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Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Understanding the CARES Act (with Heidi Shierholz)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.81.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2020

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) is big—but not big enough to protect working people. Economist Heidi Shierholz joins the show to explain where CARES falls short, and to recommend the safeguards we need to include in future bailout packages. Heidi Shierholz is a Senior Economist and Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute. Her team monitors wage and employment policies coming out of Congress and the administration, and advances a worker-first policy agenda. Twitter: @hshierholz @EconomicPolicy (News clip from FOX 17 VXMI) Further reading: Despite some good provisions, the CARES Act has glaring flaws and falls short of fully protecting workers during the coronavirus crisis: https://www.epi.org/blog/despite-some-good-provisions-the-cares-act-has-glaring-flaws-and-falls-short-of-fully-protecting-workers-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/ A widening toll on jobs: ‘This thing is going to come for us all’: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/business/economy/coronavirus-unemployment-claims.html Does the stimulus package pass the test? https://civicskunk.works/does-the-stimulus-package-pass-the-test-a070bf4922dc 3.5 million workers likely lost their employer-provided health insurance in the past two weeks: https://www.epi.org/blog/3-5-million-workers-likely-lost-their-employer-provided-health-insurance-in-the-past-two-weeks/ Nearly 20 million workers will likely be laid off or furloughed by July: https://www.epi.org/blog/nearly-20-million-jobs-lost-by-july-due-to-the-coronavirus/ The CARES Act’s aid to state and local governments isn’t enough to shield vital public services from the coronavirus shock: https://www.epi.org/blog/the-cares-acts-aid-to-state-and-local-governments-isnt-enough-to-shield-vital-public-services-from-the-coronavirus-shock-lessons-from-the-great-recession-tell-us-why/ States get billions in record stimulus - but say it’s not enough: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/03/26/states-get-billions-in-record-stimulus-but-say-its-not-enough-1269230 Here are safeguards needed in bailout packages to protect working people and fight corporate greed: https://www.epi.org/blog/any-industry-bailout-package-must-include-meaningful-protections-for-working-people-and-guardrails-against-corporate-greed/ A portrait of disaster: https://www.epi.org/press/a-portrait-of-disaster-initial-ui-claims-jump-from-211000-to-6-6-million-in-three-weeks/ Policymakers twice missed the chance to avert widespread job loss, now they should act to avoid more layoffs: https://www.epi.org/blog/policymakers-twice-missed-the-chance-to-avert-widespread-job-loss-now-they-should-act-to-avoid-more-layoffs/ Congress “CARES” for wealthy with COVID-19 tax policy provisions: https://itep.org/congress-cares-for-wealthy-with-covid-19-tax-policy-provisions/ Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Transcript

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0:00.0

The Federal Cares Act offers assistance for individuals and also small businesses who are affected by COVID-19.

0:07.5

So Heidi, we'd love to have you take us through the pluses and minuses of the CARES Act.

0:14.0

It has some really great things in it that I'm very happy about and it has some big holes.

0:19.6

We needed a response immediately, but when you do a big bailout it should have big strings attached.

0:27.0

Right. From the offices of Civic Ventures in downtown Seattle, this is Pitch Fork Economics with

0:38.3

Nick Hanauer, a pointed conversation about who gets what and why, with one of America's most provocative

0:44.9

capitalists. I'm Nick Hanauer, founder of Civic Ventures. I'm David Goldstein, Senior Fellow at Civic Ventures.

0:59.0

So Nick, when we started Pitch Fork Economics, it seems like a decade ago now only a little more than a year

1:07.4

we tended to we started focusing on on theory we were talking about economics and theory and how bad Orthodox economics

1:17.2

economic theory was and how that can have bad consequences in the real world.

1:24.0

The last few weeks, man, it's all about practice now.

1:29.0

And so for the foreseeable future, we're going to be focusing a lot more on what's happening in the here

1:35.5

and now and trying to unpack this economic crisis as it unfolds, what we're doing about it, what we need to be doing about it,

1:47.0

what we should be doing about it in the future.

1:49.2

Yeah, and for sure, you know, this is a crisis that's going to affect everyone in one way shape or form and you know we

1:56.8

want to use the podcast to I suppose connect people around the ideas that we should be embracing to both make sense of what's happening to our society in the world, but also to try to come together around some solutions to make it better.

2:14.8

And today we get to talk to somebody who's at the forefront of trying to make it better,

2:19.5

and that's Heidi Sheerholtz, an economist with EPI.

2:24.0

And the economic news, putting aside the health news, is dire.

2:29.2

It's terrible, it's awful, it's tragic.

2:32.1

And it's going to take a big toll on lots and lots of folks and I think

2:36.2

what's really clear is how unclear it is what's gonna happen nobody knows

...

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