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…
Twelve years after the 2008 financial crisis, America's housing finance system is once again under strain. The acute decline in economic activity that coronavirus fears and government-mandated lockdowns have caused is disrupting cash flows for millions of households and businesses. In just four weeks, 22 million people…
One year ago the U.S. economy was robust with unemployment at historically low levels and real incomes rising. No one would have predicted that a year later the economy would come to a halt and more than 20 million people would be applying for unemployment benefits. This…
One of the more controversial provisions of the CARES Act consists of the $454 billion it allows the U.S. Treasury to devote to "backstopping" (that is, to supplying partial funding for) the Federal Reserve's emergency lending. In a previous post, I argued that these Treasury backstops help…
Earlier this week, while most of us were still trying to wrap our heads around the Fed's emergency lending plans, consumer advocate Ralph Nader fired-off an irate letter to its Chair, Jay Powell. Nader's letter didn't take issue with any of those plans. Instead, it accused Powell…