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Presented by The Mortgage Bankers Association
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BLEAK PREDICTION — First, the bad news: International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva predicts it may take until 2023 for the global economy to return to its pre-coronavirus levels.
Georgieva leads one of the few global institutions that hasn’t alienated the Trump administration. Perhaps President Donald Trump sees something of himself in the practical yet brazen Georgieva.
Like the president, Georgieva prefers TV over books. During a POLITICO virtual event today , Georgieva said the only reading she’s doing is the 100 or so requests for help the IMF has received from national governments struggling to stay afloat financially. But she is finding time for Ken Burns’ PBS series “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.”
Asked if that meant she’s looking for inspiration for a global version of FDR’s New Deal , Georgieva replied, “Yeah, absolutely.” It’s a long way from the IMF’s neoliberal image as gung-ho privatizers of state assets and enforcers of austerity. “After a war we come together. Well, why not after a pandemic, we come together?” Georgieva reasoned. |
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POLITICO
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Georgieva urges nations: “Please spend, wisely, but spend as much as you can! And then spend a bit more for your doctors, for your nurses, for the vulnerable people in your society.”
She is also attaching green conditions to IMF financial assistance, unlike the approach taken by Congress and Trump administration with the $2 trillion CARES Act, and nudging governments to offer “support for companies to retain their workers in place.” That usually takes the form of a government-funded salary guarantee if a given job is maintained. With a gentle IMF push, the policy is now “massively spreading around the world” she said.
She has advice for leaders and organizations struggling to gain traction with the Trump administration: Be transparent; bring “a credible strategy”; “talk to everybody”; and bring your “track record” back to the table for follow-up meetings.
Her contact points include Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump. She credits Mnuchin for getting the IMF the resources it asked for in the CARES Act while managing “very serious domestic problems.”
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A message from The Mortgage Bankers Association:
Individual Needs. Individual Solutions. We understand that mortgage relief is not one-size-fits-all. The COVID-19 pandemic has left many Americans in unique financial situations. That’s why we encourage you to contact your mortgage company if paying your mortgage poses a financial hardship. There are options to help meet your needs. MBA.org/consumerinfo |
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MINORITY REPORT — Almost a month ago, as the coronavirus exacted an outsized toll on vulnerable groups across America, Trump turned to an under-the-radar White House council to quickly determine how the federal government “can best support minority and distressed communities.” Little has come of it, White House reporter Gabby Orr writes.
Nearly three months into the pandemic, administration officials are still trying to formulate a comprehensive plan for helping minority communities — particularly African Americans and Latinos — hit disproportionately hard by the virus. The mounting concerns about inaccessible testing and high hospitalization rates highlight a gaping hole in Trump’s pandemic response — worries that also threaten to ricochet through the president’s 2020 reelection operation six months out from Election Day.
Trump campaign officials, who have spent months investing in outreach to black and Latino voters ahead of November, now face the difficult task of courting communities that have been ravaged by the virus and are frustrated with what they perceive as a lackluster response from the administration.
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JOIN TUESDAY - HOW DO WE STRATEGICALLY REOPEN THE ECONOMY? Join chief economic correspondent Ben White on Monday at 9 a.m. EDT for a virtual conversation with Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), to discuss his work on the newly launched House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis and whether he believes that the fiscal response so far has been enough. Should there be more transparency on how stimulus dollars are being spent? What more does Congress need to do to keep the economy afloat? Have questions? Submit yours by tweeting it to @POLITICOLive using #AskPOLITICO. REGISTER HERE.
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$883 billion
The amount the House Democrats' coronavirus stimulus plan would reduce federal tax receipts, according to a new Joint Committee on Taxation analysis . About half of that cost is attributable to a proposed new round of stimulus checks to millions of Americans. The bill, set for a vote later tonight, includes more than $1 trillion in tax cuts, partially defrayed by a plan to raise taxes on businesses. (h/t tax reporter Brian Faler)
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SETTING THE PRECEDENT — As the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down that state’s administrative stay-at-home order made clear, the state-by-state approach to dealing with the coronavirus crisis is inconsistent and ineffective, Kim Wehle argues in POLITICO Magazine . During the next pandemic — which is all but inevitable — Washington can and should impose an immediate, nationwide program of contact tracing and mandatory quarantine for infected people. The Trump administration has resisted such drastic measures, shunting responsibility onto the states, but the power is nevertheless within the executive branch, and it can be imposed without violating the Constitution.
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NIGHTLY ASKED YOU — What does reopening look like where you live? We asked you to take a photo and send it to us. Here are some of our favorites.
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DRAWING FROM THE RIGHT — Matt Wuerker interviews conservative Mike Lester in the latest edition of Punchlines , talking about the rare breed of right-leaning cartoonists and how he covers the Trump White House.
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HERE COMES THE SUN — Get ready for a mammoth life-death-and-sickness experiment in Florida, Marc Caputo emails us. On Monday, most of the state will implement its “Full Phase 1” reopening plan to let restaurants, gyms, museums and libraries operate at 50 percent capacity, provided they enforce social distancing plans. Theme parks (think Disney World and Universal Studios) can submit reopening plans to the state.
“The American people didn't sign up to be on a perpetual shelter-in-place. We need to be able to get society functioning again,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said today. DeSantis has stopped just short of taking a victory lap after widespread forecasts of death and suffering failed to materialize after he instituted a go-slow approach that deferred to local governments to issue shelter-in-place and shutdown orders, which we discussed a bit Thursday.
Miami-Dade, the state’s largest and densest county, is opening up at a lower and slower level, even though its hospitalization rates are falling (there’s 80 percent capacity in local hospitals). So Miami Beach’s famed sandy expanse will remain off limits.
Luck? Geography? Smarts? Who knows exactly why Florida dodged the forecast bullets? We’re learning more every day about the coronavirus and human reactions to it. Floridians didn’t appear to wait around for government mandates and limited their social interactions, helping reduce community spread. Florida’s notorious low-rise sprawl (that is, its lack of density), its lack of public transportation, its weather that kept people outside (and therefore out of cramped coronavirus-spreading settings) and perhaps even its heat and humidity might have played a role.
To address two conspiracy theories on social media (shock!) that we heard Thursday: The state’s coronavirus test numbers DO include private lab tests and, while there’s a difference between the state’s reported coronavirus deaths when compared to independent county medical examiners’ numbers, sometimes the latter is higher and sometimes the former. So there’s no good evidence that DeSantis is cooking the books, although there’s evidence of sloppy recordkeeping.
SCHOOL’S OUT— Trump expects a full reopening of schools come fall. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos isn’t so sure, Nicole Gaudiano and Juan Perez Jr. write. DeVos adds a caveat Trump doesn’t much like — a lot of school systems will have to stick with virtual schooling if they aren’t ready for a full reopening.
INSIDE AN INFODEMIC — Disinformation online has exploded during the pandemic. In the latest edition of POLITICO Dispatch, technology reporter Steven Overly looks at the reason the “infodemic” has taken root: “The whole world right now is talking about one topic, and we’ve been talking about it online since social distancing measures were put in place. So that really creates a blatant target if you’re a fringe group looking to grab attention and spread a message.”
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YOUR DAILY AUDIBLE CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: States across the country are trying to balance public health with economic health. Get quick, reliable, updates and analysis with POLITICO Dispatch, a short, daily podcast featuring experts from across our newsroom who provide the news and context you need in 15 minutes or less. Subscribe and listen today.
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THROWING THE KITCHEN SINK AT IT — Air Force scientists are studying whether microwaves can kill or significantly lower the transmission of the coronavirus, Daniel Lippman emails us. “We hope one outcome from this work would be the development of a mobile system similar in size to a human, or a little larger, which is capable of decontaminating spaces like a hospital room or an aircraft passenger cabin,” William P. Roach, a program officer focusing on laser and optical physics at the Air Force’s Office of Scientific Research, told Daniel. “The use of microwaves may enable the potential for rapid decontamination not currently addressed by ultraviolet light or chemical cleaning for highly cluttered areas, while potentially operating at levels safely compatible with human occupancy.” In general the scientific literature has shown that some viruses are naturally vulnerable to microwaves.
Roach said the study is using “microwave radiation (this is not your microwave oven)” in its tests. The Air Force is using a team of 15 people and spending $500,000 on test equipment and samples during a six-month study.
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CUTTING LOOSE — The haircut has become an act of subversion. Haircuts and politics have always been a potent mix, from Bill Clinton to John Edwards to Sarah Palin and countless other politicians who defended their high-price haircuts. But in the Covid era, haircuts have become a symbol of political resistance. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Dallas last week to get his hair cut at the salon whose owner became a conservative cause celebre for defying statewide Covid restrictions. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had to defend her haircut last month. In California, salon owners and barbers are suing California’s normally perfectly groomed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who now has strands peeking out above his collar.
Like many of you, your host didn’t want to make a political statement, but desperately needed to chop off her untamed tresses. And it’s legal now in Austin — with certain precautions, of course. So I visited my go-to hairstylist , Natalie Morgan at Nova Hair Collective. As her first client since she shut down her salon in mid-March, I was a guinea pig for her reopening protocol, which includes masks, hand washing, a no-gossiping rule and a wildly out-of-control hand sanitizer squirt bottle. |
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A message from The Mortgage Bankers Association:
Individual Needs. Individual Solutions. We understand that mortgage relief is not one-size-fits-all. The COVID-19 pandemic has left many Americans in unique financial situations. That’s why we encourage you to contact your mortgage company if paying your mortgage poses a financial hardship. There are options to help meet your needs. Visit MBA.org/consumerinfo for more information on forbearance options. |
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