SOCIAL DISTANCING: SIX FEET APART IS BETTER THAN SIX FEET UNDER!
THE prc CORONAVIRUS FLAG IS A REMINDER OF THE prc GOVERNMENT WHO UNLEASHED THIS PANDEMIC ON THE REST OF THE WORLD
NO big surprise Sen mitch mcconnell (r moscow) and the gop / greed over people republican party in the U.S.Senate are blocking the passage of a government coronavirus / Covid 19 pandemic stimulus plan because they do not want language in the legislation preventing taxpayer dollars to go to corporate boards and ceo's for their salaries, bonuses, and stock buy backs. Moscow mitch is leading the resistance against government stimulus legislation that includes loans and grants to keep small businesses from closing, funds to pay out of work and reduced hours workers, pay for coronavirus / Covid 19 test for all, and stimulus checks for the poor, working and middle classes. Moscow mitch is waging a vicious, deceitful propaganda campaign blaming the Democratic Party for lack of progress on the plan, Democrats remain firm in opposing another tax payer handout like the drumpf / trump-pence to the 1% and corporate America. From Democracy Now! and NPR and thank you Democrats and Sen Elizabeth Warren D MA....."Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to debate a massive stimulus package today after Democratic Senators blocked a $2 trillion bill Sunday they say failed to protect workers. This is Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren speaking Sunday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “They’re trying to advance a proposal that would be great for giant corporations and leave everyone else behind. We’re not here to create a slush fund for Donald Trump and his family or a slush fund for the Treasury Department to be able to hand out to their friends. We’re here to help workers. We’re here to help hospitals. And right now what the Republicans have proposed does neither of those.”'
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NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren about the trillion dollar stimulus plan to counter the effects of the coronavirus that Democrats rejected in the Senate on Sunday.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Trump expressed an opinion yesterday about how companies would use the money from the aid bill.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I do not want stock buybacks. I don't want to give a bailout to a company and then have somebody go out and use that money to buy back stock in the company and raise the price and then get a bonus.
INSKEEP: In this, the president sounds a little like Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren. The former presidential candidate is back at work and called us yesterday to say she is among those urging stricter controls in the bill.
ELIZABETH WARREN: You can't just take $450 billion, hand it over to the secretary of treasury and, say, hand it out to your closest friends on a no-strings-attached basis. No, there has to be strings. The taxpayer has a right to know that if the Trump administration wants to hand out $450 billion in a bailout to giant corporations, then by golly, they have a right to know that that money is going to help workers, not to increase executives' compensation or to boost returns to shareholders. That's a big difference.
INSKEEP: If I'm not mistaken, you're referring to a fund to help distressed companies. And of course, just about every company is, in some way or another, distressed at this point. The bill has changed so much in the past couple of days that I'm not sure many members of the public understand what's in it. How is that fund structured now, as best you understand - and how should it be structured?
WARREN: Well, the fund, as it stands right now, has no meaningful requirement that companies maintain payroll or benefits for their employees, no serious restrictions on stock buybacks, no requirements to reduce executive pay and no ongoing oversight. You know, in fact, as you read this, it sounds like Trump hotel properties, like Mar-a-Lago, could receive huge bags of cash and then fire their workers if Steve Mnuchin decides he wants to do a real solid for his boss using taxpayer dollars.
So look - I saw up close and personal what the consequences were in 2008 when Congress didn't put enough restrictions on bailout money. And the current Trump proposal is far worse than the worst critique of Bush's 2008 bank bailout.
INSKEEP: Is this circumstance, Senator, a little different than the financial crisis, though, in that in 2008, lawmakers were voting to bailout companies that could be blamed for the crisis? It's hard to argue that corporations are to blame for the rescue that they need now.
WARREN: Oh, fair enough. I don't think anyone thinks that the airline industry, for example, is to blame for what has happened. But on the other hand, if they want to get taxpayer dollars, then we need to know that those taxpayer dollars are going to be spent in a way that helps the economy generally instead of a handful of executives and investors.
So I put out a list of things that we should see before we invest taxpayer dollars, like that companies must maintain their payrolls and use the funds to either keep people working or help keep them on payroll, and that companies will be prohibited from engaging in share repurchases or that they'll be prohibited from paying out dividends or executive bonuses while receiving any relief for three - the time during they have the money and three years after that. You know, collective bargaining agreements should stay in place. In other words, we need to make sure the money is going to help workers.
INSKEEP: If you don't get those provisions, Senator, are you willing to go so far as to say, better to have no bill at all, better to have the economy go down in flames?
WARREN: Look - that is not the alternative. I think you put this in - it's a false choice. The alternative is to say to the Republicans, if you really want to give Treasury a half a trillion dollars nearly to be able to hand out to giant corporations, then the American taxpayer has a right to know where that money goes.
INSKEEP: On some level, Senator, that is the alternative, though, right? If you have a question of power here - of one side backing down or the other, do you need to be willing to make that statement, that you're willing to have the bill fail entirely unless you have these provisions - that you consider them that vital?
WARREN: Well, I see it the other way around. Why would Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump be so resistant to saying that executives can't dip into taxpayer dollars in order to enrich themselves with bonuses and high salaries? Why would they be so resistant to that?
INSKEEP: Senator Elizabeth Warren, always a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much.
WARREN: Always good to talk to you, too.
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Trump Activates Nat’l Guard as Lawmakers Fail to Pass Coronavirus Stimulus Package
MAR 23, 2020
At a press conference Sunday, President Trump said the National Guard will be activated in California, New York and Washington state, where states of emergency have been called. Trump referred to himself once again as a “wartime president” during the press conference. When asked if he would exempt his own companies from bailout, Trump refused to do so. Trump also rejected calls from governors and hospitals to use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of critical medical supplies, despite earlier statements he would put it “into high gear.” Trump also shot down proposals to nationalize industries to better manage production of such supplies.
President Donald Trump: “We’re a country not based on nationalizing our business. Call a person over in Venezuela, ask them, 'How did nationalization of their businesses work out?' Not too well. The concept of nationalizing our business is not a good concept.”
At another press briefing Friday, Trump lashed out at NBC reporter Peter Alexander after he asked what Trump’s message to the American people is.
Peter Alexander: “What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?”
President Donald Trump: “I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I say. Go ahead.”
Reporter: “Mr. President, the units that were just declared” —
President Donald Trump: “I think it’s a very nasty question, and I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to debate a massive stimulus package today after Democratic Senators blocked a $2 trillion bill Sunday they say failed to protect workers. This is Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren speaking Sunday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “They’re trying to advance a proposal that would be great for giant corporations and leave everyone else behind. We’re not here to create a slush fund for Donald Trump and his family or a slush fund for the Treasury Department to be able to hand out to their friends. We’re here to help workers. We’re here to help hospitals. And right now what the Republicans have proposed does neither of those.”
TOPICS:
New Evidence of Trump’s Botched Response to Coronavirus
MAR 23, 2020
As criticism of Trump’s response to the coronavirus crisis mounts, Reuters is reporting Trump eliminated a position last year at the Centers for Disease Control which was tasked with helping to detect, investigate and help contain disease outbreaks in China. This comes as reports emerged Friday that Trump continued to play down the threat of coronavirus despite repeated warnings by U.S. intelligence in January and February that a global pandemic was likely.
Meanwhile, Politico is reporting the Justice Department has quietly been pushing lawmakers to grant the department new powers amid the public health crisis, including the ability to have some judges detain people indefinitely without trial, pause court proceedings during emergencies and ban people with COVID-19 from seeking asylum. The measures are not likely to pass a Democrat-ruled House.
In an interview with Science magazine, Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addressed Trump’s many erroneous official statements about the pandemic, saying, “I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down.” Fauci added, “OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time.”
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