Politics 3/31/20 6:36am Read time: 3 minutes

"Now, you could call your landlord, call your credit card company and try to work something out, but there hasn't been a federally mandated national economic holiday," the business analyst pointed out.
By Susie Madrak

Stephanie Ruhle was on Morning Joe to talk with Willie Geist about the crisis ordinary people and small businesses are going through.

"We were just talking about tomorrow being April 1st. The day, of course, the rent is due. This is the first, the 1st of the month since this crisis escalated. What are the implications of that for small businesses, homeowners and all the people worried now about making those payments?" Willie Geist said.

"They're massive across the board. While people at home, individuals and small businesses might watch our programs and see headlines with members of Congress and the president touting how great the CARES Act is, $2 trillion, and it is, but of those $2 trillion, no checks have been cut," Ruhle said.

"Talk to any, anyone in New York State, right? People trying to file for unemployment right now, it's a two-step process. First, you've got to go online. These websites are crashing over and over. Then you've got to make a phone call and the lines are busy. Whether talking about New York, California, Connecticut, take your pick, these governors are saying, we are frantically trying to hire retired employees we used to have. Staffing up to solve for this but it's not solved yet and the small business loans people are so excited about? Those paycheck protection loans, which are essentially these short-term emergency loans for businesses to get them through this period, potentially having them completely forgiven, they're not even set up yet and you can only get one through your own bank.

"Those 1,800 banks working with the SBSA don't even know the details yet. A huge amount of lag time, and bills are due tomorrow. Now, you could call your landlord, call your credit card company and try to work something out, but there hasn't been a federally mandated national economic holiday. We have to pay our bills tomorrow, and that's just the way it is," she said.

https://crooksandliars.com/2020/03/stephanie-ruhle-steamed-over-how-hard-it

-snip-

She also talked about Trump's signing statement refusing oversight of the $500 billion corporate slush fund.

"So while Congress does have some level of oversight, they don't have subpoena power and I can tell you behind the scenes, every CEO in this country is knocking on Steve Mnuchin's door saying, 'please, sir, may I have some more?' And right now, he's in a position to be a corporate kingmaker."

Politics 3/31/20 4:00pm Read time: 4 minutes

Incompetence doesn't explain pandemic debacle
By Eric Boehlert

Published With Permission of Press Run, Eric Boehlert’s new must-read media newsletter. Subscribe here.

Everything Trump has done in response to the coronavirus national emergency has been dead wrong. That's confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that were established over a decade ago for when dealing with a health crisis. The agency created a 450-page manual and Trump and his team have not only ignored the recommendations — be consistent, transparent, factual, and credible — they've actively done the opposite.

To date, Trump has ignored intelligence warnings, called the crisis a hoax, downplayed the threat, lied about virus testing, lied about the government's on-the-ground response, lied about the rate of infection, blamed the Obama administration, misled the country about a cure, packed his days with non-action, blamed governors, failed to order a national lockdown, refused to work with certain Democratic officials, and has provided zero national leadership. (“I don’t take responsibility at all."

"The U.S. response will be studied for generations as a textbook example of a disastrous, failed effort," said Ron Klain, who was tapped by President Barack Obama to oversee the nation’s fight against Ebola in 2014.

Trump has seemingly done everything to help spread the disease. "We have to understand that faced with "the invasion" of this virus the President has chosen to stand down, do nothing, let people die and it ravage America," wrote Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, in an entirely accurate description of what has transpired — Trump stood down and let a virus invade the country, knowing from intelligence briefings what that would mean for the U.S. population.

https://crooksandliars.com/2020/03/medias-taboo-topic-whys-trump-doing

-snip-

Why is it taboo? The possible answers are too disturbing for the press to ponder, therefore they're deemed off-limits. Instead of addressing the reality, the press prefers to stick with the safe narrative that the White House is muddled and disorganized. To address the other

would raise stunning questions about the President of the United States —the types of questions that have never been asked about any president in this nation's history.

In essence, the press plays dumb, as the Wall Street Journal urges Trump to "rethink the coronavirus strategy," as if there was ever a Trump "strategy" to begin with, while Politico suggests the life-and-death problems the U.S. faces today stem from Trump's "short-term thinking."

That's the simple explanation. What's going on is far more complicated, and far more disturbing.

Published 1 min ago on March 31, 2020
By Matthew Chapman

At Tuesday’s coronavirus press briefing, President Donald Trump suggested that people should use a scarf instead of an N-95 mask.

“A lot of people have scarves. A scarf is good,” said Trump. “There’s certainly no harm.”


Anne Rumsey Gearan
✔
@agearan
“You can use a scarf. A lot of people have scarves. A scarf is good.” Trump neatly sums up the face-covering advice.

Scarves are not a safe substitute for an N-95 mask, which is specially formulated to filter 95 percent of impurities out of the air. Many scarves are loosely knit and can hold the virus in the fibers.

The CDC is considering a recommendation that all Americans wear masks in public, but there is a worry such a recommendation could worsen the shortage of masks and leave doctors and nurses with nothing.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/theres-certainly-no-harm-trump-falsely-claims-scarves-are-an-effective-substitute-for-n-95-masks/

Why don't you use a fucking scarf asshole..........................this is on your watch and you failed bigly, you have blood on your hands.................

November 3, 20920 cannot I repeat cannot get here fast enough.........................

By Josh Israel -March 31, 2020 2:42 PM

Donald Trump said last year that he would not do anything to rebuild infrastructure unless Congress stopped doing oversight.

Donald Trump asked for $2 trillion Tuesday to fund infrastructure projects, nearly a year after blowing up an earlier bipartisan plan for exactly that.

"With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill," he tweeted. "It should be VERY BIG & BOLD, Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country! Phase 4"

This idea is nothing new for Trump, whose broken promise to "build the next generation of roads, bridges, railways, tunnels, sea ports and airports" has become something of a national joke.

Last April, Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed on the broad outlines of a $2 trillion infrastructure deal. Then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders hailed the "excellent and productive" meetings, saying, "We have to invest in this country’s future and bring our infrastructure to a level better than it has ever been before."

https://americanindependent.com/donald-trump-infrastructure-bill-interest-rates-congress-coronavirus-twitter/

I think those / these companies that got a deferment on paying there fair share of the SS tax, should have to pay or take a tax credit, instead of having it covered by the general fund...............if they want contacts

Is Selling Versions of It Overseas.

As coronavirus sweeps the globe, there is not a single Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator — developed with government funds — in the U.S. stockpile. Meanwhile, Royal Philips N.V. has sold higher-priced versions to clients around the world.

by Patricia Callahan, Sebastian Rotella and Tim Golden March 30, 7:40 p.m. EDT


Five years ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tried to plug a crucial hole in its preparations for a global pandemic, signing a $13.8 million contract with a Pennsylvania manufacturer to create a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use ventilator that could be stockpiled for emergencies.

This past September, with the design of the new Trilogy Evo Universal finally cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, HHS ordered 10,000 of the ventilators for the Strategic National Stockpile at a cost of $3,280 each.

But as the pandemic continues to spread across the globe, there is still not a single Trilogy Evo Universal in the stockpile.

Instead last summer, soon after the FDA’s approval, the Pennsylvania company that designed the device — a subsidiary of the Dutch appliance and technology giant Royal Philips N.V. — began selling two higher-priced commercial versions of the same ventilator around the world.

https://www.propublica.org/article/taxpayers-paid-millions-to-design-a-low-cost-ventilator-for-a-pandemic-instead-the-company-is-selling-versions-of-it-overseas-

This is just outrageous...................Kushner in charge, one company gets bought out......................

BUSINESS NEWS MARCH 31, 2020 / 12:22 PM / UPDATED 16 MINUTES AGO

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of workers at Whole Foods Market called on others to phone in sick at all of the grocer’s stores on Tuesday to protest what they say is a lack of adequate compensation and protections from the coronavirus.

The group, known on Twitter as Whole Worker, describes itself as a grassroots movement of Whole Foods team members working to unionize.

The group did not respond to a request for comment and it is not known how many Whole Foods employees called in sick. A representative for Amazon.com-owned Whole Foods did not respond to a request for comment.

As millions of people shelter in place in the United States and non-essential businesses are shuttered to halt the spread of the virus, grocery stores and pharmacies are staying open to supply food and medicine.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-whole-foods/some-whole-foods-workers-call-for-sick-out-idUSKBN21I2OY?il=0

Wait until the leader of this gets what the "guy" over at Amazon got.....................the american labor force since Reagan has lost its power....................the courts don't care, the labor Dept run by right wingers don't care........................the whole country should be on "strike"....................

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-maryland-stay-home-directive/31977340

The executive order took effect at 8 p.m. Monday.

"This virus is spreading rapidly and exponentially," Hogan said. "We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home, we are directing them to do so."

Anyone who violates the order will be guilty of a misdemeanor that carries a possible sentence of up to one year in prison and/or a fine of up to $5,000.

Source: Market Watch

Capitol Report
Published: March 31, 2020 at 12:42 p.m. ET
By Victor Reklaitis

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also calls for additional payments to Americans, more aid for state and local governments and other steps

As Washington considers other steps for responding to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic damage, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi both have suggested a “Phase 4” package could include spending on infrastructure.

Trump on Tuesday called for $2 trillion in spending on infrastructure, saying in a tweet that it was time to “be VERY BIG & BOLD” while interest rates are low.

The president’s statements on Twitter come after Pelosi on Monday said a “Phase 4” coronavirus stimulus package ought to include a bipartisan deal on infrastructure spending. In his tweets on Tuesday, Trump used the term “Phase 4” and said Pelosi “wasn’t bad” in a TV appearance on Tuesday.

The California Democrat on Monday also said she would like to see the next bill feature “more direct payments” to Americans, more money for state and local governments, increased protections for workers, more assistance for hospitals and nursing homes and “more opportunity for family and medical leave.”

Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/pelosi-sees-phase-4-coronavirus-package-including-additional-payments-to-americans-infrastructure-spending-2020-03-30?mod=nextup_bomw

---

-snip-

And then Moscow Mitch comes out with his asshole libertarian comment.................trust but verify...................

November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough....................

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/amymcgrathkentucky

Dow Update

Published: March 31, 2020 at 1:05 p.m. ET
By MarketWatch

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down Tuesday afternoon with shares of Procter & Gamble and Home Depot seeing the biggest drops for the price-weighted average. Shares of Procter & Gamble PG, -3.817% and Home Depot HD, -3.616% are contributing to the index's intraday decline, as the Dow DJIA, -0.919% was most recently trading 193 points lower (-0.9%). Procter & Gamble's shares are down $4.86, or 4.2%, while those of Home Depot are off $7.27 (3.7%), combining for a roughly 82-point drag on the Dow. Also contributing significantly to the decline are Intel INTC, -2.793%, United Technologies UTX, -2.970%, and Travelers TRV, -2.388%. A $1 move in any one of the 30 components of the benchmark equates to a 6.78-point swing.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/procter-gamble-home-depot-share-losses-contribute-to-dows-nearly-200-point-fall-2020-03-31

Wait until the next quarterly earning statements............................

By: Aaron Mehta   1 day ago

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has asked Congress to allow it to classify its Future Year Defense Program spending projections, new documents have revealed.

The FYDP numbers, which project five years into the future, are considered essential information for the public to see where the Department of Defense expects to invest in the future, and to hold the department accountable when those spending plans change.

Information on the request was published Monday by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. Aftergood wrote that the proposal would “make it even harder for Congress and the public to refocus and reconstruct the defense budget.”

In its request to Congress, the Pentagon wrote that an unclassified FYDP “might inadvertently reveal sensitive information,” despite the fact the numbers have been unclassified since 1989.

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/03/30/pentagon-seeks-to-classify-future-year-defense-spending-plans/