This question has gained new urgency as the federal government scrambles to bring emergency funding to millions of small businesses across the country under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP consists of forgivable loans that borrowers may use to cover employee payroll, rent, and utilities for…
[This week's Flashback is a column I wrote back in October 2015 that seems even more pertinent now. It concerns a particular "moral hazard" posed by the Fed's rescue efforts: the risk that Congress, having seen the Fed breach former barriers to its involvement in risky lending, and…
(Your editor penned this summary version of his writings on the Fed's Great-Depression era attempts at Main Street lending in the hope that a respectable newspaper would publish it. Alas, those newspapers turned it down, as did some more dubious outlets. As my piece's content seems as…
Thanks to COVID-19, most of the financial business in the United States that was previously being done on-site is now being conducted virtually: financial markets are open, investment continues, and public companies continue to report. Normally, virtual business and certain securities law requirements, such as manual signatures,…
Amid all the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus crisis, the CMFA is glad to have some good (and timely) news to share: we've added a new expert to our full-time policy staff. Jennifer Schulp joins Cato as the CMFA's director of financial regulation studies, where she will work…