Corporate America will survive this quarantine.
Big businesses will suffer, but they have ways to absorb their losses. They have legal experts to line them up with any and all possible funding. Bottom line, they have resources to get them through.
It’s the mom and pop stores, the small town restaurants and bars, and the millions of what I call “creative types” that are already drowning. (By creative types, I’m talking musicians, writers, free-lance artists and graphic designers… people that earn a living but don’t clock into the traditional 8 to 5.)
Sadly, I have a front row seat to the real devastation this quarantine brings. My daughter is a musician. In fact, some of you saw her on American Idol this year. From the moment she graduated high school, she’s made a living playing music.
Now she’s a mom, too. With two adorable daughters. My son-in-law is her partner both on-stage and off. I’ve always been so proud that they support their children without using any kinds of public assistance. They play shows four to five days a week. Imagine their shock when quarantine orders started rolling out.
Now, they’re playing Facebook Live shows, and praying for enough tips to get through a few days at a time. And my boat isn’t floating any better. My husband restores cars. And when people are in the midst of a crisis, they don’t pull out the old Mustang and get a fresh paint job. And all we can do is pray that stimulus checks are headed our way.
So explain to me why the Democrats keep holding up any form of relief Republicans formulate? Remember, Democrats typically favor welfare over working. So what are they fighting? The answer is way too simple. Democrats will fight anything if it originated with Donald Trump.
Small Business Bail-out
Our President knows what it takes to run a successful business. And one can bet he learned some of those lessons the hard way, as not all his business ventures were booming success stories. But he took his failures and doubled down until he landed on the Forbes list of wealthiest people.
In fact, Trump is the first billionaire to occupy the Oval Office. (And unlike the many Congressional millionaires, he didn’t make his money in politics.) So when the President says “we need to dig in and help these people,” he knows what he’s talking about.
Trump isn’t about a handout. In fact, he put more Americans to work that any president in history. Clearly, these are extenuating circumstances. But instead of digging in to help, Democrats are dooming our small businesses over partisan politics.
As ABC reports:
As small businesses across the country are crushed by the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus pandemic, and as unemployment claims skyrocket to a historic 16 million in just the last three weeks, the Senate on Thursday failed to approve an emergency funding infusion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a federal plan designed to extend loans to keep those ailing businesses afloat and workers getting paid.
Democrats blocked a request from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to unanimously approve a $250 billion PPP replenishment to the original $350 billion fund, demanding more aid for hospitals and other needs be included.
“Just a few days after the program opened for business, $100 billion in loans have already been committed. That is 30 percent of the total funding, spoken for in just the first few days,” said McConnell, calling the Democrats’ blockade “political maneuvering.”
“This does not have to be, nor should it be, contentious. We don’t have to divide along the usual lines so soon after we came together for the country,” added McConnell. “To my Democratic colleagues, please, do not block emergency aid you do not even oppose just because you want something more.
Frozen Funding
Unfortunately, a good portion of the emergency funds recently authorized are just sitting there, undistributed. Undoubtedly, a logistical nightmare.
[Mitch McConnell] pointed out to reporters that much of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief aid, including $100 billion in emergency funds for hospitals, had not yet been disbursed. The GOP leader indicated a large portion for hospitals would go out Friday, and he signaled he was open to a bipartisan negotiation for more funding at some point, not closing the door on what Democrats proposed.
“No one is necessarily against additional assistance,” said McConnell, adding, “Much of the rest of the money has not gone out yet. So it’s hard to measure the effect of that and the additional need. This is the one program that was running out of money, needed assistance now, and all my proposed amendment would do, at the request of the Administration, was to simply change one number.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is currently trying to rally Democrats. But they’re so used to stabbing America in the back, it’s hard to say just what the left will do next.
