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‘Paycheck Protection Program’ Launches Friday, But Banks Are Balking

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'Paycheck Protection Program' Launches Friday, But Banks Are Balking

Part of the coronavirus stimulus bill, it picks up payroll costs for employers.
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U.S. workers won’t interact directly with the so-called Paycheck Protection Program that launches Friday, but if it works as intended, it could have a big impact on their lives.

Whether it can work as intended emerged as a major question Thursday as some banks said they wouldn’t be ready to take applications on Friday.

The way it’s supposed to work is that the government will essentially pay eight weeks of an eligible employer’s labor costs through a loan that will be entirely forgiven if that employer retains its workers for eight weeks without slashing their pay.

The effort is meant to prevent layoffs, as businesses have already dismissed more than 10 million workers in just the past two weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. This unprecedented surge in unemployment puts incredible strain on workers and their families.

Notably, if a company already laid people off, it can still qualify for the paycheck protection loan if it re-hires them by the end of June.
 
Trump orders more N95 masks. 3M says his tactics could make the shortage worse.
:tiptoe:


https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/4/1/21196941/coronavirus-n95-mask-respirator-shortage-trump
:popcorn:


The situation in the United States is increasingly dire. On April 2, President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) to compel 3M, one of the only companies that manufacturers N95 masks in the US, to ramp up production. Many, including Democratic presidential primary candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, had pushed the White House to use the DPA more aggressively to deal with medical supplies shortages. The president later said in a tweet that 3M “will have a big price to pay” for exporting masks.

3M pushed back against Trump’s threats. In a Friday statement, the company emphasized that it had gained approval to import 10 million masks from its facilities in China. 3M also warned about the White House’s request to end its exports of N95 respirators, citing “humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to health care workers in Canada and Latin America.” If other countries retaliated by not sharing supplies, 3M argued, the US could soon end up with fewer masks than it had before the DPA order.

Despite global production ramping up, the US shortage of N95 masks is so great that companies, unions, and even average people have been scrambling to fill the need by searching for stockpiles of existing masks and seeking out alternative suppliers. Another problem is that many of these respirators, including those made by 3M, are ending up in a somewhat lawless gray market, where they’re subject to hoarding and price-gouging. Accordingly, federal authorities are hard at work tracking down stashes of this desperately needed personal protective equipment and redistributing what they find to health care worker.
 
TSU/BAMA said:
If we should all start wearing masks when we are outside of our homes, where in the hell are we supposed to get the masks from?? There sure aren't any in the stores.
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I have a friend here in Houston that I am supporting she is making masks. I am going to support her business and buy some. She is a seamstress and makes clothes.
 
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TSU/BAMA said:
If we should all start wearing masks when we are outside of our homes, where in the hell are we supposed to get the masks from?? There sure aren't any in the stores.
Click to expand...

The material for that N95 mask has jumped up from $6,000 a ton to $600,000 a ton. America is at the mercy of other nations because we were not producing the material to make the mask domestically. The same with the ventilators, China was making and we were importing. As it turns out the Trump tariffs on China fell back on the consumer and now we are at their mercy on the price for their ventilators and other medical supply.
 
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LAW DAWG said:
The material for that N95 mask has jumped up from $6,000 a ton to $600,000 a ton. America is at the mercy of other nations because we were not producing the mask domestically. The same with the ventilators, China was making and we were importing. As it turns out the Trump tariffs on China fell back on the consumer and now we are at their mercy on the price for their ventilators and other medical supply.
Click to expand...
The great deal maker my ass!
 
LAW DAWG said:
The material for that N95 mask has jumped up from $6,000 a ton to $600,000 a ton. America is at the mercy of other nations because we were not producing the mask domestically. The same with the ventilators, China was making and we were importing. As it turns out the Trump tariffs on China fell back on the consumer and now we are at their mercy on the price for their ventilators and other medical supply.
Click to expand...

The tariffs are only a good idea when you don't need the tarifee to produce your goods...

Hopefully this encourages a U.S. based competitor to step up
 
LAW DAWG said:
The material for that N95 mask has jumped up from $6,000 a ton to $600,000 a ton. America is at the mercy of other nations because we were not producing the mask domestically. The same with the ventilators, China was making and we were importing. As it turns out the Trump tariffs on China fell back on the consumer and now we are at their mercy on the price for their ventilators and other medical supply.
Click to expand...

WOW!!!!!!
 
LAW DAWG said:
The material for that N95 mask has jumped up from $6,000 a ton to $600,000 a ton. America is at the mercy of other nations because we were not producing the mask domestically. The same with the ventilators, China was making and we were importing. As it turns out the Trump tariffs on China fell back on the consumer and now we are at their mercy on the price for their ventilators and other medical supply.
Click to expand...
He'll find some way to blame Obama for this as well.
 

Herbert77060 said:
This is one reason Home Economics should not have been taken out of high school. Those who took sewing...male or female could be making masks for family and friends.
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Herbert, I guess great minds think alike, because, I thought the exact same thing a few days ago. Some people may say, I don't have a sewing machine. Well, if you know how to sew, you don't need a sewing machine. But anyway, this is a topic for a whole nother thread.
 
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