The happy talk from the White House about how the nation's economy is on the upswing now that the country is "reopening" was parroted—in part—by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Tuesday in a Senate banking hearing. He and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has been decidedly less optimistic about where the economy is right now, appeared to talk about the implementation—or lack thereof—of relief funding provided from Congress so far.
Mnuchin acknowledged that "There is risk of permanent damage" to the economy the longer that states are shutdown. So put him in the reopening camp with Trump. He also said that he sees the economy rebounding in the third and fourth quarters of this year, and that the "country will emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever." Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, demanded to know if Mnuchin had any concern about the human cost of this. "How many workers should give their lives to increase the GDP or the Dow by 1,000 points?" Brown asked.
Mnuchin answered the question by taking umbrage. "No workers should give their lives to do that, senator, and I think your characterization is unfair." It's hard to see what's unfair about questioning the wisdom of sending people out into a pandemic where their only real protection is the kindness and carefulness of strangers. That's not ever going to be a concern for a Trump administration official, however.
Senators also wanted to know what in the hell was happening with all that money they gave to the Treasury back in March to stabilize the economy that still hasn't been spent. Powell said that "funds should be flowing" by the end of the first week of June to the Main Street Lending Program authorized by the CARES Act which passed in March. That's not to be confused with the Paycheck Protection Program—that of Shake Shack and Ritz-Carlton infamy—which is administered by the Small Business Administration.
The "Main Street" loan discussion at Treasury now is pointing toward a not-so-small program, with loans available for four years to companies with as many as 15,000 employees or $5 billion in annual revenue. Reports are that the minimum loan amount Treasury has decided on is $500,000 and the maximum $200 million. Which doesn't really make sense for what most of us think of as "small" business, and which still leaves a lot of small business out. Many qualify neither for the PPP loans nor these, and are left to their own devices. Which means they're left out in the cold, or forced to make bad decisions for their employees.