Hello everyone and welcome to the Real Vision Daily Briefing. Today is Wednesday, July 1st.

I'm Max Worthy. I'll be your host today. We're joined by Ash Bennington, who is going to step over to the other side of the table today and be the head of the daily briefing.

But before I sit down with Ash, let's kick it over to Nick with today's top stories.

Thanks, Max.

Yesterday I talked about how the payroll protection program was wrapping up.

Last night, the Senate had voted to extend the program through August 8th,

so that the extra funds could be allocated to a business in need.

This extension still needs to be approved by the House.

I also briefly mentioned that the Fed's Main Street Lending Program, or MSLP,

could serve as an alternative for smaller enterprises to borrow from should the PPP end.

However, the MSLP which became operational on June 15th and has $600 billion available for loans,

has been met with tepid interest by both

lenders and borrowers alike. The crux of the issue with the MSLP is that the

smaller enterprises who need cash may not be approved for a loan while

enterprises who are more credit-worthy

could probably find better terms for loans elsewhere, as debt is incredibly cheap right now.

Lenders are saying that the setup of the MSLP is overly complicated.

According to them, drawing up loan documents can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and borrowers

are overwhelmed by the administrative process.

Initially, the minimum borrowing set by the Fed was $1 million.

They've since reduced it twice and is now at $250,000,

so as to attract smaller enterprises.

...