Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
Jake Johnson at Common Dreams writes—Facing 'Extinction-Level Event,' Small Businesses Urge Congress to Replace Disastrous Loan Program With Direct Payroll Grants:
With millions of small businesses on the brink of collapse and struggling to obtain coronavirus relief after the Trump administration's disastrous rollout of a $350 billion rescue fund, progressives are calling on Congress to authorize direct payroll grants to companies in need instead of dumping hundreds of billions more into a deeply flawed program.
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)—authorized by the massive coronavirus stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law last month—had a chaotic launch last Friday amid mass confusion among small businesses and banks tasked with distributing relief loans backed by taxpayer money.
Amanda Ballantyne, executive director of Main Street Alliance (MSA), a progressive coalition that includes 30,000 small-business owners, told the Washington Post on Tuesday that the program's rollout was a "train wreck" that will not be remedied by simply pouring more money into its coffers. [...]
MSA is calling on Congress to pass legislation that includes "direct federal subsidies to employers impacted by COVID-19 to cover payroll, health insurance premiums, and rent" as well as "5-10 year no interest loans with streamlined application process to cover other fixed expenses."
"Focusing on direct payroll and healthcare subsidies for small employers is an approach that will mitigate potentially severe impacts for employers and workers," MSA said on its website. "This is an extinction-level event for small businesses in the U.S. Without a substantial, immediate response that addresses the magnitude of this problem, our small business sector will be devastated." [...]
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) echoed MSA's call for direct grants to struggling small businesses instead of loans distributed through big banks. [...]
"Congress also needs to dramatically simplify PPP so it actually works," Warren added. "Replace loans with grants to keep people on payroll, ensure that banks provide equal access to all borrowers—and do it NOW."
John Prine, RIP.
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“I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.” ~~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech Sept. 10, 1952.
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BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2005—Diagnosing Joe Klein:
Joe Klein, columnist for Time Magazine, is of course, most famous as the "Anonymous" author of "Primary Colors," the roman a clef about the Clintons.
Today, Klein is most prominent playing the role of scold to the Democratic Party, most notably on Russert's Meet the Press.
In his column this week, Klein takes the opportunity of the Schiavo travesty, and the DeLay Scandal and the Pope's passing, to find, yet again, somehow to find fault with Democrats. Don't get me wrong, I am sure this "tough love" is all with the good of the Party and the country in mind. I don't have a problem with that. My problem is that Klein's analysis and advice is so poor. The question is why? Klein is not a stupid man - in fact he can be very astute at times. But not about Democrats of late. Some examples from his column:
There has been a fair amount of covert gloating in the liberal community over the congressional Republican flameout. Senator Bill Frist's ridiculous videotape diagnosis of the stricken woman, DeLay's toxic effusions, the President's unseemly dash to Washington to sign the Schiavo legislation all found their just rewards in the polls that revealed an overwhelming public disgust with the political shenanigans. But Democrats would be wise to stow their satisfaction and give careful consideration to what thoughtful conservatives are saying about the role of the judiciary in our public life because the issue is about to get a lot more contentious.
On
today’s Kagro in the Morning show:
As usual, Greg Dworkin prescribes the old “wait-and-see” on Wisconsin’s turnout numbers & results. Trump continues bumbling sabotage & clinging to hopes of a miracle drug, while his pirates continue mystery PPE seizures. Rethinking what China was up to.
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