</span><a href="https://prospect.org/economy/climate-bailout-is-big-finance-bailout/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">stranded assets</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">” in the future, if governments tax carbon to avert runaway climate change. </span></b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">He said the loans are also risky because many of the companies were doing poorly </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">before</i><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> the pandemic. </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“(The Fed) had structured the program in a way so as not to lose taxpayers’ money. And now members of Congress and industry have lobbied them. And under that pressure, they have buckled. They have changed the program to help out a specific industry,” Steele said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Federal Reserve says changes to the program weren’t made with the oil industry in mind, and that other industries could benefit. Business groups like the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> also lobbied for the changes. </span></b></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But observers see the Fed’s revisions to its lending guidelines as a clear win for oil and gas companies. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Livingston with Eurasia group, a risk management firm, said the changes are especially good for oil and gas companies because of the high amount of debt some have accumulated.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>He said they’ve had to borrow because revenues from oil and gas alone have not been enough for them to cover their costs. </b></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“They were sort of running on a treadmill and the entire shale enterprise was increasing its production month over month, year over year over year, in large part, thanks to the continued provision of relatively low cost capital,” Livingston said.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The idea behind the strategy was that prices for oil and gas would eventually rise and they’d be able to pay off their debts. But the opposite has happened, at least for oil. It </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-05-08/how-the-coronavirus-caused-oil-prices-to-drop-below-zero-video" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;">plummeted into the negative range</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> in April, though prices are recovering. </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The loans could also help natural gas companies that operate in Pennsylvania. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">A group of GOP senators from Pennsylvania and other Appalachian states </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6884758-4-16-20-Letter-to-Mnuchin-Powell-Re-Nat-Gas.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">wrote</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> in favor of the changes in April. </span></b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Many producers will have debts come due before this health crisis is expected to subside,” the letter stated. “These companies would have been able to pay their debt obligations out of normal cash flows if not for the virus.” </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jeffrey Ventura, CEO of gas driller </span><a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2020/04/17/natural-gas-industry-urges-change-to-cares-act.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;">Range Resources</span></a></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">, also lobbied the Fed to loosen its guidelines</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. <b>A company spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. </b></span></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The CEO of the </span><a href="https://www.ipaa.org/letters-comments/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;">Independent Petroleum Assocation of America</span></a> <a href="https://files.constantcontact.com/8df2ce19301/1f68ad37-7a3f-405b-bfe5-abdece754cdc.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;">wrote</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Fed Chair Jerome Powell in April that loosening the loan guidelines would “limit the number of defaults” in the industry.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Oil and natural gas producers are not looking for a government handout; they are seeking a bridge to help survive this economic disruption,” the letter stated. </b></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s unclear which companies would take advantage of the program. Spokesmen for CNX Resources and Cabot, two of Pennsylvania’s leading drillers, both said their companies would not apply for the loans. EQT and Range Resources did not respond to requests for comment. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The crash in oil prices may have actually helped some of these companies by inflating the price of natural gas.</b></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since oil wells also produce natural gas, when oil production slows, less natural gas comes onto the market, and the price for natural gas goes up. Gas futures for January 2021 are trading above $3 per million British Thermal Units, well above the current $1.84 price. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Still, some of these companies are holding debts they accumulated from leasing millions of acres of land during the fracking boom that began around 2008.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“For years, shale was all about grabbing land,” said Bill Holland, who covers the natural gas industry for S&P Global Market Intelligence. “So these companies spent big to lease big, big tracts of land in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, in the Utica and Marcellus shales — the land grab. And that debt is still on their books.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>One company that could benefit from the Fed’s new loan program is Chesapeake Energy,</b> which has a big debt payment coming due this year. The company did not respond to a request for comment. </font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.65em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7; animation: 2s ease 0s 1 normal none running fadein;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But Holland said it’s unclear whether Chesapeake could qualify for the loan. News outlets are reporting the company,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> saddled with over $9 billion in debt, </span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chesapeake-enrgy-bankruptcy-exclusive/exclusive-chesapeake-energy-preparing-bankruptcy-filing-idUSKBN22B31M" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 2px; background-image: none; text-shadow: none; padding-bottom: 2px; font-weight: 600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;">is getting ready to file</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> for bankruptcy.</span></span></font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omfg</font></div><div><div>
</div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">superspreaders who beleive in small gov't take covid bailout $?!</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trumps-religious-right-backers-get-millions-in-covid%e2%80%8b-19-relief/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trumps-religious-right-backers-get-millions-in-covid%e2%80%8b-19-relief/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-style: inherit;">Conservative evangelical churches and advocacy groups led by vocal boosters of President Donald Trump have received millions of dollars in coronavirus relief funds, marking a <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/will-team-trump-use-coronavirus-crisis-to-further-dismantle-church-state-wall/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">new milestone</a> in the religious</span> right’s long campaign to take a wrecking ball to the wall separating church and state.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The Paycheck Protection Program included in coronavirus relief legislation was designed to help small businesses and other organizations stay afloat and keep people working during the pandemic. Religious-right leaders <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/will-team-trump-use-coronavirus-crisis-to-further-dismantle-church-state-wall/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">worked with</a> their allies in Congress and the Trump administration to make sure that churches would be able to <span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">receive direct government funding to support clergy salaries and other operational expenses. The program is administered by the Small Business Administration, which <a href="https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/SBA%20Faith-Based%20FAQ%20Final.pdf" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">waived normal requirements</a> that participants in its loan program abide by nondiscrimination standards.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On June 22, the <a href="https://vekeo.com/smallbusinessadministration/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">SBA hosted a “Recovery & Resilience for Faith Based Communities tele-townhall”</a> for leaders of churches and religious nonprofits to urge them to participate in the program by applying before the June 30 deadline—and to lavish praise on Trump for supporting the program.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> The call was promoted by the White House and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">religious-righ</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">t</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> figures like Gary Bauer.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Paula White, who oversees the Trump administration’s faith-based outreach from her perch at the White House, began the call by praying for the president. “Put a hedge and <b>wall of fire around him that no weapon formed against him would be able to prosper,” White prayed.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">White praised Trump and his administration’s extensively, saying, “it has always been his heart to make sure that houses of worship and people of faith have been protected.” She continued:</font></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(239, 243, 243); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">You heard that from way back, he was saying, ‘We’re going to put Merry back in Christmas,’ or talking about the Johnson Amendment. But he’s done so much to accomplish that. Things with religious freedom, like removing restrictions on grants. The PPP is one way that we begin to see this. There are so many others, but there are departments everywhere that have grants, and for years and decades, they’ve had restrictions that people of faith have had very, very difficult time. Well, our president made sure to remove those restrictions on grants, ensuring faith-based has equal access to capital, equal access to grant money.</font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>White’s own City of Destiny church got between $150,000 and $350,000 in PPP funds, according to SBA records.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">To overcome <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-congressman-rationalizes-pastors-taking-federal-coronavirus-cash-the-government-created-this-situation/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">the skepticism some conservative Christian leaders might have</a> about getting directly involved with the federal government, officials invited several prominent religious-right leaders to praise the program. While PPP funds could be a lifeline to smaller congregations and nonprofits, it turns out that staying afloat has not been a problem for some megachurches that had online worship and fundraising abilities. Instead, some of those megachurches have used money freed up by paycheck protection to expand their influence in their local communities.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Jentezen Franklin, a member of Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, is pastor of the multi-campus Free Chapel megachurch, based in Gainesville, Georgia. Franklin was effusive on the SBA call, marveling that his church received a “tremendous amount of money” within three weeks of applying for it. Data released by the SBA Monday make it clearer how “tremendous” that amount was—in the <b>$1 million to $2 million range.</b> With payroll covered by government funds and the ability to “catch up online,” Franklin said his church distributed $340,000 to small churches in his community.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Franklin has urged evangelicals to help reelect Trump or be prepared to face <a href="https://www.toddstarnes.com/values/jentezen-franklin-warns-of-dark-days-for-america-if-evangelicals-dont-vote-in-2020/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">tragic</a> consequences.</b> Trump publicly announced that he was watching Franklin’s worship service on March 15, which Trump had declared a national day of prayer.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Samuel Rodriguez, a pastor who prayed at Trump’s inauguration and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference</b>, said PPP money was “like manna in the desert of this pandemic.” Rodiguez said the church was “made for this hour,” adding that “for this administration to recognize the church and the faith community as essential is a game changer.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rodriguez’s New Season Church in Sacramento, California, received between $150,000 and $350,000. He said the money has helped his own church not just survive but help other churches and expand community outreach. Rodriguez, who recently denounced the Democratic Party as “<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/samuel-rodriguez-says-democrats-are-hostile-to-our-christian-worldview-in-every-sense-of-the-word/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">hostile to our Christian worldview,</a>” called the program a “powerful resource” and a “blessing.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“<b>This is Uncle Sam helping us do the will of our heavenly father,</b>” <span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Rodriguez said. “So the PPP enabled us to cover payroll for our staff that is right now praying for interceding for the needs of our community, not just physical, spiritual, but in mental and emotional needs, literally saving lives.”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Also on the SBA call was another <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/june-web-only/whos-who-of-trumps-tremendous-faith-advisors.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">member</a> of Trump’s evangelical advisory board, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family</b> and longtime opponent of reproductive choice and LGBTQ equality. Dobson said that his organization, the James Dobson Family Institute, “has literally been kept solvent this spring and summer by the Paycheck Protection Plan.” Dobson said that thanks to the money his organization had received, adding, “We have not asked for a cent from anybody in six months.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Other Trump-supporting leaders and organizations have done quite well. Here’s a sampling, drawn from our own research and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/virus-loans-helped-entities-tied-to-trump-evangelical-allies/2020/07/07/5b4303c8-c007-11ea-8908-68a2b9eae9e0_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">other reporting on the SBA records</a>:</font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1.2em; line-height: 1.5; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, led by Trump cheerleader<b> Robert Jeffress,</b> was among the megachurches listed as having received between $2 million and $5 million. Another was Guillermo Maldonado’s King Jesus International Ministry, which <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/evangelicals-for-trump-host-says-god-raised-up-trump-as-part-of-plan-for-end-times-second-coming/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">hosted</a> an Evangelicals for Trump campaign launch last year.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>The American Center for Law and Justice, part of the lucrative legal empire of Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow and his family, got between $1 million and $2 million.</b></font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">The anti-LGBTQ advocates at Liberty Counsel </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"></span>received between $350,000 and $1 million.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>End Times pastor Jim Bakker</b>’s Morningside Church got between $350,000 and $1 million.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Televangelist </span>Rick Joyner’s Morningstar Church got between $350,000 and $1 million.</font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Initially, the idea of tax dollars directly supporting clergy and church operations was defended as an extraordinary response to the unique situation caused by the pandemic. But on </span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/paula-whites-one-voice-prayer-movement-a-thinly-disguised-political-operation-for-trump/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">a phone call organized by Paula White’s One Voice Prayer Movement</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> in May,</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> former Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia, founder of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, celebrated that “precedents for religious freedom” that are being set during the pandemic</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">—specifically <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/will-team-trump-use-coronavirus-crisis-to-further-dismantle-church-state-wall/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">the unprecedented use of federal tax dollars to directly fund clergy and churches</a>—“are going to endure long after this coronavirus has gone.”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Marcus Harris, director of faith and community initiatives in the office of Entrepreneurial Development at the SBA, told people in the call, “One thing I’m able to say in my role as the faith-based leader here at SBA is that I know for many of you this is your first interaction with SBA, but we do not want this to be your last,” a sentiment that was repeated by SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza.</font></p><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trumps-religious-right-backers-get-millions-in-covid%e2%80%8b-19-relief/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags:</span> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/donald-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/james-dobson/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">James Dobson</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/jentezen-franklin/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Jentezen Franklin</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/jim-bakker/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Jim Bakker</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/paula-white/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Paula White</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/rick-joyner/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Rick Joyner</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/robert-jeffress/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Robert Jeffress</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/samuel-rodriguez/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Samuel Rodriguez</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/church-state/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Church-State</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/coronavirus/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Coronavirus</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/election-2020/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Election 2020</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/trump-administration/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump Administration</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/american-center-for-law-and-justice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">American Center for Law and Justice</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/first-baptist-church-dallas/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">First Baptist Church Dallas</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/liberty-counsel/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Liberty Counsel</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/trump-administration/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump Administration</a></font></p></div></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">cf covid baillout bill that might help larger co's buy up smaller dead co's</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ew 720</font></p><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/chesapeake-energy-2646306665.html" aria-label="Fracking Giant Chesapeake Energy Files for Bankruptcy" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); outline: none; font-family: inherit; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-size: 14px;">Fracking Giant Chesapeake Energy Files for Bankruptcy</a></h1><div class="post-tags-primary" style="margin-top: 5px; font-size: 10px; color: rgb(142, 142, 142); font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; display: inline-block; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="post-tags-primary-link" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(82, 149, 70); outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1;">FRACKING</a></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/i-cant-speak-negatively-about-the-president-trumps-watchdog-purge-is-on-the-mind-of-the-official-charged-with-stimulus-oversight/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/i-cant-speak-negatively-about-the-president-trumps-watchdog-purge-is-on-the-mind-of-the-official-charged-with-stimulus-oversight/</a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/the-cares-act-sent-you-a-1200-check-but-it-gave-millionaires-and-billionaires-so-much-more"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/the-cares-act-sent-you-a-1200-check-but-it-gave-millionaires-and-billionaires-so-much-more</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. </font></span></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Do you want to see how legislation that was supposed to be a bailout for our economy ended up committing almost as much taxpayer money to help a relative handful of the non-needy as it spent to help tens of millions of people in need? Then let’s step back and revisit parts of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and look at some of the numbers involved.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The best-known feature of the CARES Act, as it’s known, is the cash grant of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child for households whose income was less than $99,000 for single taxpayers and $198,000 for couples. These grants are nontaxable, which makes them even more valuable. Some 159 million stimulus payments have gone out, according to the IRS.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The income limits suggested that the plan benefits the people most in need, those most likely to spend their stimulus payments and thus help the economy. The rhetoric conveyed the same: “<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares/assistance-for-american-workers-and-families" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The CARES Act Provides Assistance to Workers And Their Families</a>” is how the Treasury’s website puts it. There were no grants to more-fortunate people, who for the most part aren’t in financial distress and are less likely than the less-fortunate to spend any money that Uncle Sam sent them.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">but when I began looking at details of the legislation, I realized that several of its provisions quietly provided benefits that were worth much more than $1,200 to some upper-middle-class people who didn’t qualify for stimulus payments. Some other provisions provided vastly bigger benefits to the rich, to corporations and to a relative handful of ultra-rich folks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So let me show you five provisions of the legislation that benefited the upper middle class (including yours truly); the families of Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; high-income people who make large charitable donations; and Boeing and other corporations that are showing losses; as well as indirectly benefited people who have substantial investments in U.S. stocks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These five provisions that help the well-heeled will cost the Treasury — which is to say, U.S. taxpayers — an estimated $257.95 billion for the 2020 calendar year. That’s nearly as much as the estimated $292.37 billion price tag for the stimulus grants to regular folks. The numbers are from Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper of the financial impact that legislation has on the Treasury. (I used those figures to calculate the spending for the 2020 calendar year rather than for 10 federal fiscal years because I’m interested in today’s impact, not the projected long-term impact.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I’m writing this now, more than two months after the CARES Act took effect, as a cautionary tale. That’s because with massive unemployment upon us and the fall elections drawing near, there’s a temptation for Congress and Trump to produce legislation that will help needy people a bit but help the non-needy a lot more by doing things like reducing capital gains taxes.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, let me take you through the provisions, only one of which — the break for the Trumps, the Kushners and their ilk — has attracted <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/04/30/848321204/how-the-cares-act-became-a-tax-break-bonanza-for-the-rich-explained" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">meaningful public attention</a>.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Eliminating Required Distributions From Retirement Accounts: $11.72 billion</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People ages 72 and up who have IRAs or 401(k)s or other “defined contribution” retirement accounts must take federally taxable required minimum distributions from them every year. (Some states also tax these distributions.) People who inherit such accounts are also required to take annual distributions, regardless of their age.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The required distribution amount is based on year-end age and account balances. For example, if you were 75 at year-end — as I was — your RMD for this year is 4.37% of your year-end 2019 retirement account balances. If you were 76, it’s 4.55%.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But this year, thanks to the CARES Act, I don’t have to take any retirement distributions at all.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not having to take distributions matters a lot to some people. For instance, if I took my full RMD this year, which I don’t plan to do, it would be one of my larger income sources. And I would have to pay federal and state income tax on it, regardless of whether I spent the money or saved it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I’d like to tell you how many people the JCT expects to benefit from this year’s RMD waiver; how much their distributions would have totaled and what the tax rate on them would have been; and how many people the JCT expects to take distributions this year even though they’re not required to take them. Alas, the JCT doesn’t disclose this information and declined to share it with me.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But even though I don’t have specific numbers, it’s clear that most of the benefit from this year’s RMD waiver goes to well-off people. Why? Because people who need retirement account money to live on are going to take distributions, and people who don’t need the money are unlikely to take distributions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The reason for the no-RMD provision is that the stock market was sinking rapidly in March, when the CARES Act was being discussed. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, for example, fell by 30.8% from the end of 2019 through its low for 2020 (at least so far) on March 23, a few days before Trump signed the CARES Act legislation. Congress didn’t want to penalize retirees by forcing them to sell stock during a market crash.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So if someone with a 4.37% required distribution had money in an S&P 500 index fund, our investor would have had to withdraw 6.32% of the fund’s balance (4.37 divided by 69.2) rather than 4.37% of it if the investor took the distribution on March 23. That would have hurt our investor’s future financial security.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If the market fell by 50% through year-end, which in the scary days of March seemed to be a distinct possibility and could still happen, our theoretical investor would have to cash out 8.74% of the account if RMDs were still required.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There were other ways to deal with this problem, such as letting people take a pass on their first $15,000 of RMDs, rather than giving a big break to the likes of me and a far bigger break to people with far larger retirement accounts than mine. But Congress and Trump didn’t do that.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Charitable Deductions: $4.83 billion</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Normally, people who itemize deductions on their federal tax return can deduct no more than 60% of their adjusted gross income for charitable contributions. But for this year, the limit is 100% of AGI.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Tax Policy Center, whose research helped inform this article, estimates that about two-thirds of the people who donated more than 60% of their AGI in past years had incomes of less than $100,000. But although such people accounted for the bulk of those making such large contributions relative to their income, the TPC says, “Most of the value of the deduction goes to just a small number of the very wealthy.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The theory behind raising the limit this year is that it will encourage people to make larger donations than they otherwise would. But I can’t imagine how this provision — like the provision allowing people who take the standard deduction to subtract $300 from their taxable income for charitable contributions — is going to significantly increase donations to charities trying to help people cope with COVID-19.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The $4.83 billion JCT number for this provision’s cost to the Treasury includes tax savings for both individuals and corporations.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pass-Through Entities: $140.61 billion</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, we come to the huge item that benefits the likes of Trump and Kushner, their families, other wealthy real estate types, hedge fund investors and all sorts of ultra-high-income people, who derive large amounts of money from partnerships, LLCs and other so-called pass-through entities.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As you’ll see in a bit, this big-time break provides a big-time benefit to a relative handful of people.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now that it’s a fait accompli, this provision is belatedly getting a lot of media attention. So I’ll spare you most of the details about how it allows the ultra-wealthy to use paper losses to offset income that was taxed in previous years, when tax rates were higher than they are now, and get refunds based on those old, higher rates.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Suffice it to say that the JCT estimates that about 82% of these benefits — let’s call it $115 billion — will go to about 43,000 taxpayers with $1 million or more in annual income. That’s an average of about $2.68 million each.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The new proposed stimulus package passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives — the HEROES (for Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions) Act — would repeal this provision. However, its prospects for passage in the Senate, where Majority Leader <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/M000355-mitch-mcconnell" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.</a>, has called the HEROES Act a “<a href="https://abc7chicago.com/fifth-coronavirus-bill-next-in-the-us-update/6182563/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">totally unserious effort</a>,” seem remote. He and other Senate Republicans insisted on making the break for pass-through entities part of the CARES legislation. It’s hard to imagine them allowing any new bailout legislation to reverse that benefit. I’m sure Democrats realized this but wanted to go on record as opposing the pass-through break.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The HEROES Act would also repeal the $10,000 limit on deductions for state and local income and real estate taxes, which Republicans included in the 2017 tax cut legislation to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-trillion-dollar-hit-to-homeowners" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reduce the cost to the Treasury of the big cuts</a> they gave to corporations and ultra-high-income people. (<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-trillion-dollar-hit-to-homeowners" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Not coincidentally, the cap hurt people in high-income, high-tax blue states</a>.) It’s hard to imagine this provision becoming law, either.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, let’s look at two corporate tax breaks inserted in the CARES Act. One lets corporations increase their interest deductions; the second lets them use tax losses from 2018, 2019 and this year to get immediate, substantial refunds rather than having to wait until they show future profits that offset those losses.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The people who benefit most from these corporate tax breaks, of course, are the corporations’ owners. (Workers, in theory, benefit to some extent, as well.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By increasing companies’ cash flows and reported earnings, these breaks help the share prices of corporations whose stock is publicly traded and help increase the value of privately held corporations.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stock ownership by individuals is concentrated among higher-income people.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate Interest Deductions: $12.09 billion</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the reforms of the 2017 tax act was reducing the amount of interest that corporations could deduct on their federal tax returns. The idea was to reduce the attractiveness of debt, which is subsidized by taxpayers and carries big risks to corporate owners as well as employees. (For examples, see the recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/business/neiman-marcus-bankruptcy.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">bankruptcies of Neiman Marcus</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/coronavirus-retail-bankruptcies-private-equity.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">J. Crew</a>, which were burdened with debt, part of it incurred to pay fees and distributions to the buyout firms that had taken them over.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The CARES Act undid part of the 2017 act by increasing the deductible level to 50% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from the previous 30%.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Like some of the other provisions that we’ve looked at, this doesn’t involve a lot of money relative to the numbers that we’re dealing with. But it’s symbolic. And the people benefiting the most from it because they have major investments in stocks aren’t likely to be worrying about how to pay for food or avoid losing their homes.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate Loss Treatment: $88.70 billion</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This does the same kind of thing for corporations that the pass-through provision we discussed earlier does for LLCs and partnerships and such. But it hasn’t attracted anything like the same attention that the pass-through giveaway has gotten because it doesn’t involve names like Trump and Kushner.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Until now, corporations that had losses last year and this year could carry them forward to offset taxes for future years, but they couldn’t apply them to get refunds of taxes paid in previous years.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporations can now apply losses from this year, last year and 2018 to income from the previous five years. That’s going to be a big deal for companies — can you say Boeing? — that are likely to show losses.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What’s more, these companies can get refunds of up to 35% of the losses they carry back to 2017 and earlier years, even though the corporate tax rate is now only 21%. The rationale is that because the corporate tax rate was 35% before 2018, companies should be able to get refunds today based on what they paid then, not on what they’d be paying now.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So this pays off on multiple levels: The beneficiaries not only benefit today from current and recent losses rather than having to wait until they have profits in the future, but they get a much bigger bang for the buck.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Our country is suffering through major, major problems. We’ve got more than 100,000 people dead from COVID-19, unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression, and protests and civil unrest in cities and towns across the country. We’re appropriately adding trillions of dollars to our national debt to try to forestall an economic meltdown. Let’s just hope that further federal aid goes to those who really need it. And doesn’t go to those who don’t.</font></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Filed under:</font></strong></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><a href="https://www.propublica.org/topics/trump-administration" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump Administration</font></a></li></ul></div></div></div><div><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></h1><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/jim-cramer-coronavirus-pandemic-triggered-one-of-the-greatest-wealth-transfers-in-history/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/jim-cramer-coronavirus-pandemic-triggered-one-of-the-greatest-wealth-transfers-in-history/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 620</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jim Cramer: Coronavirus pandemic triggered ‘one of the greatest wealth transfers in history’</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>Written by Andrea Germanos / Common Dreams June 5, 2020</div><div>
</div><div><b>CNBC‘s Jim Cramer said Thursday that that coronavirus pandemic has triggered “one of the greatest wealth transfers in history.”</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The remark from the network’s “Mad Money” host came amid “ominous” economic data but a rebounding stock market.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>“How can the market rebound without the economy? Because the market doesn’t represent the economy; it represents the future of big business,” said Cramer. “The bigger the business, the more it moves the major averages.”</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“And that matters,” he continued, ‘because this is the first recession where big business—along of course with bigger wealth, but that’s not really by show—is coming through virtually unscathed, if not going for the gold.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In contrast, small businesses are “dropping like flies,” Cramer said, attributing those failures to the fact that smaller businesses are struggling to pay rent as “major landlords” don’t appear to be offering relief.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“That’s the thing about this pandemic,” Cramer continued, “it’s been one of the greatest wealth transfers in history.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>Cramer projected that transfer to have a “horrible effect” on the country.</div><div>
</div><div>Further, the CNBC host said, “we’ve barely begun to see the impacts” of the pandemic’s economic fallout. Cramer pointed to the latest corporate bankruptcy figures he said would “chill both Republicans and Democrats.”</div><div>
</div><div>The new comments came a day before federal data showed the nation facing a 13.3 percent unemployment rate, and as a new analysis showed the <b>fortunes of U.S. billionaires increased by $565 billion between March 18 and June 4. That 11-week period also saw 42.6 million Americans filing jobless claims.</b></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">escondido avocado guy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/contractors-for-trumps-controversial-3-billion-food-aid-program-hired-a-longtime-lobbyist-to-tout-their-work/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/contractors-for-trumps-controversial-3-billion-food-aid-program-hired-a-longtime-lobbyist-to-tout-their-work/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At least one contract has already fallen through. Ben Holtz, a California avocado grower who lacked a USDA produce-dealing license, saw his $40 million contract canceled on May 22. The USDA didn’t give a specific reason for yanking Holtz’s deal, but the federal government generally has broad discretion to back out of contracts.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Holtz said he plans to pursue the government’s dispute resolution process to seek USDA compensation for work he’d already done. “They owe me,” he said in a text message.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A USDA spokesman said no other contracts had been terminated and the agency will audit companies to make sure they meet the contract requirements.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/D000399-lloyd-doggett" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas</a>, said the USDA should also cancel the $39 million contract awarded to a San Antonio-area wedding planner called CRE8AD8 after the San Antonio Express-News <a href="https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-event-planner-who-won-lucrative-15291382.php" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reported inconsistencies</a> in the company’s representations.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This contract was issued without a credible background check with a company not licensed to perform and with no work history indicating a capacity to perform at a time of urgent public need for competent delivery,” Doggett said in a <a href="https://doggett.house.gov/sites/doggett.house.gov/files/5.26.20%20Doggett%20ltr%20to%20Sec.%20Perdue%20re%20Farmers%20to%20Families%20Food%20Box%20Program.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">May 26 letter</a> to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. “CRE8AD8 was given until June 30 to complete distribution of the 750,000 boxes in a seven-state region, but to date it has apparently failed to distribute a single box.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A spokeswoman hired by CRE8AD8 to handle media questions said she was no longer working for the company. The company’s CEO, Gregorio Palomino, didn’t respond to requests for comment.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawmakers have also voiced concerns about how the Trump administration is implementing the $3 billion program.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We share USDA’s goal of providing effective and timely assistance to families, farmers, and food supply businesses like food distributors,” Reps. <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/P000610-stacey-plaskett" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Stacey Plaskett</a>, <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/C001059-jim-costa" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Jim Costa</a> and <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/F000455-marcia-l-fudge" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Marcia Fudge</a> said in their own <a href="https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/05_22_2020_farmers_to_families_food_box-reps.plaskett_costa_fudge.pdf?utm_campaign=388-520" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">letter</a> to Perdue, dated May 22. “We are concerned, however, that contracts were awarded to entities with little to no experience in agriculture or food distribution and with little capacity to meet the obligations of their award.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The letter asks Perdue to explain how the USDA wound up picking contractors without relevant experience or proper licenses. Some organizations across the country reported difficulty working with unfamiliar distributors who won the USDA contracts. Meanwhile, well-established firms said their bids were rejected on mistaken grounds.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Democrats also asked if the USDA thought about apportioning funding to regions based on population. Out of $1.2 billion in the program’s first round, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-food-aid-program-gives-little-funding-to-the-northeast-where-coronavirus-hit-hardest" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">just $46 million</a> is going to the Northeast. Even though the region has the most coronavirus cases, it received the least money of any region except the Mountain Plains, which has almost half as many people. Maine and Alaska were left out of the program altogether. Food banks in the Northeast told ProPublica the imbalance makes it harder to find food for hard-hit communities.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The USDA said it’s evaluating how to reach “underserved” areas in future funding rounds.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The controversy mobilized some contractors who wanted to change the narrative. Apley declined to specify which companies he’s represented or what they’re paying him. He said the companies pay a membership fee to be in the coalition he represents.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Apley is currently focused on shaping news coverage, he said direct lobbying of Congress could come later.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Our initial interest right now is getting the story out,” he said. Lobbying “is a possibility being discussed as we proceed.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Apley’s firm, Black Watch Agribusiness, advises companies on USDA contracting opportunities</b>, according to its website. Apley has been a registered lobbyist on and off for two decades, including as recently as last year, according to congressional records.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federal contracting rules <a href="https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-31-contract-cost-principles-and-procedures#id1617MD0D0DJ" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">prohibit</a> using taxpayer dollars on lobbying or political expenses. Contractors are, however, free to use their own funds to lobby, and routinely do.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump, his daughter Ivanka and Perdue have personally praised the program. “USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program is an example of Americans helping Americans, and something we should all be proud of,” Perdue <a href="https://twitter.com/SecretarySonny/status/1266007198955638786?s=20" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tweeted</a> on Thursday.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/giant-real-estate-companies-are-receiving-covid-19-relief-funds-that-werent-meant-for-them-thanks-to-loophole-in-governments-emergency-spending-program/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/giant-real-estate-companies-are-receiving-covid-19-relief-funds-that-werent-meant-for-them-thanks-to-loophole-in-governments-emergency-spending-program/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/pathological-trump-slaps-wind-and-solar-industry-with-50-million-in-old-rent-bills-while-pushing-big-oil-bailouts/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/pathological-trump-slaps-wind-and-solar-industry-with-50-million-in-old-rent-bills-while-pushing-big-oil-bailouts/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/stealth-bailout-big-oil-taking-1-9-billion-in-cares-act-tax-breaks-aimed-at-helping-small-businesses/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/stealth-bailout-big-oil-taking-1-9-billion-in-cares-act-tax-breaks-aimed-at-helping-small-businesses/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5/17 common dr</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bno lnx twt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">en. Bernie Sanders was among critics outraged that the fossil fuel industry is using tax breaks in the CARES Act meant to help businesses keep workers employed to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes—and then delivering that money to executives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Good thing President Trump is looking out for the real victims of the coronavirus: fossil fuel executives,” Sanders tweeted sarcastically Friday.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bernie Sanders</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@SenSanders</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coronavirus has killed more than 85,000 people. Some 36 million workers have lost their jobs. Good thing President Trump is looking out for the real victims of the coronavirus: fossil fuel executives. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-15/-stealth-bailout-shovels-millions-of-dollars-to-oil-companies …</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Stealth Bailout’ Shovels Millions of Dollars to Oil Companies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As it headed toward bankruptcy, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. took advantage of a little-noticed provision in the stimulus bill Congress passed in March to get a $9.7 million tax refund. Then, it...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bloomberg.com</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6,049</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10:52 AM - May 15, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2,232 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reporting Friday from Bloomberg News showed that “$1.9 billion in CARES Act tax benefits are being claimed by at least 37 oil companies, service firms, and contractors”—what watchdog group Documented senior researcher Jesse Coleman described as a “stealth bailout” of the climate-killing industry.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AD REMOVED FOR SUBSCRIBED USER</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In the name of ‘small business,’ we’re shoveling out billions of dollars to big corporations and rich guys,” Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told Bloomberg.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bloomberg used the example of how Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. manipulated the bailout to explain the tax scheme:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As it headed toward bankruptcy, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. took advantage of a little-noticed provision in the stimulus bill Congress passed in March to get a $9.7 million tax refund. Then, it asked a bankruptcy judge to authorize the same amount as bonuses to nine executives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Bloomberg’s reporting, Diamond’s refund pales in comparison to some of its larger competitors, “including $55 million for Denver-based Antero Midstream Corp., $41.2 million for supplier Oil States International Inc. and $96 million for Oklahoma-based producer Devon Energy Corp.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kevin Crowley</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@CrowleyKev</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OIL CAPITALISM -- Diamond Offshore takes $9.7m from American taxpayers, then earmarks the same amount to execs as bankruptcy bonuses. @jendlouhyhc </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">- Marathon gets $411m</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">- Oxy $195m</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">- Valero $110m</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">- Devon $96mhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-15/-stealth-bailout-shovels-millions-of-dollars-to-oil-companies …</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Stealth Bailout’ Shovels Millions of Dollars to Oil Companies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As it headed toward bankruptcy, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. took advantage of a little-noticed provision in the stimulus bill Congress passed in March to get a $9.7 million tax refund. Then, it...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bloomberg.com</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">132</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6:54 AM - May 15, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">137 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fossil fuel industry was already in financial trouble before the outbreak, which has effectively crippled Big Oil’s ability to make money—even with the generous subsidies given by the federal government. Access to bailout tax break funding is helping fossil fuel companies prosper, along with other climate-destroying industries like mining companies, which have also reaped millions from coronavirus relief legislation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Trump administration’s favor factory hasn’t stopped with a global pandemic,” Accountable.US spokesperson Jayson O’Neill said in a statement Friday. “As millions of jobs disappear week after week, the Trump administration is prioritizing aid for wealthy, well-connected corporations before small businesses.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">intercept 5/20</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">H<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://join.theintercept.com/go/9271?t=19&utm_source=The+Intercept+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&akid=2294%2E185521%2E34wOpv" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EROES Act Delivers a Win to the Health Insurance Industry</a></font></div><h4 style="margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16.25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Akela Lacy, Jon Walker</font></h4><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The health insurance industry has for weeks been lobbying Congress to protect employer-sponsored coverage in the next coronavirus stimulus package.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" class="yiv8876118678read-more" target="blank" href="https://join.theintercept.com/go/9271?t=20&utm_source=The+Intercept+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&akid=2294%2E185521%2E34wOpv" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase; display: inline-block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">READ MORE →</font></a></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">520 an</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/another-private-jet-company-owned-by-a-trump-donor-got-a-bailout-this-one-for-20-million/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/another-private-jet-company-owned-by-a-trump-donor-got-a-bailout-this-one-for-20-million/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/another-private-jet-company-owned-by-a-trump-donor-got-a-bailout-this-one-for-20-million/" rel="bookmark" title="Another private jet company owned by a Trump donor got a bailout — this one for $20 million" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" font-weight="font-weight" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" display="display" inline="inline" important="important" color="color">nother private jet company owned by a Trump donor got a bailout — this one for $20 mill</a>ion</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/stocks-of-private-equity-firms-are-soaring-as-the-economy-free-falls-investors-think-wall-street-is-the-real-beneficiary-of-governments-massive-rescue-efforts/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/stocks-of-private-equity-firms-are-soaring-as-the-economy-free-falls-investors-think-wall-street-is-the-real-beneficiary-of-governments-massive-rescue-efforts/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">desmog 520</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="views-field views-field-body" style="overflow: inherit;" open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif"><div class="field-content"><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Tuesday, May 5, several Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Committee hosted a <a href="https://naturalresources.house.gov/media/media-advisories/natural-resources-committee-hosting-livestream-discussion-on-may-5-on-trump-admins-pandemic-era-regulatory-rollbacks-and-fossil-fuel-agenda" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">virtual discussion</a> calling out how far the Trump administration has gone to cater to <a href="http://www.drillednews.com/post/the-climate-covid-19-policy-tracker" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">fossil fuel interests during the <span class="caps" style="">COVID</span>-19 crisis</a> and how that favoritism affects average Americans. </font></p></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-disqus-comment-count" style="float: left; margin-right: 15px; font-family: " open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="field-content" /></font></div><div class="views-field views-field-view-node" style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: " open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px"><span class="field-content"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/06/house-natural-resources-committee-trump-fossil-fuels-favors-coronavirus" style="outline: 0px;">READ MOR</a>e</font></span></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guk --> desmog 5/20</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>...fossil fuel companies have taken at least $50 million in taxpayer money they probably won’t have to pay back, </b>according to a review of coronavirus aid meant for struggling small businesses by the investigative research group Documented and the Guardian.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A total of $28 million is going to three coal mining companies, all with ties to Trump officials, bolstering a dying American industry and a fuel that scientists insist world leaders must shift away from to avoid the <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/20/the-climate-crisis-explained-in-10-charts" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">worst</a> of the climate crisis.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The other $22 million is being paid out to oil and gas services and equipment providers and other firms that work with drillers and coal miners.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Melinda Pierce, the legislative director for the Sierra Club, said: “The federal money Congress appropriated should be going to help small businesses and frontline workers struggling as a result of the pandemic, not the corporate polluters whose struggles are a result of failing business practices and existed long before <span class="caps" style="">COVID</span>-19 entered the public lexicon.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>More than 40 Democratic lawmakers have <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/492991-democrats-say-coronavirus-stimulus-should-not-bail-out-fossil-fuel?utm_campaign=Bailout&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87229767&hsenc=p2ANqtz-T0usMF1JIzmKzk4V6u3gpSocO0p8_Z8R4nHhJJRsSDTiCqDZi4fHWH2Q-H2zOK-oLJ_8SgiC8DYAyd7_8zP4kz_P_9w&hsmi=87229767" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">argued</a> that fossil fuel companies should not get any assistance under the coronavirus aid package.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some Democrats have also warned the forgivable loans being made under Congress’ Paycheck Protection Program could be a transparency disaster.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Banks and lending institutions are distributing the money, so the government says it cannot track recipients in real time. The loans revealed have been made public only through news reports and securities filings by publicly traded companies, although the Federal Reserve has <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/23/fed-to-disclose-bailouts-monthly-204953" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">committed</a> to issuing monthly reports.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So far, it’s clear the program is not working as intended. The funds are aimed at helping small businesses to keep paying their employees and covering other recurring expenses during the economic downturn. But they have been exploited by large companies forced to return the money amid a public outcry, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Shake Shack, and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The industry aid comes as the Trump administration is reportedly considering a broader <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-29/trump-said-to-be-briefed-on-emergency-aid-for-oil-industry?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=politics&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">bailout</a> for oil and gas corporations, which were <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/business/energy-environment/coronavirus-oil-companies-debt.html?utm_campaign=Bailout&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87229767&hsenc=p2ANqtz-T0usMF1JIzmKzk4V6u3gpSocO0p8_Z8R4nHhJJRsSDTiCqDZi4fHWH2Q-H2zOK-oLJ_8SgiC8DYAyd7_8zP4kz_P_9w&hsmi=87229767" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">already under pressure</a> before the coronavirus and have watched oil prices <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/30/covid-19-crisis-demand-fossil-fuels-iea-renewable-electricity" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">nosedive</a> because of a global price war and low demand for gasoline. The <span class="caps" style="">U.S.</span> government could make loans to oil and gas companies, essentially making taxpayers investors in the industry.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Federal Reserve on Thursday also announced changes to its lending rules that could help indebted petroleum firms.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>The idea that oil workers are getting a paycheck is great,” said Jamie Henn, a spokesman for the Stop the Money Pipeline campaign who co-founded the environment group 350.org. “The worry is that the money’s going to the top and not going to filter down.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The $50 million already paid to fossil fuel companies is a small fraction of the the $2.1 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, known as the Cares Act. But the total assistance to the industry is likely much larger than can currently be tallied and will continue to grow.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental advocates and oversight experts tracking the funds say it’s impossible to count how much of the money will assist fossil fuels, including because some firms provide services across multiple industries.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>All of this is voluntary disclosures by the companies,” said Jesse Coleman, a senior researcher with Documented. “No matter what, it’s going to be an incomplete picture of what’s going on.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coleman said in many cases the fossil fuel companies getting aid have made bad investments and “now they’re going to come crawling hat in hand and say: look at what the coronavirus did to us.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among the coronavirus aid recipients is <b>Hallador Coal, an Indiana-based coal mining <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1062934367" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">company</a> that hired Donald Trump’s former environment chief Scott Pruitt as a lobbyist.</b> The company’s former <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/04/21/this-coal-company-with-ties-trump-administration-just-got-10-million-small-business-loan/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">government relations</a> director now works at the energy department. Hallador is taking $10 million to fund two months of payroll and other expenses.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Coal mining company Rhino Resources, which was formerly run by Trump’s Mine Safety and Health Administration head, David Zatezalo, is receiving $10 million.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Coal firm Ramaco Resources, whose <span class="caps" style="">CEO</span>, Randy Atkins, is on the energy department’s <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.energy.gov/fe/national-coal-council" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">National Coal Council</a>, is getting $8.4 million.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <span class="caps" style="">U.S.</span> coal industry has been in steep decline, driven out of the market by cheap natural gas and environmental concerns. Trump campaigned on putting coal miners back to work, and his agencies have unsuccessfully explored ways to bail out coal companies, which are seeing their <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/us-coal-mining-employment-hits-new-low-at-the-end-of-2019-may-go-lower-in-2020-57173047" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lowest employment levels</a> in modern history. The Trump administration has also rescinded nearly all of the environment and climate protections the fossil fuel industry has opposed.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fossil fuel companies can also take advantage of tax benefits under the coronavirus legislation, including deferring payment of social security and medicare taxes.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><u>The Missouri-based Peabody <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/energy" target="blank" style="">Energy</a> coal company has said it will speed up collecting an alternative minimum tax refund of $24 million to 2020 and defer $18 million of owed taxes.</u></b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="caps" style="">U.S.</span> taxpayers already subsidize the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion a year, according to <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">conservative estimates</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Center for International Environmental Law has <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.ciel.org/reports/pandemic-crisis-systemic-decline/?utm_campaign=Bailout&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87229767&hsenc=p2ANqtz-T0usMF1JIzmKzk4V6u3gpSocO0p8_Z8R4nHhJJRsSDTiCqDZi4fHWH2Q-H2zOK-oLJ_8SgiC8DYAyd7_8zP4kz_P_9w&hsmi=87229767" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">accused</a> the oil, gas, and plastics industries of “exploiting the crisis by aggressively lobbying for massive bailouts and special privileges in a desperate attempt to revive an oil and gas industry already in decline.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis argues that federal lending to the oil and gas sector would be “a <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://ieefa.org/ieefa-commentary-federal-lending-to-the-oil-and-gas-sector-would-be-a-complete-waste-of-money/?utm_campaign=Bailout&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87229767&hsenc=p2ANqtz-T0usMF1JIzmKzk4V6u3gpSocO0p8_Z8R4nHhJJRsSDTiCqDZi4fHWH2Q-H2zOK-oLJ_8SgiC8DYAyd7_8zP4kz_P_9w&hsmi=87229767" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">complete waste of money</a>,” because it wouldn’t fix the industry’s underlying financial problems.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Oil industry lobbyists have pushed for changes at the Federal Reserve to let companies with large amounts of debt use its Main Street Lending Program and borrow to pay off existing loans.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an April 15 letter to the Federal Reserve, the oil trade group the Independent Petroleum Association of America asked for the new provisions, saying “oil and natural gas producers are not looking for a government handout; they are seeking a bridge to help survive this economic disruption.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental advocates say the move would disproportionately benefit <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://twitter.com/apark/status/1255914801441705984" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">small and mid-sized oil and gas companies</a>, such as Occidental Petroleum, which has <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/c/M4WN9xSByy8W2h4c4y3TlKXr0/W2Zlk4k5NGGgsW2xJsm98R3pKK0/5/f18dQhb0S66Y2dYTs8V1xQ8M5xzGqPN1gCHKyBK5sNW6vWH7v3v46r4W40nP_C6SbbdbW1q1fwy1Xx3P3W210tVf6gq8SnW1phqS04NXDv6N1g_P_Kq0G-3W143krb98NYbyW5Q0yV83rs3ZKW5ZZhRx535GDQW5NlQM82CfYgTW7rGCsQ333KNkW6p5dZb5p5g84W2cWfwL9cjpVqW8Hk6MP8mjKrgW8PFzpG1NFxTlW2ppCHj2CXV3gW5VrFgx8pjr8HW2FNTDy5v2W-hW6svxgj4j7rspN1dvnVyFM9DtVRhfls4YRnx0N8bfdw14KdLRN3vK2m-5gg4mW8gwgt08_6wmMN2jpt05YZ8GcW6HKd_Z4JK7m2W37TVHz2MdTBRW6JtfKm74dqlXN24PWd5wjt01Vs423Y4DkPCGVPblJd1ZK42qW6gHRc42PmGhWV7nZyS3kfyHYW5wGmbf7SDyKQW2N92b45wJyVMW3Pj8tr4ngG44W30BhtN1xPKBvN3d7CJsmsLGZN1K0hcfX3xrFW5n0r1b8w-r1ZW2y_t-w162fvVW6-tCBh7BYyz3W4RnC597hc3h6W8rLJvW25NhLPN8xP9C81x5zVf8h0_LF03" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">nearly $80 billion in liabilities</a> on its balance sheet.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Graham Steele, who directs the corporations and society initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business, called the situation the “<b><u>classic disaster scenario where an opportunistic administration and industry is taking advantage of a crisis.”</u></b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>And by the way, these are industries driving climate change. It’s both a bad financial proposition of the Fed and for taxpayers and a bad situation for the planet.”</font></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">420 pro publ</font></div><div><div class="yiv1386152512text-color_headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" tiempos="Tiempos" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin-bottom="margin-bottom" margin-top="margin-top" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold"><a rel="nofollow" class="yiv1386152512text-color_headline" target="blank" href="https://go.propublica.org/e/125411/lynewsletter-utm-content-river/7b2fcg/529526285?h=uj8Wb6SJ2GJhXhiSf9AZK9XJaAa9tURGIeChLuXCXQc" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Health Insurers to Investors: We’re Good. Health Insurers to Lawmakers: Please Help.</font></a></div><div class="yiv1386152512text-color_body" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cigna executives told analysts the pandemic wouldn’t hurt its business, while the health insurance lobby asked Congress for aid.</font></div><div class="yiv1386152512byline yiv1386152512text-color_supplemental" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.2em; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0.25em 0em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Isaac Arnsdorf</font></div></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">420 intercept</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">b<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://join.theintercept.com/go/7248?t=25&utm_source=The+Intercept+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&akid=2118%2E185521%2EBM4g_t" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ig Plastic Asks for $1 Billion Coronavirus Bailout</a></font></div><h4 style="font-weight: normal; margin-top: 5px; line-height: 16.25px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sharon Lerner</font></h4><p style="line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The companies seeking taxpayer dollars to fund recycling already have hundreds of billions at their disposal to pay for the processing of their products.</font></p><p style="line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" class="yiv9192169444read-more" target="blank" href="https://join.theintercept.com/go/7248?t=26&utm_source=The+Intercept+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&akid=2118%2E185521%2EBM4g_t" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase; display: inline-block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">READ MORE →</font></a></p><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/new-federal-reserve-and-treasury-department-program-will-offer-corporations-500-billion-no-strings-attached-bailout-loophole/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/new-federal-reserve-and-treasury-department-program-will-offer-corporations-500-billion-no-strings-attached-bailout-loophole/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4/27/20</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>aha sys fail insanity:</b> no brainer to stop subsidizing ?! banks keep loaning $ to frack tho NEVER MADE A PROFIT?! NOW GOV'T BAILOUT HAMM ETP KELCY; EXXON AND CHEVRON LOOKING TO BANKRUPT SMALL INDEP [THAT DJT CLAIMS TO CARE ABOUT] BUY UP ASSETS CHEAP <b>METHANE </b>WHICH ARE FRYING THE PLANET; MEANWHILE COVIS DEMOS FAIL OF LIBTARD, WE HAVE WINDOW GND, WAY CHEAPER THEN CLEAN UP COVID MESS WHICH HIT US B/C WE TAKE OUT HABITAT AND EAT WILD ANIMALS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">icn 420</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" arial="arial" verdana="verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif">s<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=49ffa6ac20&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">uper-Polluting Methane Emissions Twice Federal Estimates in Permian Basin, Study Finds</a></span>
BY: PHIL MCKENNA
<span helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" sans-serif="sans-serif">The methane is a byproduct of fracking for oil, often burned off at well heads or emitted into the atmosphere instead of being captured for use as fuel.</span></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">covid bail bill</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">cf antonia juhaz <b>bakken bailout?</b> oil -40$ bakken, 200b$ debt; in 2008 oil 150$, many poor cty could not afford, helped trigger Gt Recession?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">coi corrupt an 420</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">continental mat'ls</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/company-with-trump-ties-secures-5-5-million-ppp-loan-while-many-small-businesses-struggle-for-assistance-report/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/company-with-trump-ties-secures-5-5-million-ppp-loan-while-many-small-businesses-struggle-for-assistance-report/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Company with Trump ties secures $5.5 million PPP loan — while many small businesses struggle for assistance: report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence walk from the Oval Office to a coronavirus (COVID-19) update briefing Tuesday, April 14, 2020, in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson April 21, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many small businesses are struggling to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic and have reported they’re having a hard time receiving small business loans. But according to National Public Radio (NPR), one company that had no problem getting such a loan is one with ties to President Donald Trump.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The company, NPR’s Robert Benincasa reports, is Continental Materials — which manufactures heating and cooling equipment as well as construction products. Continental, according to Benincasa, qualified for a $5.5 million loan under the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program even though it “had more than $100 million in sales last year.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paul Ainsworth, Continental’s chief financial officer, told NPR that the money from the loan is being used to pay its 445 employees.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Ainsworth, “We had planned to furlough people, and we delayed those plans. To the extent that we had to let people go, we’re hiring them back.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s where the Trump connection comes in. Benincasa notes that Continental —according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — is mostly owned by the family of Ronald Gidwitz, who the president appointed as U.S. ambassador to Belgium in 2018. In the 2016 presidential election, Gidwitz (whose family is primarily based in Chicago) served as Trump’s campaign finance chairman for Illinois.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In July 2018, after the U.S. Senate had confirmed him for his ambassador position, Gidwitz resigned from Continental’s board.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Benincasa reports, “While the company may qualify as a small business under the PPP program, there are many much smaller businesses that have been unsuccessful in obtaining or even applying for the loans from their banks.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/here-are-4-appalling-features-of-the-coronavirus-taxpayer-funded-bailouts-that-prove-corporate-welfare-is-alive-and-well-robert-reich"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/here-are-4-appalling-features-of-the-coronavirus-taxpayer-funded-bailouts-that-prove-corporate-welfare-is-alive-and-well-robert-reich</font></a></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Here are 4 appalling features of the taxpayer-funded coronavirus bailout that prove corporate welfare is alive and well: Robert Reich</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Robert Reich / Robert Reich's Blog April 22, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the global economy, here’s how massive corporations are shafting the rest of us in order to secure billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded bailouts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The airline industry demanded a massive bailout of nearly $60 billion in taxpayer dollars, and ended up securing $50 billion – half in loans, half in direct grants that don’t need to be paid back. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Airlines don’t deserve a cent. The five biggest U.S. airlines spent 96 percent of their free cash flow over the last decade buying back shares of their own stock to boost executive bonuses and please wealthy investors.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">United was so determined to get its windfall of taxpayer money that it threatened to fire workers if it didn’t get its way. Before the Senate bill passed, CEO Oscar Munoz wrote that “if Congress doesn’t act on sufficient government support by the end of March, our company will begin to…reduce our payroll….”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Airlines could have renegotiated their debts with their lenders outside court, or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. They’ve reorganized under bankruptcy many times before. Either way, they’d keep flying.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The hotel industry says it needs $150 billion. The industry says as many as 4 million workers could lose their jobs in the coming weeks if they don’t receive a bailout. Everyone from general managers to housekeepers will be affected. But don’t worry – the layoffs won’t reach the corporate level.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Hotel chains don’t need a bailout. For years, they’ve been making record profits while underpaying their workers. Marriott, the largest hotel chain in the world, repurchased $2.3 billion of its own stock last year, while raking in nearly $4 billion in profits. </b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thankfully, Trump’s hotels and businesses, as well as any of his family members’ businesses, are barred from receiving anything from the $500 billion corporate bailout money. But the bill is full of loopholes that Trump can exploit to benefit himself and his hotels.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Cruise ships also want to be bailed out, and Trump called them a “prime candidate” to receive a government handout. But they don’t deserve it either. The three cruise ship corporations controlling 75 percent of the entire global market are incorporated outside of the United States to avoid paying taxes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">They’re floating tax shelters, paying an average U.S. tax rate of just 0.8 percent.</span> Democrats secured key provisions stipulating that companies are only eligible for bailout money if they are incorporated in the United States and have a majority of U.S. employees, so the cruise ship industry likely won’t see a dime of relief funding. However, Trump has made it clear he still wants to help them.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The justification I’ve heard about why all these corporations need to be bailed out is they’ll keep workers on their payrolls. But why should we believe big corporations will protect their workers right now?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The $500 billion slush fund included in the Senate’s emergency relief package doesn’t require corporations to keep paying their workers and has dismally weak restrictions on stock buybacks and executive pay. </b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even if the bill did provide worker protections, what’s going to happen to these corporations’ subcontractors and gig workers? What about worker benefits, pensions and health care? How much of this bailout is going to end up in the pockets of executives and big investors?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The record of Big Business isn’t comforting. Amazon, one of the richest corporations in the world, which paid almost no taxes last year, is only offering unpaid time off for workers who are sick and just two weeks paid leave for workers who test positive for the virus. Meanwhile, it demands its employees put in mandatory overtime.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oh, and these corporations made sure they and other companies with more than 500 employees were exempt from the requirement in the first House coronavirus bill that employers provide paid sick leave.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And now, less than a month into statewide shelter-in-place orders and social distancing restrictions, Wall Streeters and corporate America’s chief executives are calling for supposedly “low-risk” groups to be sent back to work to restart the economy. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They’re so concerned about protecting their bottom line that they’re willing to let people die to preserve their stock portfolios, all while they continue working from the safety and security of their own homes. It’s the most repugnant class warfare you can imagine.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s the bottom line: no mega-corporation deserves a cent of bailout money. For decades these companies and their billionaire executives have been dodging taxes, getting tax cuts, shafting workers, and bending the rules to enrich themselves. There’s no reason to trust them to do the right thing with billions of dollars in taxpayer money.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Every penny we have needs to go to average Americans who desperately need income support and health care, and to hospitals that need life-saving equipment. It’s outrageous that the Senate bill gave corporations nearly four times as much money as hospitals on the front lines.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate welfare is bad enough in normal times. Now, in a national emergency, it’s morally repugnant. We must stop bailing out corporations. It’s time we bail out people.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ctr-pt:</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-economic-growth-2645724784.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-economic-growth-2645724784.html</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url css-listicle-body-2645724784" data-elid="2645724784" data-post-url="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-economic-growth-2645724784.html" data-authors="Jordan Davidson" data-headline="Addressing the Climate Crisis Strengthens Economies, New Research Finds" style="margin-top: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">very country around the world would see economic gains from combating the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">climate crisis</a> and trying to keep global heating within the bounds of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Paris agreement</a>, according to a new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15453-z" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">study</a> published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15453-z" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Nature Communications</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-economic-growth-2645724784.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="particle-1" data-post-id="2645724784"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The straw man argument against taking action on the climate crisis is that the cost of limiting emissions and investing in green infrastructure is too steep and would cripple economies. It turns out, according to the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15453-z" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">research</a>, that the opposite is true.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, the study found that if nations around the world fail to curtail greenhouse gas emissions within the bounds of the Paris agreement, the global economy will lose anywhere from $150 trillion to nearly $800 trillion by the year 2100, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-action-economic-benefit-study-finds/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">CBS News</a> reported. The upper end of the range is if countries fail to meet their current commitments, which are inadequate to meet the Paris agreement as they are expected to lead to 3 degrees Celsius in warming.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-economic-growth-2645724784.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="particle-2" data-post-id="2645724784"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The study's authors, from the Beijing Institute of Technology and other Chinese institutions, billed their findings as a self-preservation strategy for government, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/14/worldwide-climate-commitments-economy-emissions" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The researchers calculated the potential benefits of emissions reductions by looking at the social welfare aspects of cutting greenhouse gases and its affect on economic growth. They found that the benefits from cutting emissions would provide the largest boost to developing countries with large populations of poor and vulnerable people, who are most likely to be negatively affected by droughts, floods, fires, storms and food shortages, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/14/worldwide-climate-commitments-economy-emissions" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a> reported.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While all countries would benefit in the long term, the most immediate benefits would go to developing countries with high emissions, such as India, Indonesia, Nigeria and China, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/14/worldwide-climate-commitments-economy-emissions" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-economic-growth-2645724784.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="particle-3" data-post-id="2645724784"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Paris agreement is composed of voluntary commitments known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, made by each country in the accord. The main aspect of the commitments is to reduce greenhouse emissions by cutting the burning of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">fossil fuels</a>, thus reducing global warming and the adverse impacts of warming. However, many countries are witnessing economic damage from the coronavirus lockdowns and are rethinking their commitment to their NDCs. Already, government bailouts for the fossil fuel industry and the airline industry are in the works, as well as a rollback of their carbon emission reductions, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-action-economic-benefit-study-finds/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">CBS News</a> reported.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"A number of studies have proved that current [NDCs] are not enough to achieve the global warming targets," said Biying Yu, from the Beijing Institute of Technology and a co-author of the study, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-action-economic-benefit-study-finds/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">CBS News</a> reported.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The research shows that the choice between climate action and economic growth is in fact a false dichotomy. The authors' work concludes that countries could reach their climate goals and at the same time see an increase in their net income.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-economic-growth-2645724784.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-basename="particle-4" data-post-id="2645724784"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-action-economic-benefit-study-finds/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">CBS News</a>, Yu and her team calculated ideal strategies for countries to improve their NDCs, minimize economic losses and maximize gains. They found that if nations are able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then the net global economic benefit would range between $127 trillion and $616 trillion by the end of the century.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Early and quick action will provide a better chance to close the widening emissions gap, even though a large amount of abatement cost would occur in the short term," said the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15453-z" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">study</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The literature overwhelmingly shows the economic benefits of serious mitigation efforts exceed the costs in the long run," said Noah Kaufman, a climate and energy economist from Columbia University, to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-action-economic-benefit-study-finds/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">CBS News</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, Yu is concerned that governments will be short-sighted and balk at the upfront cost of investing in infrastructure to combat the climate crisis. She also sees that the climate emergency takes commitments from every country.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Combating climate change is not a matter for one country. It requires collective action and cooperation from all countries around the world," Yu explained, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-action-economic-benefit-study-finds/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">CBS News</a> reported. "Let's work together and save ourselves."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /></div><p style="margin: 10px 0px;" /><div class="post-pager js-listicle-pager" data-listicle-style="" data-async_load_parameters="platform=desktop&display_ads=1&settings=%7B%22enter_url%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_post_section%22%3A+false%2C+%22ads_breaks%22%3A+%5B1%2C+1%2C+1%2C+1%5D%2C+%22prevent_last_break_repetition%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_numeration%22%3A+false%2C+%22allow_url_change%22%3A+true%2C+%22ads_order%22%3A+%5B1%5D%2C+%22pagination_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22list_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22reorder_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22cooldown_in_seconds%22%3A+null%2C+%22source%22%3A+%22post_listicle_settings%22%2C+%22next_post_url%22%3A+null%2C+%22up_down_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22show_columns_on_mobile%22%3A+false%2C+%22numeration_sort%22%3A+-1%2C+%22allow_url_update%22%3A+true%2C+%22use_pagination%22%3A+false%2C+%22body_text_above%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_ads%22%3A+true%2C+%22items_as_posts%22%3A+false%2C+%22multiple_answers%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_redirect%22%3A+false%2C+%22is_guest_voting_allowed%22%3A+true%2C+%22layout_type%22%3A+1%7D" style="display: table; 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border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">climate crisis</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">paris agreement</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/greenhouse-gases" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">greenhouse gases</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">fossil fuels</a></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/big-oil-bailout-2645732416.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/big-oil-bailout-2645732416.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 10px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jessica Corbett</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/we-need-peoples-bailout-not-polluters-bailout-climate-groups-move-preempt-big-oil" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">calls</a> for a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/24/500-groups-demand-peoples-bailout-counter-push-wall-street-friendly-coronavirus" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">People's Bailout</a> in response to the coronavirus pandemic continue to grow across the United States, a new analysis warns that the country's Big Oil companies "stand to reap yet another billion dollar bailout" thanks to the Federal Reserve's <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-fed-is-pouring-2-3-trillion-into-coronavirus-fight-51586443477" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">plans</a> to buy up to $750 billion in corporate debt.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://1bps6437gg8c169i0y1drtgz-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Big-Oils-Lifeline.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">analysis</a> (pdf), released Wednesday by the advocacy group<b> Friends of the Earth (FOE), explains that this expected bailout for polluters relates to a controversial $500 billion corporate slush fund included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that Congress passed in March....</b></font></p></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump administration on Tuesday reached a deal with major airlines to give $25 billion in relief to help the crippled industry. 420 ew</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/how-the-republicans-are-stealing-everything-for-the-1-percent/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/how-the-republicans-are-stealing-everything-for-the-1-percent/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/analysis-exposes-the-rotten-giveaway-to-millionaires-that-the-gop-buried-in-the-covid-19-bill/" style="font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" outline="outline" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" color="color" rgb="rgb" transition="transition" all="all" s="s" ease="ease" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" display="display" inline="inline" important="important" font-size="font-size" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height">nalysis exposes the ‘rotten’ giveaway to millionaires that the GOP buried in the COVID-19 bill</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/jessica-corbett/" title="Posts by Jessica Corbett" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: right; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Jessica Corbett</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: right;"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: right;">/</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: right;"> </span><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams/" title="Posts by Common Dreams" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: right; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Common Dre</a>ams</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/we-now-know-the-horrible-truth-about-trumps-so-called-stimulus/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/we-now-know-the-horrible-truth-about-trumps-so-called-stimulus/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>We now know the horrible truth about Trump’s so-called ‘stimulus’</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by David Cay Johnston / DC Report, Raw Story April 15, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A gold-plated tax giveaway infected the coronavirus relief bill that Donald Trump signed into law on March 27, Congressional Democrats complained loudly last month.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Democrats got it wrong. The plating turns out to be pure platinum.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Almost 82% of the tax savings will go to the Trump-Kushner family and 43,000 of their fellow millionaire landlords.</b> This rich and officially favored slice of American society consists of <b>fewer than one in 3,550 taxpayers.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">These millionaires will be excused from paying $70.3 billion in taxes out of the $86 billion the law forgives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The savings go to real estate investors like the extended Trump-Kushner family. The provision removes limits on how much in tax benefits they can enjoy each year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The figures were issued Tuesday by Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Two Democrats, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, requested the analysis of who benefits based on income, known as a distribution table.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Using the official data, I calculate that on average each benefitting millionaire will be excused from paying $1.6 million of income taxes.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Think about how many years it takes you to earn enough to owe $1.6 million in taxes. Depending on your tax situation, you’d need an annual income of $4.3 million to $8 million. This is the level of income in need of the most pandemic relief, the actions of that Trump & Co. prove.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now let’s look at the comparatively parsimonious relief for the vast majority of Americans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act benefits. Trump and the radical Republicans made sure to minimize their benefits as at least 17 million Americans jobs went poof.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most you will get is $1,200 plus $500 per child under age 17.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats wanted broader and larger aid, but Trump and the radical Republicans were so stingy that they denied any help to students 17 and older, even if they are not claimed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you make more than $75,000 your relief check starts shrinking. Once your income reaches $99,000 you get nothing. For married couples, double those income numbers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What a revealing policy:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">minimal benefits for 80% of Americans</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no benefits for those making $99,000 to $1 million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lavish benefits for capitalists making more than $1 million.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That brings into clear focus the Marie “let them eat cake” Antoinette policies of Donald Trump and the radical Republicans. Their policies are giving a fortune to rich lanlords, crumbs for the vast majority of Americans and nothing for the one in five households making between $100,000 and $1 million from work.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then there’s the cavalier attitude of Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary whose wife played the last French queen in a movie and who got super-rich from evicting people harmed in the 2008 mortgage scandals that collapsed the economy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mnuchin says Americans don’t need more than $1,200 to get buy for a few months. Here is Mnuchin’s exchange on CBS Face The Nation with host Margaret Brennan two days after Trump signed the coronavirus relief bill:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mnuchin: It’s really bridge liquidity for people as they go through these difficult times.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brennan: Bridge liquidity for about eight weeks?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mnuchin: Well, I-, I think the entire package provides economic relief overall for about 10 weeks.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can read the entire interview, which more fully reveals Mnuchin’s obliviousness. But then what should we expect from a former Goldman Sachs, former hedge fund manager and pal of felon financier Michael Milken?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Mnuchin is a swamp dweller who used his position as Treasury secretary to order up an Air Force jet so he and his actress wife could get a prime view of a solar eclipse, sticking you, fellow taxpayer, with the bill. He claimed he really needed the jet to inspect the gold at Fort Knox, wink wink.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course that’s small beer compared to the $133 million taxpayers spent on Trump golf trips so far, with a potential $340 million taxpayer cost of Trump’s golf trips. Don’t forget that candidate Trump vowed to never play golf and seldom leave the White House so he could fulfill all his campaign promises.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While people like Mnuchin and Trump live large on the taxpayer’s hard earned bucks and then arrange fortunes in personal tax benefits, the median wage in America is only $933 a week. That’s gross pay, by the way, not take-home pay.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One in four workers makes less than $15,000 annually, indicating they have part-time employment. And only one in four makes more than $60,000.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In many areas of the country an income of $60,000 is, for a family of four, below the new poverty measure called ALICE, an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, which I first wrote about more than five years ago.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALICE describes the vast numbers of Americans who work, but have little or no savings because they need every dollar of take home pay just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Just four days after Trump signed the CARES Act, with its bonanza for real estate owners like himself, MSNBC’s Katy Tur aired video of long lines of cars lined up on roads approaching food banks, lines that have grown and grown since then.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But worry not. Trump, through his Treasury secretary, has decided you’re getting plenty to live on for ten weeks, it’s just nowhere near enough for him and his kin.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/who-cares-let-em-get-wiped-out-stunning-cnbc-anchor-venture-capitalist-says-let-hedge-funds-fail-and-save-main-street/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/who-cares-let-em-get-wiped-out-stunning-cnbc-anchor-venture-capitalist-says-let-hedge-funds-fail-and-save-main-street/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">t<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/1144421/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">eam Trump threatened to kill pandemic relief bill if it included help for US Postal Service</a></font></div><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/hunter/" title="Posts by Hunter" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Hunter</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos/" title="Posts by Daily Kos" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daily Kos</a></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">April 13, 2020</span></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The rank malevolence of the Trump administration continues. The Washington Post reports that lawmakers fully intended to provide emergency funding to the U.S. Postal Service in pandemic stimulus measures, but the Trump White…</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.drillednews.com/post/the-climate-covid-19-policy-tracker" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.drillednews.com/post/the-climate-covid-19-policy-tracker</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">. Last week we launched our <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxNUMmOhCAQ_Rq5aVjcOHCYy_yGQai2SSMYKNv27wftyySVVPJqeYvRCEtMp9piRrJnSJOzig89lZISq1rLxm4kLk-PBLBq5xWmHci2z94ZjS6G60D0kjLyVNC2IPthHqwYWQ-GSug7Ic3YGabHhyAXzaR36yAYUPCGdMYAxKsn4pYr8VPx31LHcTQ2Oe_BBjhyY-Ja0Ou4NHxCbbxbi_TaxLezNZP1Foues8akzQsScYpTTmnLGGWUi65hzQEpfLIePnquWrouvMn7nLHsX-9JUpvG1byYKNPlcnrDxehU-roHh-cEQc9F0zcD_IZ2W8JzA3VJ9YBY-G_wDqaVjJPCZGP5GdQ_V39idoNi" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxNUMmOhCAQ_Rq5aVjcOHCYy_yGQai2SSMYKNv27wftyySVVPJqeYvRCEtMp9piRrJnSJOzig89lZISq1rLxm4kLk-PBLBq5xWmHci2z94ZjS6G60D0kjLyVNC2IPthHqwYWQ-GSug7Ic3YGabHhyAXzaR36yAYUPCGdMYAxKsn4pYr8VPx31LHcTQ2Oe_BBjhyY-Ja0Ou4NHxCbbxbi_TaxLezNZP1Foues8akzQsScYpTTmnLGGWUi65hzQEpfLIePnquWrouvMn7nLHsX-9JUpvG1byYKNPlcnrDxehU-roHh-cEQc9F0zcD_IZ2W8JzA3VJ9YBY-G_wDqaVjJPCZGP5GdQ_V39idoNi&source=gmail&ust=1586805136364000&usg=AFQjCNGcMDTiSiTc2ddLDg-DiO1P3pFtfg" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Climate-COVID-19 Policy Tracker </a>to keep tabs on industry moves to push through permitting, deregulation and bailout money while the world is distracted by … trying to stay alive. We started with just under 20, and that number has doubled in one week. It will be more next week.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">amy w</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fr<strong>om the Tracker: <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwtkE2ShCAMhU_T7LSCv7hgMZu5hoUQbaoVLAhte_tBe6ooAi_khXxaES4-nHL3kViKGEZrZNV3MAzAjGwMF61gNo5zQNyUXSWFhGxP02q1IuvdVVB3A3D2lKA09HUnhl4IDqITDc5tO0Nbz9APumVXm1ElY9FplPjGcHqHbJVPoj0-6p9H9ZvXcRzljAaDWgMuNhKGcvHvnDFepw0dxXyuoIIcoM4bF_9CAS3wKl8iBXQLPdFZtxQUlIu7ypI-C-uKbJtWRXn0Iur7N8zKqx4azoFDVbclLw8M7hNV_1HTo4FtqcqYpkhKv0rtNxbkrmjTL17n7HLRueUMZ8xxS87SOaJT04rmy42-oG8MdO4oHR5xRcoDfsUbZjPwiuVOxmdPJ02wa3a4nv4Bjm-Skg" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwtkE2ShCAMhU_T7LSCv7hgMZu5hoUQbaoVLAhte_tBe6ooAi_khXxaES4-nHL3kViKGEZrZNV3MAzAjGwMF61gNo5zQNyUXSWFhGxP02q1IuvdVVB3A3D2lKA09HUnhl4IDqITDc5tO0Nbz9APumVXm1ElY9FplPjGcHqHbJVPoj0-6p9H9ZvXcRzljAaDWgMuNhKGcvHvnDFepw0dxXyuoIIcoM4bF_9CAS3wKl8iBXQLPdFZtxQUlIu7ypI-C-uKbJtWRXn0Iur7N8zKqx4azoFDVbclLw8M7hNV_1HTo4FtqcqYpkhKv0rtNxbkrmjTL17n7HLRueUMZ8xxS87SOaJT04rmy42-oG8MdO4oHR5xRcoDfsUbZjPwiuVOxmdPJ02wa3a4nv4Bjm-Skg&source=gmail&ust=1586805136364000&usg=AFQjCNGITvFpGJGLMnaSuNHjm1AKehf-ZQ" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Don’t Sleep on the EPA’s “Secret Science” Proposal</a></strong></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EPA has forged ahead with finalizing new rules that will upend how the agency uses science to inform important anti-pollution regulations. Since first announced in 2018, scientists, public health groups, and environmentalists have steadily denounced this Trump administration effort as a ruse to sever environmental regulations from key scientific findings, notably 1993's landmark "Six Cities" study proving that tiny particle pollution (PM2.5) severely harms human health; it's created primarily by burning fossil fuels, The rule changes will also give regulated industries unprecedented power in shaping the agency’s use of science by “allow[ing] stakeholders to reanalyze the data and models and explore the sensitivity of the conclusions to alternative assumptions.” <strong>Public comment period closes May 18, 2020.</strong></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/theyre-crooks-coal-industry-aims-to-exploit-coronavirus-crisis-to-cut-payments-to-miners-with-black-lung" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/theyre-crooks-coal-industry-aims-to-exploit-coronavirus-crisis-to-cut-payments-to-miners-with-black-lung</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">no lnx </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">omg</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>‘They’re crooks’: Coal industry aims to exploit coronavirus crisis to cut payments to miners with black lung</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Written by Jake Johnson / Common Dreams April 12, 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Some of the largest coal companies in the United States are using the coronavirus crisis to pressure Congress to slash the tax that finances the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, a lifeline for more than 20,000 miners whose lung disease makes them more vulnerable to COVID-19.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Washington Post reported this week that the <b>National Mining Association (NMA), a trade group that represents the biggest U.S. coal operators still standing, </b>“asked Congress last month for a 55 percent cut in the excise tax for the trust fund, and a suspension of another fee that pays to clean up abandoned mines. Altogether the operators say they could save about $220 million.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“While the level of taxation to back the fund has fluctuated sharply over the past two years,” the Post noted, “it currently stands at $1.10 for every ton of coal mined underground and 55 cents for surface coal.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Harold Sturgill, a 60-year-old retired miner who was diagnosed with black lung in 1998, said in an interview with the Post that coal companies are “going to try to use this virus thing to stop paying benefits.”</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“They’re crooks,” Sturgill said</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Sierra Club</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">@SierraClub</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The burden should be on the coal operators,” Bounds said. “They come in our state, they mine our coal, they fill their pockets up, they declare bankruptcy. They leave with all the cash, and there’s no money to pay the miners.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/08/coal-black-lung-coronavirus/ … #blacklungkills #covid19</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As covid-19 hits, coal companies aim to cut the tax they pay to support black lung miners</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The nation’s coal companies, citing the economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic, want to roll back their payments to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. That would leave the federal government to...</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">washingtonpost.com</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">30</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">10:29 AM - Apr 9, 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">31 people are talking about this</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The NMA explicitly pointed to the coronavirus crisis in its tax cut request to Congress (pdf)—which was not included in the stimulus package that Congress passed last month—and labeled the coal industry “essential” to energy production in the United States. A group of Republican senators is currently pressuring the Federal Reserve to allow coal companies to benefit from the multi-trillion-dollar CARES Act.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“As the country faces this unique and mounting challenge around the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. coal miners continue to work to provide the resources necessary to power America while bracing for the severe financial distress facing all sectors across the nation,” NMA wrote to congressional leaders. “To minimize the impact of this crisis on the coal industry, Congress should ensure all businesses have the financial resources necessary to ride out the pandemic.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The group, according to the Post, intends to keep pushing for the tax cut in future stimulus legislation.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">As EcoWatch reported earlier this week, “in some states like West Virginia, coal mines have been classified as essential services and are staying open during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the close quarters miners work in and the known risks to respiratory health put miners in harm’s way during the spread of the coronavirus.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Nobody knows what this virus is going to do when it gets to this area,” Jimmy Moore, a 74-year-old black lung patient in Shelby Gap, Kentucky, told HuffPost. “It’s probably just going to wipe us out.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Miners and advocates have long warned about the financial health of the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which is deeply in debt, and repeatedly asked lawmakers to act to ensure that the program is sustainable over the long term. Last July, as Common Dreams reported, a group of around 120 retired miners traveled to Washington, D.C. to demand congressional action to secure the fund’s finances, only to be brushed aside by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Lynda Glagola, chairwoman of the National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics, told the Post that if Congress grants the coal industry its desired tax cut, “the fund will spiral deeper and deeper into debt causing it to become a red financial flag.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Especially at this time, as the economy is collapsing right before our eyes,” Glagola warned, “lawmakers will soon be looking for programs to cut to save money and reduce the national debt and deficit.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>In response to NMA’s request, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.)—chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee—and Rep. Matthew Cartwright (D-Pa.) wrote a letter (pdf) to congressional leaders last month urging them to reject the coal industry’s “wish-list” and “focus federal resources on the workers, families, and communities that are being hardest hit by this crisis.</b>”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The coal industry is taking advantage of the country’s current circumstances to advocate for policies that are completely unrelated to the current crisis, policies that would in fact set back efforts to improve the health and lives of people across the country,” the lawmakers wrote. “At a time when the country is facing a pandemic due to a respiratory illness, it is particularly egregious for the coal industry to advocate reducing the Black Lung Excise Tax.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-08/republican-senators-want-to-help-coal-get-u-s-bailout-money"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-08/republican-senators-want-to-help-coal-get-u-s-bailout-money</font></a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Politics</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Republican Senators Want to Help Coal Get U.S. Bailout Money</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>A group of 17 lawmakers sent a letter calling on the Fed to be “broad and flexible” in its distribution of bailout funds.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Akshat Rathi</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Cooling towers belonging to the Tennessee Valley Authority Paradise Fossil Plant, a generating station that used to burn coal mined by Murray Energy Holdings Co., are seen in Paradise, Kentucky, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">LISTEN TO ARTICLE</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> 3:52</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A group of powerful Republican senators wants to make sure the bailout program being administered by BlackRock Inc. on behalf of the federal government won’t leave fossil-fuel companies behind.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The U.S. government tapped BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, to become the buyer of corporate bonds as part of a $454 billion effort to bail out companies hit by the coronavirus lockdown</b>. That triggered a letter from Greenpeace, Sierra Club, 350.org and other environmental organizations on March 27 urging Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to weigh climate risk in its guidelines for BlackRock as it decides what sectors of the economy get financial support.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Now, in a letter sent Tuesday, a group of 17 Republican senators, including <b>James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Ted Cruz of Texas, are asking Powell and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin </b>to ensure that fossil-fuel companies aren’t excluded from the bailout program being administered by BlackRock.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The pandemic has created an unprecedented upheaval in the global economy. With governments around the world pouring huge sums of money into propping up struggling companies, climate advocates see an opportunity to speed up the transition to clean energy and make entire industries as green as possible. Republican lawmakers have opposed this encroachment from environmental groups, pushing back and largely succeeding so far in separating stimulus spending from climate concerns.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Senate Leaders Meet As Secretary Mnuchin Sees Emergency Package On Track For Monday Passage </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota]</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Led by Kevin Cramer, Senator from North Dakota, the group of Republican lawmakers seeking to safeguard fossil-fuel companies in the bailout draws heavily from states with concentrations of coal, oil, and gas extraction. Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, </b>who also signed the letter, heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">More From</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Bloomberg Green</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The letter calls for the Fed to ensure the relief program is “broad and flexible” and asserts that companies in the “energy and transportation sectors” deserve support. But the message appears particularly concerned with the possible exclusion of coal companies, noting that BlackRock decided in January to exclude any company from its actively managed holdings if it derives more than 25% of its revenue selling coal used in power plants. BlackRock has more than $7 trillion under management, although much of that is in passive holdings. A representative for the company declined to comment on the senators’ letter.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The flurry of exhortations are meant to influence the Fed’s planning, which has yet to be set in stone. Although the U.S. central bank is dedicated to buying newly issued corporate bonds, existing investment-grade bonds, and exchange-traded funds based on highly rated debt as part of its economic-relief efforts, it hasn’t laid out which specific sectors or companies will get the program’s attentions.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink shook the finance establishment in January when he called for a “fundamental reshaping of finance” in response to global warming. Last month he used his letter to shareholders to argue that the pandemic should be used by investors as an “opportunity to accelerate into a more sustainable world.” Within the environmental community, however, BlackRock isn’t always seen as a steadfast ally. The move to exclude coal companies from some investments drew ire from those who didn’t think the world’s asset manager was going far enough.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>BlackRock was responsible for a similar, smaller bond-buying program on behalf of the Fed during the 2008 financial crisis.</b> Even back then, some Republicans raised objections to selecting the asset manager. But it won out because Fed’s expertise is setting big-picture monetary policies, whereas firms like BlackRock are able to assess and manage different kinds of debts, such as corporate bonds.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>On Tuesday, BlackRock also won a contract to develop strategies for including sustainability in the European Union’s banking system.</b> The asset manager beat out eight other bids, and over the next year will help incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measures in the EU banks’ processes for managing risks and assessing investment policies.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">— With assistance by Ari Natter, and Annie Massa</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div></div><div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">so <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/so-much-for-church-state-separation-us-government-to-pay-pastors-salaries-with-relief-funding/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">much for church-state separation: US government to pay pastors’ salaries with relief funding</a></font></font></font></div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/kerry-eleveld/" title="Posts by Kerry Eleveld" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Kerry Eleveld</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos/" title="Posts by Daily Kos" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daily Kos</a></font></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Well, here’s something we didn’t know was part of the $2 trillion federal relief package: a provision that makes it possible for some of that relief money to be directed…</font></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">omg zombie reycling, pal of kudlow?</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/architect-of-reagan-era-tax-cuts-floated-to-head-trumps-coronavirus-economic-recovery-task-force/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">architect of Reagan-era tax cuts floated to head Trump’s coronavirus economic recovery task force</font></a></font></font></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Henderson</font></a></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">During the 1980s, Art Laffer was — along with fellow right-wing economist Milton Friedman — one of the top influences on Reaganomics. Laffer, now 79, has been speaking out about…</font></font></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">HAMM?</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RUS guest: $2 trill bailout = cost of GNP that wd help poor ppl color and transform to grn economy</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">paywall</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-pledges-support-for-embattled-oil-industry-11585952507"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-pledges-support-for-embattled-oil-industry-11585952507</font></a></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>trump Pledges Support for Embattled Oil Industry</b></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The president promised sector leaders the government would help revive the industry during a much anticipated White House meeting Friday.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Timothy Puko and Christopher M. Matthews</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Updated April 3, 2020 6:40 pm ET</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON—President Trump promised oil-industry leaders the government would help revive the sector during a much anticipated White House meeting Friday.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chief executives of Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. and leaders of seven other energy companies joined the president as the new coronavirus pandemic slows the economy and ravages the energy business. Dwindling demand has helped to halve crude prices since January and more than 70 U.S. oil companies, already heavy with debt, are at risk of bankruptcy, energy analytics...</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TO READ THE FULL STORY</font></font></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">----</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/rewarding-vulture-capitalists-trump-white-house-accused-of-smash-and-grab-economics-for-weighing-tax-cut-for-rich-investors-as-workers-struggle/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/rewarding-vulture-capitalists-trump-white-house-accused-of-smash-and-grab-economics-for-weighing-tax-cut-for-rich-investors-as-workers-struggle/</font></a></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Rewarding vulture capitalists’: White House accused of ‘smash-and-grab economics’ for weighing tax cut for rich investors as workers struggle</font></b></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald J. Trump participates in a roundtable on the economy and tax reform Monday, April 15, 2019, at Nuss Truck & Equipment in Burnsville, Minn. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Jake Johnson / Common Dreams April 6, 2020</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As desperate workers, the unemployed, and small businesses struggle to obtain benefits authorized under the multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law late last month, the White House is reportedly considering an additional slate of aid measures that critics say would disproportionately favor the wealthy while providing little relief for those most in need.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Washington Post, citing two anonymous officials familiar with White House discussions, reported late Sunday that the Trump administration is weighing “a payroll-tax cut, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">a capital-gains tax cut, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">creating 50-year Treasury bonds to lock in low interest rates, and a waiver that would clear businesses of liability from employees who contract the coronavirus on the job.”</span></font></b></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump is also considering an infrastructure package, according to the Post, but the idea faces internal opposition from top advisers.</font></b></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Slashing the capital gains tax, a move that would overwhelmingly reward rich investors, has long been an obsession of the Trump White House and congressional Republicans. Last year, as Common Dreams reported, Trump floated the idea of bypassing Congress to index capital gains to inflation, but never acted amid warnings that such a unilateral change would be illegal.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated in a 2018 analysis that 86% of the benefits of indexing capital gains to inflation would flow to the top 1%.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Capital gains tax cut. No detail. But (see above) they seem to like recycling bad ideas.</font></b></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So take their last bad cap gains tax idea as an e.g. of the shape of distribution you can expect from a tax cut geared to people with cap gains. I.e., regressive.https://t.co/VZfWf4t0Mv pic.twitter.com/hy6q9VVuEI</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Chye-Ching Huang (@dashching) April 5, 2020</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“A capital gains tax cut would be smash-and-grab economics with no value to the economic and medical calamity facing us,” tweeted HuffPost senior reporter Zach Carter.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critics also took aim at the other proposals under consideration inside the Trump White House, including the waiver relieving businesses of liability for workers who get sick on the job.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Won’t somebody please think of the employers who want to coerce their employees into accepting life-threatening workplace conditions without facing legal liability,” New York magazine’s Eric Levitz tweeted sardonically.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Freelance journalist Jon Walker called the Trump administration’s reported proposals “the worst possible set of ideas for dealing with a pandemic.”</font></b></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">“We are beyond parody at this point,” Walker wrote. “Making it easier for people to get sick at work. Rewarding people for going into work. Rewarding vulture capitalists profiting off a crisis.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House deliberations over a fresh coronavirus aid package comes as the mammoth legislation Trump signed late last month is failing to get much-needed relief into the hands of people and small businesses, vindicating progressives’ warnings that the package amounted to little more than a massive bailout for big corporations replete with goodies for the well-off.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Friday, the Trump administration launched the $350 billion small business relief program authorized under the $4.5 trillion stimulus package. But the rollout was disastrous as small businesses struggled to apply for loans and some of the biggest banks in the country sat out the process entirely as the Treasury Department failed to provide adequate guidance.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The estimate is there are 30 million small businesses out there,” wrote David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect. “About 4.5% of all of them will have a chance to get relief. Half of small businesses haven’t paid rent in April, which if I’m doing the math correctly is more than 4.5%. And millions of them will have no federal help, no customers, and really no hope.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Workers and the unemployed, meanwhile, have yet to receive the one-time $1,200 cash payments and expanded unemployment benefits to which they are now entitled under law.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the Post reported late Sunday, “the law’s provision to boost unemployment benefits has become tangled in dated and overwhelmed state bureaucracies, as an unprecedented avalanche of jobless Americans seeks aid.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Millions of workers are filing for unemployment and businesses around the country are struggling to stay afloat,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “This crisis isn’t going away soon. The rise in jobless claims makes it clear Congress must continue working on the next relief bill to get Americans the help they need.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said Friday that Congress—which is officially on recess until April 20—must move urgently to enact the “boldest legislation in history” to combat the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic collapse.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We are in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that could lead to the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans and infect millions of others, and we are entering an economic downturn that could be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s,” said Sanders.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Vermont senator proposed a number of relief measures, including $2,000 in monthly payments to every person in the U.S. for the duration of the crisis and immediate suspension of all rent and mortgage payments.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In this unprecedented moment in modern American history,” said Sanders, “it is imperative that we respond in an unprecedented way.”</font></font></font></p><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">We don’t yet know exactly what schemes Trump and Big Oil are ... uh ... scheming.</b><span style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><br style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /><br style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /><span style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">But we do know this:</span><br style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /><ul style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li>Big Oil is the most profitable business in <i>all of human history</i>.</li></ul><ul style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li>Its profits are a <i>direct result</i> of poisoning our air and water to the point where human existence itself is in peril.</li></ul><ul style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li>The industry outright lied <i>for decades</i> about what it knew about the damage it was doing.</li></ul><ul style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li>Just one company (Exxon Mobil) in <i>just one year</i> (2019) had revenue in excess of $275 billion.</li></ul><ul style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li>Since ripping a hole in the ocean floor and “spilling” 210,000,000 gallons of raw petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico during its Deepwater Horizon catastrophe 10 years ago, BP has made over $3 trillion. <i>Trillion!</i></li></ul><b style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Despite all that, there’s been talk of a taxpayer-funded bailout for Big Oil.</b></span></font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/bill-moyers-and-former-chief-inspector-general-of-tarp-break-down-the-unquestionable-scandal-brewing-in-governments-massive-corporate-bailout/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/bill-moyers-and-former-chief-inspector-general-of-tarp-break-down-the-unquestionable-scandal-brewing-in-governments-massive-corporate-bailout/</a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bill Moyers: So what do you think are the chances that this new and even more expensive stimulus enacted by Congress last week will achieve its goals? </b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: Well there are a bunch of different programs that are within this legislation. And some of the goals are relatively simple to discern. Cutting checks of $1,200 each to each taxpayer — you know, who’s making less than $79,000.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That’s a pretty clear goal. I mean, the goal is to get cash in people’s pockets so they can continue to eat and pay their rent and survive. You know, expanding unemployment, again, that is a discernible goal, and a very admirable one, right?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People are losing their jobs. We’re gonna have historic unemployment very soon if we don’t already have it. And getting people relief is just so vitally important. And so for those goals, I think there’s a straight line between what the policy is, what the implementation is, and what will happen. It’s pretty straightforward.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I think as you get more and more disconnected from direct help to individuals to filtering that money through corporations and tax breaks and other types of mechanisms, it becomes a little bit less clear whether or not the connection between the money that is spent — and the achievement of the goal of helping workers, if that’s in fact what our stated goals are. And so—</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: My understanding is that it’s supposed to enable corporations to preserve the jobs of the people who work for them until we get this disease under control. </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: But the general idea of it is we’re gonna take<b> $350 billion. We’re gonna give it to small businesses.</b> And we’re gonna tell them as long as you don’t fire anyone for a period of time, for eight weeks, you get to keep all the money, right?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And so that’s a pretty clear line between getting small businesses the money they need to keep employees on staff, and there’s some holes in the legislation and I hope and pray that the small business administration will plug those holes.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But then you have the $500 billion program being run by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. And there, again, you have more of a disconnect between the money and how it’s going to be deployed, and its impact it’s going to have on payrolls.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For a lot of that money, there isn’t that direct link. There aren’t necessarily those conditions that link the support with keeping payrolls high. And so there, it’s much more of a let’s put the money out there, and hope that everyone keeps their payrolls the same.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And so when you’re doing that, obviously, when you don’t have those connections, and you don’t have that same assurance, that there’s an economic incentive for the company to be receiving the money to achieve the policy goal, well, that kinda brings us back to where we are in 2008.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>And it didn’t work then. </b>And I do worry about whether it’s going to work now. But again, we also don’t know all the rules and the regulations and the guidelines that’s going to accompany these bills. But the fact that Congress really didn’t insist on the strings attached to a lot of this money that I think we originally had been told they would, is a cause of concern.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That those policy goals may not be reached. And then there are other provisions which seem even further afield, tax breaks — net operating loss provisions money for the real estate industry, which just looks like traditional corporate tax breaks, which frankly have not historically been shown to necessarily have an impact on payrolls.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bill Moyers: Doesn’t this new bailout, include a provision which allows the Fed to meet in secret with no records kept? I mean what the hell is that about?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Neil Barofsky: It’s not encouraging, Bill. It is not encouraging. To put it mildly. And I see that. But the results should still be posted and made available to the American people. Good governance says you keep records, and you keep detailed documents</span>.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And again, maybe this is me going back to 2008 and just being naïve. But having spent a lot of time working with the Federal Reserve, I found that many of the people there, and many of the people I dealt with, not all to be clear, but many of them, and I would say the overwhelming majority, were trying to do the right thing, and wanted to do the right thing. I sort of maintain hope that they will do the right thing with this.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: Are the people who won the first time gonna win the second time?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: There’ll be different sets of winners and losers. The big financial institutions who were obviously the biggest winners of the last bailout, they’re gonna win again. They always win. That’s kinda the way our system is organized.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps not as dramatically as last time. Because remember, last time, they caused the crisis. They would have failed, gone bankrupt, but for the government intervention. And they were restored to record-breaking profitability within a relatively short period of time because of the way the bailouts were structured, getting them bigger and even more powerful than they were going in.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>So they won before. They’re gonna win again.</b> They’re gonna be well paid for their services in helping to administer this bailout. There are provisions that are very helpful for them, including bringing back some crisis era bailout programs that will go right to their bottom line, for sure.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So they will win again. But the other winners — it’s gonna be a wider swath of winners.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last time you had the very institutions that caused the problems receiving the money. And a lot of the companies that are gonna receive bailout money here or stimulus money, if you wanna call it that, it’s through no fault of their own. They didn’t create the virus. They didn’t subject themselves to the virus. This is just a global pandemic.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But there will be companies that are safe because of it. And so to that extent, they’re the winners. And then there’s companies that are just gonna make lots of profits that is just a result of some of the wheeling and dealing of Congress. When you look at some of the extraordinary corporate tax breaks that are being extended by this bill, particularly in the real estate industry, those are just gonna be winners, right. We just have to hope that it’s not the same set of losers as last time, which is the American people who were supposed to be helped.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: Listen to these headlines I brought with me. Washington Post: “Coronavirus stimulus package spurs a lobbying gold rush.” The Guardian: “Washington lobbyists in frenzied battle to secure billion dollar Coronavirus bailouts.” The Wall Street Journal: “Lawmakers pack federal stimulus bill with pet provisions.” New York Times: “Fine print of stimulus bill contains special deals for industries.” I mean, that happened after the first bailout, right? And it’s happening all over again.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: And we unfortunately, we should not be surprised. Right? I mean one of the realities of our system is that corporate America has a large influence on how these bills play out. And, again, we saw it maybe on miniature last time because it was really one industry that was part of this process.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And now, when you have something as far-reaching as this, it is the entire lobbying industry and pet projects and the things that don’t seem to quite fit with the rest of the bill that are in here, and to me, that’s where it would come back to my old role of oversight and why it’s so important.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Because when you have something as sprawling and ill-defined as some of these programs, there’s very, very little guidance and guidelines as to who that money is going to and how it’s going to be spent, and what the conditions are. Oversight and transparency just becomes so much more important, in order to keep the process as level and fair as possible.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: Whereas the first bailout involved one industry, banking. And here, there’s a vast number of potential recipients of the money. How real is the danger that, rather than preserve jobs, the money will flow right through the company and the companies into the pockets of shareholders? </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Neil Barofsky: I mean, one of the important things to remember is that for a large, large chunk of this money — particularly that that’s being controlled by Treasury, for the overwhelming majority of that money — there are no provisions that the Treasury Secretary can’t waive if he chooses to do so, that would keep companies from engaging in stock buy-backs or dividends or other distribution of money directly to shareholders.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And so without those types of restrictions, that is very much a possibility, and it is very much reality of the way this is structured.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You must have unrelenting transparency and sunshine being shined on the decision-making process, the terms and performance of these programs. It is of vital importance that there’s at least the risk of disclosure as a deterrent, in framing these programs, to keeping them from straying from the stated policy goal into a form of giant corporate welfare.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: Given the huge amount of money, and the short time until the election in November, isn’t political fraud a real possibility? Couldn’t a lot of this money be a kind of slush fund for the president and the Secretary of the Treasury and their minions to send it where it could do their party the most good?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: And in this bill that real possibility is one that again, coming back to the oversight, is so important. Because this is where, you know, to quote Justice Brandeis, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” This is why the application criteria for lending needs to be objective and transparent. The processes have to be politically blind.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And there has to be someone overseeing this process to make sure that, however the selection processes are run, that they’re being done in a consistent and fair and balanced way. Because in the darkness, that is where the ability to misdirect funds away from where they’re going to have the biggest impact, which is what you want, to a way that has the biggest impact for a particular individual or political party, or particular favored industry, which we don’t want. Right? That defeats the whole purpose of the expenditure of this money that’s not being used to achieve a policy goal of keeping people in their jobs.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And it is only with transparency, and only with oversight. Because look, Washington is a transactional town. It always has been. It is an incredible corrupting influence that exists, that has always existed, and probably always will exist. And it is naïve to think that it won’t happen if there’s not some other counter-weighing balance. And that’s where you need to have transparency and oversight as this constant reminder that, “Hey, if you do this, if you follow that inclination and do something that’s not in the best interest of the program, we’re gonna put it on the website. We’re gonna publicize it. Everyone’s gonna know. And that political opportunity you have is going to turn it into a liability.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And that’s how you keep people honest. And that’s why transparency is so important. </b>And in some ways, for the, sort of the next-rung-level-down officials, the assistant secretaries who, you know, who are political appointees that are taking these jobs because they wanna make a difference and do it right, it is a giant blessing to them. Because it helps shield them from the political process.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I remember when we were doing audits related to Congressional influence on decision-making process. And, you know, we found, perhaps not surprisingly, that many members of Congress called many decision-makers at Treasury and said, “Hey, we want the bank in our district to get money,” irrespective of whether that bank should have gotten money or should not have gotten money.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And one of the things that we were able to help and protect those officials was [by] saying, “Look. If you give money to these people, to these banks that don’t deserve it, it’s gonna be exposed. And that’s not gonna do you any favors. It’s also not gonna do that congressman any favors.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And so transparency is something that just really benefits the entire system and process, and is really a necessary component of oversight. And so we’re gonna have to really keep a close eye on this as we go forward.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bill Moyers: Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans did not want oversight of the stimulus. They didn’t even want to require companies to spend the money on keeping their workers working.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They wanted the Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, to be free to choose who gets the money and who doesn’t. And to keep his choices from the public for six months. McConnell then tried to weaken a strong oversight proposal. Finally, as we saw, both sides compromised, and the bill was passed with, you know, amazing bipartisan support.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Yet, when the president signed the bill last week, the only people he had in the Oval Office with him were Republican members of Congress and the Secretary of the Treasury, all, by the way, white Republican men.</b> Now, what do you take from that? As a moment of bipartisan triumph, the first time in years this happened in Washington, the only people who get invited to celebrate with the president in the Oval Office are Republicans?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: I think it is a reflection of where we are today as a country. We’re at a moment of such crisis. It is a time to come together. And I know that sounds hackneyed and it sounds like something in a fortune cookie. But it is true.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is a moment to come together, where we come together as a country and fight this pernicious evil, the virus.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And that’s not the time you want to sow seeds of division and rewarding your friends and punishing your enemies. This is a time for reaching out. And I think it’s gonna potentially really hamstring our ability to recover. But I guess that is what Washington is today. And that’s what—</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: Yeah.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: —it’s been for the last couple of years. And you know, I maintain hope in a lot of different ways, that policymakers and decisionmakers, you know, can look past their biases and do what’s right for the American people. And I maintain that hope.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: I’m sure you noticed that Congress actually borrowed ideas and even language concerning the inspector general’s office from the first bailout bill, to include it in the bailout bill we’re talking about.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The language about the new inspector general is supposed to monitor how the Treasury Department extends loans and loan guarantees to businesses. And the new <b>legislation requires the new inspector general to notify Congress immediately if the White House doesn’t cooperate fully with an audit or investigation</b>. That is familiar to you, right?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: Very familiar. That is, word for word, one of the provisions that I relied upon so much at SIGTARP.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And that’s, I mean, the important thing there is that is not an option. Right? That is an obligation. It’s a statutory direction. And frankly, it is an incredibly important tool. For me it was an incredibly important tool. Because, as an inspector general, you don’t have any real way to compel other parts of the government to cooperate with you.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>If it’s a third party, you can send a subpoena, you could bring them to court, you can get a court order, and you can force them to provide you with information. But within government, all you have is good faith. You ask for the information and you hope that they provide it.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And the one remedy that Congress provided me, and provided this new inspector general, is the duty, the obligation, the requirement, to let Congress know that, “Hey, I can’t do my job, I can’t fulfill these things that you told me I have to do to report on to you and to the American people, because this area of Treasury, or this area of the Federal Reserve, or this area of the White House, is refusing to provide information.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And it’s a powerful tool. Because I will say that the mere, I wouldn’t say threat, but when I would advise another agency that was refusing to provide us information, that I would have no choice but to disclose this to Congress, was pretty powerful in moving people and getting people to cooperate. Because Congress cared. Congress was invested. And they could make a pretty big deal if they felt like the inspector general was being obstructed. And so it’s a key provision to insure compliance within the government.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bill Moyers: So listen to this headline from The Washington Post, quote: “Trump takes immediate step to try to curb the new inspector general’s autonomy.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In fact, earlier in the week, when reporters asked Trump about oversight of the lending programs, the president replied, “I’ll be the oversight.” Then later the White House issued a statement saying the inspector general will be subject to the president’s supervision. What went through your mind when you heard that?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Neil Barofsky: “I will be the oversight,” I thought, that was President Trump’s id taking over. But that’s not how you want it. And that’s not how it works.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It could strip one of the most important tools that an inspector general has in obtaining information. And information is the currency of success for oversight. You can’t have transparency if you have an inspector general who can’t get information.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And so if, in fact, that statement is breathed into life and results in the inspector general being shut down from informing Congress about necessary information, including obstruction of its efforts to gather information, that could be potentially devastating to oversight.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It reminded me that, look, I did work under the oversight of the president, first Bush, and Obama.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Technically I reported to them, although I never had a conversation with either one.</b> But they had the ultimate supervisory authority over me. And that is that they could fire me at will.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you were going to be an inspector general, and you were going to operate within highly publicized, highly controversial, high profile programs, every day you have to go to work prepared to be fired, if you’re gonna do your job the right way. You just have to take that fear and that reality and you gotta put it on a shelf in the morning, and leave it there. And then you could pick it up on your way back home. And you look at your baby, and you look at your apartment, and think — then you can worry about it. But during those hours when you’re in that office, you can’t think about it.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And so this is very chilling. And it has a potential of really frustrating independence. But at the end of the day, a lot of it is gonna depend on this inspector general and how they see their obligations going forward.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: But at the same time, Neil, the new law gives the Treasury Department broad discretion over how to disperse these billions upon billions of dollars. And the fellow running Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, has been implicated in so many scandals. I wouldn’t want him in the same room with my kid’s piggy bank.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During his confirmation he failed to disclose to the Senate Finance Committee nearly $100 million in assets. He didn’t tell them about his role as a director of an investment fund in the Cayman Islands, where very rich people send their money to be laundered. He lied to Congress about foreclosure misconduct activity by a bank he managed. He reportedly misled Congress about a deal the Treasury Department struck with a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is the man President Trump wants to hand out billions of dollars to corporations and to Wall Street, a guy up to his neck in various conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and ethics lapses. All you have to do is <b>read David Dayen’s book Chain of Title— to see how he chronicles the way– Mnuchin got fabulously– rich while hundreds of thousands lost their homes. What does that do to your optimism about the potential success of this bailout?</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: Well, I would say David’s book is a fantastic book. So I agree with you on that. Look I mean, for any chance of this to succeed, right, there just has to be this relentless transparency and oversight. We need to have oversight bodies — the inspector general, the Congressional Oversight Commission, Congress itself, has to be on top of these issues, and has to bring transparency.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, you know, at the end of the day, it is Congress that gave this Treasury Secretary the wide discretion that he now has. And that was a political decision, a compromise that was made. And the ramifications of that are going to be felt any time. And it’s not even a criticism of specifically of Mnuchin.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Any time you give any individual that much authority and that much discretion, it’s fraught with danger. And here, it is particularly fraught with danger, given all the things we’ve discussed up until now — even putting aside the Treasury Secretary’s background, chances are, notwithstanding my optimism, that there’s going to be scandal involved in this bailout. It is unquestionable. There is going to be fraud that is going to be committed in this bailout. There are going to be individuals who are unjustly rewarded, and others who should have been saved and rescued, who will be left on the side to rot.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those are all realities. And so what we’re really talking about is limiting how much of that occurs. And that’s where transparency and oversight can play such an important role. And yes, there are real problems with this bill. And yes, there are problems with the signing statement.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But at least there is going to be an inspector general and there is gonna be an oversight commission. And we just have to keep our fingers crossed and our prayers alight that the right people get these jobs, that they have the steel in their spine that is gonna be required for them to fulfill their duties to the American taxpayer and we can limit some of the inevitable downsides of any type of intervention of the size and scale of this one.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bill Moyers: So what does Congress do if the president refuses to cooperate on the oversight of these billions of dollars. How would you advise Congress to undertake stringent oversight?</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: Well, what Congress would need to do is just to escalate the issue, and make it a very public issue. I mean, we are in a campaign year. And although I know that the tribalization of American politics is something that’s very real and we see it every day, but this upcoming election is going to come down to most likely a handful of independent voters and a handful states.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And for those voters, the idea that any president or administration is standing in the way of providing information for the public to understand what is going on with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars is not a political winner for any president.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I think that’s sort of what we’re left with, right, is that congressional oversight is ultimately a form of political compulsion.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s no winning formula of publicly blocking information from an inspector general. The reality is that information is probably going to come to the surface.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Or refusal to provide that information will supply its own narrative. I think that’s what Congress needs to do though is to be relentless about it and be very, very supportive of the inspector general and the need to obtain that information.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And if Congress doesn’t do that and doesn’t escalate the issues, then nothing will happen. And that will be on Congress. But if the president makes that move, then Congress needs to respond in kind and ultimately we’re gonna have a judgment on this and a bunch of other issues come November.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: Of course the president will nominate the new inspector general. And the Republican Senate will confirm or not. It’s an even bigger job than it was 10 years ago. So I wonder, would you take the job if you were offered it now?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: It’s obviously something that you would think about very strongly. You know, my initial reaction would be hell no.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But then I kinda remember what my reaction was the first time I was asked back in 2008. And my first reaction was, hell no.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is an extraordinarily difficult job. And it is not right now in its current format set up to succeed. The budget is too small.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is a lack of hiring flexibility which is gonna make it almost impossible to staff up in a very short period of time with the type of qualified people that you need to endeavor on something so significant and so large.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s questions about whether this inspector general is gonna have the type of bipartisan congressional support that I did and that I enjoyed, which made my job possible. And I don’t know in this political environment if that’s something that still can exist. Although I deeply hope so.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: So that we can see what needs to be done, let me ask you, if you did take it, what would be the first things you do to keep this rescue and stimulus bill fair and honest?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: Well, first thing is you have to have immediate meetings with the policymakers who are pushing this thing through. And be prepared to make a series of rapid recommendations to bring transparency and fairness to the process. And in something like this, process really matters.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And I think what this inspector general needs to be prepared to do is to immediately get an understanding of the process and make recommendations to make it more transparent and give it the best chance of being a truly fair and objective process, not one that’s distorted by politics, lobbyists or any other outside influence.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bill Moyers: So how would you achieve transparency? </b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: It goes back to something that we discussed a little bit earlier. For policymakers who are going to be making those types of decisions in the future: You may think that those decisions are gonna be shielded from public discourse for now, but sooner or later these things are going to come to the surface. And you’re going to be judged and you’re going to be held accountable for your decisions. And if you’re making decisions in the darkness you should really think twice about whether or not these are the exact same type of decisions that you would be making when the sunlight is shining on you.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And that’s what’s so important about these oversight functions is that deterrent, that reminder that my decisions are going to be reviewed.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I remember one time, Bill, like it was yesterday, I was talking to one of the officials who was running TARP. We were talking about a report I did and he was complaining to me that my tone was too harsh and why did I have to do it in a certain way. And I said to him — it was, Herb Allison was his name — and I said, “Herb, you gotta remember, I’m not in the room with you when you’re making these decisions. I’m not there. The only way I get to give you my voice is through these reports. And so that next time you have these conversations I’m there.” And I remember Herb turned to me and he said, “You don’t think you’re there? You don’t think your voice is heard? Your voice is the loudest voice in those meetings whether you’re physically there or not.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Moyers: You wrote some scathing reports, did you not?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neil Barofsky: I would say that we wrote some very accurate reports that have been characterized as scathing. But we did not pull punches. We did not sugarcoat it. We said what we believed and found to be true, because we thought it was important.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And it’s important for members of Congress to have seen those reports, and exert their influence and pressure to bring more transparency. And it was important for the American people to know exactly what was going on with their money.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bill Moyers: Where did you get the steel in your spine?</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Neil Barofsky: I think, Bill, it’s because I never really wanted this job. I never — it was not my dream to get some high-profile job in Washington. I was a prosecutor. I loved that job. It was the only job I ever really wanted was to be a federal prosecutor.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is something I did for eight years. I wasn’t looking to change jobs. I wasn’t looking to move.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I wasn’t looking for a career in Washington. I always knew that we’d move back to New York as soon as that job was over. And so the worst they ever could do to me is fire me. That was the worst that could happen. If you’re gonna take a job like this, you have to be willing to get fired. It just has to be something that’s in your bones because you truly serve at the pleasure of the president....</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></div></div><div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="yiv8909084742mcnCaptionBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><tbody class="yiv8909084742mcnCaptionBlockOuter"><tr><td class="yiv8909084742mcnCaptionBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding: 9px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv8909084742mcnCaptionRightContentOuter" width="100%" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="yiv8909084742mcnCaptionRightContentInner" style="padding: 0px 9px;"><table class="yiv8909084742mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="352" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="yiv8909084742mcnTextContent" style="line-height: 24px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: " helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" arial="arial" verdana="verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif">t<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=d06b23ddee&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">rump’s Move to Suspend Enforcement of Environmental Laws is a Lifeline to the Oil Industry</a></span></span>
<font style="background-color: inherit;">BY: ICN STAFF</font>
<span style="font-family: arial, " helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" sans-serif="sans-serif">The American Petroleum Institute sought the EPA’s help for companies hurt by COVID-19. One former EPA official called the suspension “an open license to pollute."</span></font></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="yiv8909084742mcnButtonBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" min-width="min-width"><tbody class="yiv8909084742mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td valign="top" align="center" class="yiv8909084742mcnButtonBlockInner" style="padding: 0px 18px 18px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv8909084742mcnButtonContentContainer" style="border-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(142, 196, 77);"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" class="yiv8909084742mcnButtonContent" style="padding: 6px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="yiv8909084742mcnButton " title="Read More" target="_blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=967f9f89af&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none; display: block; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 14px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Read More</font></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/grifter-trump-plans-nomination-of-white-house-lawyer-to-oversee-4-5-trillion-coronavirus-relief-bill-a-mockery-of-independence"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/grifter-trump-plans-nomination-of-white-house-lawyer-to-oversee-4-5-trillion-coronavirus-relief-bill-a-mockery-of-independence</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Grifter’ Trump plans nomination of White House lawyer to oversee $4.5 trillion coronavirus relief bill: ‘A mockery of independence’</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Julia Conley / Common Dreams April 5, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A late Friday announcement regarding President Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee the implementation of the recently-passed $4.5 trillion coronavirus relief bill was regarded by government watchdogs as the president’s latest attempt to protect the interests of powerful corporations while Americans are focused on the coronavirus pandemic.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The White House announced that Trump would nominate Brian D. Miller, a special assistant to the president and senior associate counsel in the White House Special Counsel office, to oversee the prevention of fraud and abuse in the relief program. The law includes minimal relief for the public and what progressives have derided as a $500 billion “slush fund” for corporations, allowing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to “bail out any corporation he pleases, with almost no conditions,” as Patriotic Millionaires chair Morris Pearl wrote last month.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Late last year, Miller informed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the White House would not participate in its investigation of the Trump administration’s decision to hold Ukrainian military aid, in connection with the president’s impeachment inquiry.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The potential appointment of a White House lawyer with close ties to the president to the position of <b>Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery</b> heightened critics’ concerns that there will be little meaningful oversight of the relief package.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The nomination amounted to “a mockery of independence,” tweeted Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “Trump clearly wants a lapdog, not a watchdog.”</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox in charge of the henhouse. A mockery of independence, putting a Trump lawyer in charge of oversight, with $500 billion in taxpayer money at stake. Trump clearly wants a lapdog, not a watchdog. https://t.co/apXsi0j84r</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) April 4, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A grifter’s move. https://t.co/XKk4r1SdOv</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) April 4, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), noted that the White House announced Miller’s nomination on the same night Trump said he was firing Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who alerted Congress to a whistleblower complaint last year regarding Trump’s discussions with Ukraine.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On the same night the President said he’s firing the inspector general who exposed the Ukraine scandal, he also said he’s nominating a White House lawyer to be inspector general for the bailout, a position that must be independent. It’s really really bad</b>.https://t.co/tlTnYzeQwb</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Noah Bookbinder (@NoahBookbinder) April 4, 2020 </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">“People need to be paying attention to the anti-democratic steps the President is taking while people are appropriately preoccupied with the current pandemic,” Bookbinder wrote. “Some of the most outrageous steps were on a Friday night.</span>”</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mnu took lead on covid bill negot?</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trump-and-gop-cast-doubt-on-new-stimulus-after-securing-4-5-trillion-corporate-bailout-no-more-spending/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump and GOP cast doubt on new stimulus after securing $4.5 trillion corporate bailout: ‘No more spending’</font></a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trump-and-gop-cast-doubt-on-new-stimulus-after-securing-4-5-trillion-corporate-bailout-no-more-spending/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trump-and-gop-cast-doubt-on-new-stimulus-after-securing-4-5-trillion-corporate-bailout-no-more-spending/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams/" title="Posts by Common Dreams" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; text-align: right; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Common Drea</a><span style="text-align: right;">ms</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h3></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></div></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/market-patriotism-returns-and-asks-workers-for-a-blood-sacrifice/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/market-patriotism-returns-and-asks-workers-for-a-blood-sacrifice/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Market patriotism returns — and asks workers for a blood sacrifice</b></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Salon April 4, 2020</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the days after the September 11th attacks, President Bush, Mayor Giuliani and a variety of other politicians sought to soothe the ailing American psyche. They spoke publicly with a mixture of mourning and resolve. “Even grief recedes with time and grace,” Bush told the nation in his State of the Union speech.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Shortly thereafter, the nation’s leaders turned their efforts toward soothing the ailing American stock market. In a September 23, 2001 Washington Post column, former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich noted the peculiarity of Vice President Dick Cheney’s plea for Americans to “stick their thumb in the eye of the terrorists and… not let what’s happened here in any way throw off their normal level of economic activity.”<b> Reich dubbed this ideology “market patriotism”: the notion that “we demonstrate our resolve to the rest of the world by investing and consuming at least as much as we did before.” He noted the irony that during World War II, Americans had been asked to curb their consumption habits, but in 2001, “our patriotic duty seems to be to buy more and save less.”</b></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today, with the stock market once again devastated by a disaster, market patriotism is back. The social distancing rules prompted by the coronavirus pandemic have brought our economy to a standstill for two weeks now, and so the American consumer is once again being drafted into a rescue mission. President Trump briefly wanted the country “opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” despite the fact that lifting shelter-in-place and other social distancing measures would almost certainly contribute to hundreds of thousands of otherwise preventable deaths. Though Trump has more recently come to grips with the need to continue social distancing through April, it remains clear that the Right is still gearing up to send workers and consumers back into the fray before it is safe to do so.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Lloyd Blankfein, senior chairman of Goldman Sachs, tweeted that although efforts to flatten the curve are sensible “for a time,” “crushing the economy, jobs, and morale is also a health issue.” Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick</b> said on FOX News that “as a senior citizen,” he was “willing to take a chance” on his own survival in exchange for getting Americans back to work and saving the economy for his children and grandchildren. And Glen Beck said that he “would rather die than kill the country.”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is worth noting, of course, that Trump on his own cannot order anyone back to work—state governments, civil society, and business owners are the ones making most of these decisions. Nonetheless, if Trump and his ilk have their way, we’ll all go back to work — and back to shopping and spending and pumping dollars into an economy that badly needs the revenue, or at least, badly needs enough revenue to convince investors to pump up stock prices again. If that happens, millions of Americans will die, and the GOP appears increasingly to be okay with that.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The September 11th attacks killed 2,605 Americans. Since that day, we’ve been told again and again that avoiding another 9/11 justifies almost any expense. No military misadventure or domestic security scheme has been too extreme or too costly.<b> One study from Brown University put the cost of our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan at over $6 trillion since 2001.</b> All of this has been enacted in the name of 2,605 lives lost, and to resounding cries of “never again.”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As of April 1st, more Americans have already been lost to COVID-19 than died in the September 11th attacks. Yet many on the right Right have been cavalierly suggesting that the coronavirus has been overhyped because only two percent of those infected die from it. This was the claim made recently by Rush Limbaugh, though he did not acknowledge that such fatality rates would leave millions of Americans dead.</span> After months of downplaying the threat posed by the virus, Trump himself is now saying that keeping the death toll below 100,000 would be “a very good job.” It seems unfathomable that the same country that so radically revamped its domestic security systems and that embarked on a doctrine of “preemptive war” around the world as a response to 2,605 American deaths could suddenly fail to care about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of American deaths (or more).</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The simple answer is that our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere were never about protecting Americans, as millions of protestors knew from the start. They were about oil. They were about a wounded sense of American innocence. They were about a kind of vengeance for America’s failure in Vietnam. They were about profiteering — disaster capitalism, as Naomi Klein has aptly diagnosed it. But they were not about protecting anyone.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The enormous stimulus bill, signed into law last week with the near-unanimous support of Republicans and Democrats in Congress, further illustrated these principles. Despite the fact that most reporting lists its price tag at a whopping $2 trillion, the </span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">real cost is likely to be closer to 6 trillion </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">— the Federal Reserve is going to be able to lend an additional $4 trillion to major corporations, on top of the $500 billion or so in direct bailout funds that has been more widely reported on.</span></b></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The effects of the bill will be devastating for workers, the middle class, and small businesses. </b>According to critics like Matthew Stoller, this bill gives Wall Street the ability “to go shopping for businesses in trouble. We could see the mother of all roll-ups, as small and medium sized businesses desperately try to get whatever they can from deep-pocketed private equity investors and monopolists. If that happens, America could look like a very different country after this pandemic is over.”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And as David Dayen put it in The American Prospect, “this is a rubber-stamp on an <b>unequal</b> system that has brought terrible hardship to the majority of America. The people get a $1,200 means-tested payment and a little wage insurance for four months. Corporations get a transformative amount of play money to sustain their system and wipe out the competition.”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Market patriotism used to mean that average citizens were urged to keep spending during periods of uncertainty. Now it demands blood sacrifice. Our leaders want us back to work, getting sick, and if need be, dying to please the market. They want to throw us crumbs while further enabling the consolidation of the economy in the hands of an ever-smaller group of ever-larger corporations. Though the outsized influence of billionaires and big corporations was a source of heated discussion during the Democratic primaries, this bill is a triumph for the ultra-wealthy financiers who already control so much of American life.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the end, Americans all know that we have suffered and sacrificed too much for the market already. It doesn’t have to be this way. Those who can continue to stay home must do so. But we must also stand in solidarity with those who don’t have a choice — we must refuse to order from Instacart and Amazon, whose workers are now on strike for better wages and working conditions, and support other labor actions in the future. We must do what we can to help each other, and to protect ourselves. Our leaders, and the market they serve, will certainly not protect us now. They never really have.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Timothy Recuber is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Smith College, and the author of the book “Consuming Catastrophe: Mass Culture in America’s Decade of Disaster.” His work focuses on the mass media’s representation of death and disaster, and his research has been published in journals such as New Media & Society, the American Behavioral Scientist, Research Ethics, and Contexts. Find him on Twitter @timr100.</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></font></div><div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/unacceptable-democrats-seethe-after-trump-announces-plan-to-refuse-congressional-oversight-of-corporate-bailout-funds/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">unacceptable’: Democrats seethe after Trump announces plan to refuse congressional oversight of corporate bailout funds</font></a></font></font></font></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/andrea-germanos/" title="Posts by Andrea Germanos" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Andrea Germanos</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams/" title="Posts by Common Dreams" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Common Dreams</a></font></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Progressive lawmakers on Friday evening denounced President Donald Trump’s intention to disregard provisions in the just-passed coronavirus relief bill.</font></font></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></div><div><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title grid-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">c<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/calculating-covid-19s-devastating-economic-impact-the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-going-to-cost-us-5-trillion/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">alculating COVID-19’s devastating economic impact: The coronavirus pandemic is going to cost us $5 trillion</a></font></font></font></h2><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/david-cay-johnston/" title="Posts by David Cay Johnston" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">David Cay Johnston</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/dc-report/" title="Posts by DC Report" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">DC Report</a></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">March 29, 2020</span></font></font></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The $1 trillion coronavirus relief package Congress passed won’t come close to making up for the damage caused by COVID-19 and the Trump administration’s lethal dawdling. We need the government…</font></font></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">320 an</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">l</font><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/lindsey-graham-attacks-disgusting-nancy-pelosi-after-she-says-trump-contributes-to-people-dying/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">indsey Graham attacks ‘disgusting’ Nancy Pelosi after she says Trump contributes to ‘people dying’</a></font></font></font></div><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/david-edwards/" title="Posts by David Edwards" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">David Edwards</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/raw-story/" title="Posts by Raw Story" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Raw Story</a></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">March 29, 2020</span></font></font></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday lashed out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after she suggested that President Donald Trump’s handling of the global COVID-19 pandemic will likely mean more…</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">===</font></font></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>