Former White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo President Donald Trump’s former economic chief said Sunday that Congress should require businesses to pay independent contractors out of work during the coronavirus crisis. “Think of people that work at stadiums and arenas. Think of people that work in catering businesses. Think of […]
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It makes sense to reassure the markets that money market funds will be safe, although it does raise the question of whether the funds should pay the government for insurance if they’re going to get backstopped whenever times get tough. It also feels a bit like a backdoor bank bailout, since one effect will be […]
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But crisis moments also present opportunity: more sophisticated and flexible use of technology, less polarization, a revived appreciation for the outdoors and life’s other simple pleasures. No one knows exactly what will come, but here is our best stab at a guide to the unknown ways that society—government, healthcare, the economy, our lifestyles and more—will […]
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This is an idea that other countries have used in past downturns to far greater effect than the United States. State and federal officials should act now to ramp up this option here. Twenty-six states covering about 70 percent of the U.S. workforce already have formal programs to provide financial help to employers who embrace […]
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As was the case on Monday, pre-market trading had already shown signs of strain in stock futures. By the time markets opened, all three major indices — the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite index — had dropped 5 percent, hitting the maximum allowable selloff for futures before the start […]
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The hope on the part of White House officials is not to avoid a sharp economic slowdown — they all know it is coming — but that the short-term pain from extreme measures will lead to a flattening in the curve of the virus spread. Then economic activity can be made up when the crisis […]
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Designed to prevent them from having to lay off workers or shut down completely, it enabled cash-strapped businesses to get tax refunds by redoing their previous year’s taxes to take into account their current losses. Republicans cut that back, though, to help finance the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and that decision is now coming […]
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Mnuchin said his primary focus at the moment is the passage of the congressional aid package, which passed the House after midnight on Friday and which President Donald Trump has pledged to sign if it passes the Senate. That legislation would act as a complement to an $8.3 billion emergency aid bill Congress approved earlier […]
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Every week, four waste-hauling trucks set out from a warehouse in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood and head for 85 businesses across Eastern Massachusetts—hospitals, schools, colleges, nursing homes and large restaurants. CERO, an 80 percent minority-owned worker co-op, owns the trucks, which pick up food waste and transport it to farms around Massachusetts for composting. Luna, a […]
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Behind the scenes, the Treasury Department and top economic officials are exploring ways to help out industries struggling financially from a rapid shutdown. They’re leaning toward some type of tax relief or deferring tax payments to provide an initial cushion — hoping to avoid a full-fledged bailout akin to the 2008 banking rescue that could […]
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