#(also biden DID use an executive order to raise minimum wage on federal jobs to $15/hr

[captainjonnitkessler]

what do you people think the president's powers are

[orbemnews]

Let’s Talk Policy Top policymakers and business leaders will assemble virtually next week for the DealBook DC Policy Project, to discuss the future of politics, the economy, markets and more. Register here to join us, from anywhere in the world, free of charge. Policy prescriptions With a new administration in place in Washington, the real work — and debate — about policy priorities begins in earnest. We’ve assembled some of the most influential players in that conversation to join us as part of a two-day event, the DealBook DC Policy Project, that starts on Monday. Between a health crisis and a related economic downturn, there are crucial policy questions about the way forward. And it’s not just about the stimulus needed to reboot the economy in the short term, but the policies necessary to create a sustainable and durable recovery. Everything from taxes to labor, trade, competition and markets is on the table. This project began in December with a series of round-table conversations with experts about climate policy, U.S.-China relations, the future of capitalism and more. Starting on Monday, we’re going to drill down on specifics with a series of decision makers to understand how they think about the most pressing challenges we face. My hope is that there will be lessons to take away from the sessions that advance the national conversation and make us all think a bit more deeply about our role in creating solutions. The agenda is below. I hope you can join us. Monday, Feb. 22, 9 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the road to recovery The path out of the pandemic is paved with debt. On top of the $1.9 trillion economic aid plan that is working its way through Congress, the White House is raising the prospect of another big spending package focused on infrastructure. Although the economy is recovering faster than expected, it remains fragile and uneven. Navigating this path is Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair who took over as Treasury secretary last month. She faces pressure to reduce the deficit that ballooned during the worst of the pandemic downturn and to address fears that aggressive spending could stoke inflation as pent-up demand is unleashed. In addition to getting the economy back on its feet, Ms. Yellen’s to-do list includes reviewing the deregulation of Wall Street under former President Donald J. Trump, resetting U.S. trade relations and incorporating inclusivity, the climate and other priorities into policymaking in a more comprehensive way than has been attempted before. Further reading: “The Daily” did a deep dive on Ms. Yellen’s biography, and how her background informs her thinking about why “the smartest thing we can do is act big,” as she said at her confirmation hearing. Monday, Feb. 22, 2:30 P.m. – 3 P.m. Attorney General Letitia James of New York on the power of accountability Letitia James has more high-profile cases and investigations on her plate today than most lawyers will manage in a lifetime. The way she uses her power also highlights how states can shape national policy. The New York state attorney general sued Amazon this week, accusing it of failing to protect warehouse workers amid the pandemic, undaunted by the company’s pre-emptive suit to block the charges. Her recent inquiry into nursing home deaths exposed the fact that New York had severely underreported the numbers. Her office is also taking on the New York Police Department over its handling of racial justice protests last year and is investigating fraud in Donald Trump’s business dealings in a civil suit that may become a criminal matter. She is suing the National Rifle Association and its leadership over claims of misconduct. She is leading a coalition of state attorneys general taking on Facebook, accusing the tech giant of illegally crushing competition. And yesterday, she also joined with other A.G.s to urge Congress to cancel federal student loan debt in the name of consumer protection. And that is just the short list. Further reading: When Ms. James was elected in 2018, she shattered a trio of racial and gender barriers: the first woman in New York to be elected attorney general, the first Black woman to be elected to statewide office and the first Black person to serve as attorney general. Monday, Feb. 22, 3:30 P.m. – 4 P.m. Ed Bastian of Delta on the future of travel Last year was “the toughest year in Delta’s history,” according to Ed Bastian, the airline’s chief executive. The carrier reported a loss of more than $12 billion as travel ground to a halt during the pandemic. But unlike its rivals, Delta has been able to avoid mass furloughs, and it turned down a bailout loan, opting instead to raise money by tapping its loyalty program. In addition to feeling the pandemic’s economic effects, the airline industry is at the center of health policy debates, like one over making masks mandatory, which airlines have welcomed, and another over requiring coronavirus tests before travel, which they have resisted for domestic flights. The industry over all is shedding more than $150 million each day, and it won’t turn around meaningfully until high-margin business travel picks up. But some experts say corporate travel may never fully recover, with in-person meetings permanently replaced by video conferences. Further reading: “Leadership is not a popularity contest,” Mr. Bastian told our Corner Office columnist, in a wide-ranging interview about managing the company through booms and busts. Monday, Feb. 22, 4 P.m. – 4:30 P.m. Steve Ballmer of USAFacts on stimulus by the numbers Since stepping down as Microsoft’s chief executive in 2014, Steve Ballmer has kept busy as the N.B.A.’s most energetic team owner. He has also founded USAFacts, a nonprofit group dedicated to presenting crucial data about the United States in easy-to-read formats. The idea behind the group, whose projects include a yearly scorecard for the U.S. modeled on corporate annual reports, is to give Americans the important facts about their government that they need to make informed political decisions. Working with academics and other experts, Mr. Ballmer’s group aims, in his words, to “figure out what the government really does” with taxpayers’ money. Further reading: Where $3.4 trillion in economic relief — the equivalent of $10,300 for every American — has been spent over the past year. Tuesday, Feb. 23, 12:30 P.m. – 1 P.m. Karen Lynch of CVS Health on the vaccine rollout Karen Lynch took over CVS Health this month as the pharmacy chain takes center stage in efforts to fight the pandemic. It is working with the government to distribute the coronavirus vaccine in its stores, as well as in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. To aid in those efforts, the company hired 15,000 employees at the end of last year. President Biden has warned of “gigantic” logistical hurdles to the rollout. CVS, which could add $1 billion in profit over the next year from the program, also aims to reach underserved communities, which have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Further reading: The job market for pharmacists is booming as chains rush to staff up to handle demand for vaccinations. Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2:30 P.m. – 3 P.m. Vlad Tenev of Robinhood and Jay Clayton, former S.E.C. chairman, on the markets Nothing captured Wall Street’s attention more in recent weeks than meme-stock mania, as the video game retailer GameStop and other unlikely companies briefly became the hottest things in the markets. At the center of the frenzy was the online brokerage Robinhood, which has attracted millions of users with commission-free trades but drew outrage among its users when it halted trading in GameStop and other stocks at the height of the mania. Vlad Tenev, a Robinhood co-founder and its chief executive, has been thrust into the spotlight. He faced hours of hostile questioning at a congressional hearing on Thursday about Robinhood’s business practices, which brought attention to normally obscure things like payment for order flow, clearinghouse deposit requirements and the timing of trade settlements. Mr. Tenev has called for changes to some of those practices while defending others. Joining him is Jay Clayton, the veteran Wall Street lawyer who led the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Trump administration. From the beginning of his tenure, Mr. Clayton said that his mission was protecting “the long-term interests of the Main Street investor.” To that end, the commission cracked down on cryptocurrency frauds on his watch. What the S.E.C. does now — if anything — to address another potential episode of meme-stock turmoil (or something like it) is open to debate. (Mr. Clayton has since rejoined corporate America, becoming the lead independent director of Apollo Global Management.) Further reading: Citadel Securities is a shadowy firm that handles more than a quarter of all stock trading in the U.S. (including a large share of Robinhood’s trades), making it a key player in debates about the future of market structure. Tuesday, Feb. 23, 5:30 P.m. – 6 P.m. Senator Mitt Romney on finding common ground In stark contrast to many of his party colleagues, Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, crossed party lines to vote to convict President Donald Trump on articles of impeachment, twice. Mr. Romney also recently proposed a family benefit program that would provide monthly payments of up to $350 per child, which was met with approval from many Democrats. It compared favorably to a plan from President Biden. Although some have accused him of a being a Republican in name only, Mr. Romney is in fact politically conservative and works with members on the right wing of his party. He is drafting a bill with Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas that would raise the minimum wage while forbidding businesses to hire undocumented immigrants. This is typical of Mr. Romney’s approach, insofar as it speaks to concerns on both sides of the aisle. Source link Orbem News #Lets #Policy #talk

[flipfundingstuff]

What Would A Biden Presidency Mean for Small Businesses?

Businesses hate uncertainty, and right now, uncertainty is all we have. The coronavirus pandemic has worsened in many states, plans to reopen businesses have had mixed results, and relief funding appears then disappears (then appears and disappears again!). On top of everything, the person leading every aspect of our economic, political, and public health policy may change on January 21, 2021.

As of this writing, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden was leading in the polls in all of the swing states that propelled Donald Trump to victory in 2016. There’s still several months to go, and polling was infamously inaccurate last election. But business leaders still have to do their due diligence to prepare and ask: What would a Biden presidency mean for business?

In this article, we’ll look at Joe Biden’s history with business policy, his stated plans, and any other evidence that could help small businesses plan for a potential Biden administration.

What is Biden’s History of Small Business Policy?

Joe Biden began serving in the Senate in 1973 when he was 30 years old and served continuously until he was elected vice president in 2008. He has lived most of his life as a legislator and politician, leaving a long and public work history.

But not much of that history relates to small business. Emily Canal at Inc.com states that out of “42 bills he sponsored that were enacted, none had an obvious connection to small businesses. And of the 491 bills he sponsored but did not receive approval, just a few have a pro-entrepreneur, pro-small business bent.”

Among those few pro-small business pieces of legislation are an anti-counterfeiting act and an act funding clean technologies.

Absent much history of small business policy, let’s look at the Biden campaign’s stated policies.

Small Business Coronavirus Relief and Guidance

The coronavirus pandemic and its effects will probably continue to be the top priority for whichever candidate is elected. Biden has pledged that he will institute a concerted federal response to the pandemic, as opposed to the patchwork of state policies preferred by the current administration. Consistent and science-backed policies like a public mask mandate would reduce transmission, infections, and deaths, remove uncertainty, and allow businesses to plan for the road ahead.

Some of Biden’s public health guidelines are specifically targeted to businesses reopening. According to his campaign website, Biden plans to order the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) “with setting and enforcing a rigorous emergency temporary standard so employers follow a clear set of rules to keep workers safe from COVID-19.” A Biden administration would also “create a ‘Safer for Shoppers’ program that gives compliant businesses a sign for their window so shoppers know they have done what they can to minimize the risk of exposure.” 

Biden’s coronavirus plan also calls for financial relief efforts for small businesses. This includes a “‘restart package’ that provides small business owners support for retaining and rehiring workers and covering other costs of restarting in this challenging environment.” The campaign also supports “a temporary small business loan program designed to address unanticipated shortfalls in revenue by offering interest-free loans to small- and medium-sized businesses around the country through the duration of the crisis,” as well as federal funds for state-level small business relief efforts.

Additionally, the Biden campaign has emphasized stricter oversight of existing small business relief efforts like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to ensure that money is really going to small businesses. The PPP had been hit by controversy after revelations that large companies like Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Shake Shack, and the Los Angeles Lakers had all taken out PPP loans. (Each of them later returned the money.) 

As a result, Biden has proposed reserving half of all future PPP funds for extra-small businesses (those with 50 employees or fewer). He also says there should be increased oversight to ensure no company receives more aid than they lost due to the pandemic, and that certain industries (including consulting, accounting, legal, tax advice, and hedge funds) and executives making over $500,000 should get special scrutiny for aid.

Support for Workers and Labor

Many of Biden’s policies relate to workers and organized labor, and would affect the relationship between small businesses and their employees. For example, like most Democrats, Biden supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

Biden has stated he would work to ban all but essential noncompete clauses in employment contracts, as well as no-poaching policies and mandatory arbitration clauses. Noncompetes were originally used to keep high-paid executives from taking industry secrets to competitors. But in recent years, noncompetes have become common even for entry-level positions and have been used to prevent large swaths of workers from taking better jobs. (The sandwich chain Jimmy Johns recently had to settle a lawsuit over requiring sandwich makers and delivery persons to sign a noncompete.) 

Biden also supports reforms to the so-called “gig economy,” which would reclassify many independent contractors as employees. His campaign cites California’s ABC Test as a guideline. According to the ABC Test, a worker is only an independent contractor if: 

The worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact;

The worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and

The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed.

Reduce Licensing Regulation

Biden also advocates the removal of burdensome licensing in certain industries. Hair salons are frequently cited as businesses with onerous licensing requirements that aren’t even transferable from state-to-state. One 2017 study found that no state required less than 400 hours of training to style hair; in New York, the minimum was 1,000 hours.

Repeal The Trump Tax Cuts

Under a Biden presidency, corporate tax rates would increase. President Trump lowered the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. Biden would repeal much, though not all, of this cut, increasing the rate to 28%. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, Biden’s tax plan “would reduce the economy’s size by 1.51 percent in the long run” and “shrink the capital stock by 3.23 percent.”

The president affects business owners in many ways through numerous policies, but this overview should offer some educated guesses. Whoever is in the Oval Office on January 22, all Americans, including small business owners, will have to adapt to changes.

The post What Would A Biden Presidency Mean for Small Businesses? appeared first on Lendio.

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[deniscollins]

Profitable Giants Like Amazon Pay $0 in Corporate Taxes. Some Voters Are Sick of It.

The corporate tax rate was reduced under President Obama from 35% to 28%, and by President Trump from 28% to 21% in 2017. In 2018, 60 Fortune 500 companies paid no federal taxes on $79 billion in corporate income last year, including Amazon which last year it had an effective tax rate of below zero — receiving a rebate — on income of $10.8 billion, primary reason being the new law allowed immediate expensing of capital expenditures, for example, in order to increase investment. What, if anything, should be done: (1) leave tax rate as is, (2) corporations should pay a new 7 percent tax on every dollar over $100 million in profits they earn anywhere in the world [Senator Warren proposal], or (3) increase corporate tax rate from 21 to 25% and tie increase to plans to rebuild bridges, roads and airports [Senator Klobuchar proposal]? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

Colin Robertson wonders why he pays federal taxes on the $18,000 a year he makes cleaning carpets, while the tech giant Amazon got a tax rebate.

His concerns about a tilted economic playing field recently led Mr. Robertson to join the Akron chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. At a gathering this month, as members discussed Karl Marx and corporate greed over chocolate chip cookies, it wasn’t long before talk turned to income inequality and how the government helps the wealthy avoid taxes.

“One of the benefits of taxation is taking it and using it for the collective good,” said Mr. Robertson, 25, comparing his minimal income to the roughly $150 billion net worth of Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive and the world’s richest person.

“He could be taxed at 99.9 percent and still have millions left over,” Mr. Robertson said, “and I’d be homeless.”

It’s a topic that several presidential candidates, led by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have hammered recently as they travel the campaign trail, spurred by a report that 60 Fortune 500 companies paid no federal taxes on $79 billion in corporate income last year. Amazon, which is reported to be opening a center in an abandoned Akron mall that will employ 500 people, has become the poster child for corporate tax avoidance; last year it had an effective tax rate of below zero — receiving a rebate — on income of $10.8 billion.

For decades, profitable companies have been able to avoid corporate taxes. But the list of those paying zero roughly doubled last year as a result of provisions in President Trump’s 2017 tax bill that expanded corporate tax breaks and reduced the tax rate on corporate income.

“Amazon, Netflix and dozens of major corporations, as a result of Trump’s tax bill, pay nothing in federal taxes,” Mr. Sanders said this month during a Fox News town hall-style event. “I think that’s a disgrace.”

Corporations’ ability to whittle down their tax bills has long been a target of criticism by Democrats, and this presidential campaign is no exception, particularly among left-wing candidates who argue that corporations should be accountable for wage inequality and its impact on low- and middle-income workers.

Though both parties have sought to lower the top corporate tax rate in the last decade — President Barack Obama proposed lowering it from 35 percent to 28 percent — Republicans in 2017 pushed it down to 21 percent, in addition to expanding some generous tax breaks. The new law allowed immediate expensing of capital expenditures, for example, in order to goose investment. That was one of the primary reasons that more corporations paid no federal taxes, according to the report.

Mr. Trump and his Republican allies argued that the tax changes would stimulate investment and economic growth. That has happened, though not by as much as they predicted.

Here in Ohio, even though unemployment has hit an 18-year low, several counties still have jobless rates significantly higher than the national rate, 3.8 percent, and the statewide rate, 4.4 percent. Ohioans have witnessed so many factory closures over the years that they seem to live with a permanent sense of economic wariness. The question for Democrats is how to leverage that to their advantage as they try to retake the state, which Mr. Trump won by 8 percentage points in 2016.

David Betras, the Democratic chairman in Mahoning County, a traditionally blue stronghold of union voters that President Trump nearly carried in 2016, said that Democrats had not yet figured out how to use the economic angst of laid-off employees and minimum-wage workers to defeat Mr. Trump in Ohio in 2020.

“Believe it or not, if you listen to the president, he addresses that issue,” Mr. Betras said. “He does it with a lot of smoke and very many mirrors, but he’s at least talking about how good the economy is and what I’ve done for you. ‘I’m with you. I have your back.’”

Even as candidates focus on corporate taxation, Mr. Betras said the issue didn’t resonate with voters in the same way as more familiar topics like health care or immigration. (Mr. Betras, a lawyer, has endorsed Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio for the Democratic nomination.)

A Gallup poll last fall suggested that taxes were generally a more important issue for Republicans than for Democrats.

In an election in which Democrats will seek to win back voters who supported Mr. Obama in 2008 and 2012, then switched to Mr. Trump, some worry that calls to increase corporate taxes might turn off swing voters in this critical state, those like Thomas Chhay, a student at the University of Akron.

“I lean Republican,” Mr. Chhay, 18, said recently while having lunch at the university’s student union. “I agree with corporate tax cuts unless the companies ship the jobs overseas.”

The list of profitable companies that pay no corporate taxes, compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, also includes Goodyear and three other Ohio companies, including the Akron-based electric utility FirstEnergy.

FirstEnergy paid no taxes last year on $1.5 billion in income, according to the analysis, and will receive additional tax credits that can be used in the future. In a win for consumers, some of that will be returned to the utility’s customers.

Several of the Democratic candidates have called for changes to the corporate system, and Ms. Warren has gone the furthest in issuing a detailed plan. Under her proposal, corporations would pay a new 7 percent tax on every dollar over $100 million in profits they earn anywhere in the world. She estimated the new tax would apply to roughly 1,200 companies and bring in $1 trillion over 10 years.

Under Ms. Warren’s plan, Amazon would have paid $698 million instead of $0 in federal taxes for 2018. In a statement, the company said it “pays all the taxes we are required to pay in the U.S. and every country where we operate.” (In a separate statement, Netflix said that it did, indeed, pay federal taxes in 2018.)

Mr. Sanders, in his 2016 presidential campaign and in this one, has routinely talked about closing loopholes and capturing some of the billions in profits that multinationals have kept overseas in tax havens.

Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator who is also running, has taken a different approach. She has tied a proposed increase in the corporate tax rate, to 25 percent from the current 21 percent, to plans to rebuild bridges, roads and airports. About $400 billion of her trillion-dollar infrastructure plan would be financed by the tax increase.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who officially entered the race on Thursday, has not issued a formal proposal on corporate taxes. In remarks last May, however, he blamed a “yawning” income gap for tearing the country apart. “We have to deal with this tax code,” he said. “It’s wildly skewed toward taking care of those at the very top.”

In surveys, more Americans support raising the corporate tax rate than lowering it or leaving it unchanged. And several Democratic candidates, like the former housing secretary Julián Castro, invoke “fair share” rhetoric in speeches or vow to undo the recent Republican tax law. Others, like Senator Kamala Harris of California, have focused more on the individual income tax and reducing the burden on working families.

But raising the headline tax rate on corporations won’t eliminate the corporate zero-rate club, which also results from companies taking advantage of loopholes and the way global profits are taxed.

Two years ago, Mr. Trump appeared at a rally in working-class Youngstown, the seat of Mahoning County, and delivered a messagefull of economic reassurance.

“I was looking at some of those big, once incredible job-producing factories,” the president said. “Those jobs have left Ohio. They’re all coming back. They’re all coming back. Don’t move. Don’t sell your house.”

In Ohio, it has not entirely worked out that way.

General Motors, one of the companies on the zero-tax list, recently idled a large plant near Youngstown that produced the Chevrolet Cruze, a decision that helped increase the company’s stock price even as G.M. paid no federal taxes on $4.32 billion in income.

“What was promised to these people was more jobs,” said David Green, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, which represents workers at the plant, which is in Lordstown. “When you give them the tax break and they take the jobs away, that’s like a double whammy. That’s a lose-lose.”

Lordstown is in Trumbull County, where the unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in March and many of those who work are eligible for public assistance.

Tyler Savin, a real estate agent, said the idling of the plant had added to his home listings and that many sellers wouldn’t get their asking prices as they left Ohio for other G.M. locations.

Mr. Savin, 22, was among the customers recently at Tommy Dogg’s Bar and Grill in nearby Niles, the birthplace of both Mr. Ryan, the local favorite-son candidate, and William McKinley, a Republican president who was known for imposing tariffs on foreign goods.

Mr. Savin likes Mr. Sanders, Mr. Biden and former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas, but will ultimately vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is, he said in a whisper lest pro-Trump patrons overhear.

“I think corporations should pay their taxes, like Amazon,” he said. But he said health care and support for abortion rights were more important to him.

Jeff Williams, 57, who manages a convenience store on the midnight shift, had heard about Amazon’s tax breaks on the radio. As he sat outside his home in Niles, he also was doing some comparison.

He was treated for cancer, heart disease and two hernias last year but wasn’t able to deduct his expenses, he said. Amazon, meantime, availed itself of a full suite of tax breaks. “Amazon doesn’t pay taxes, but I pay taxes,” Mr. Williams said.

Akron, about an hour west, is faring better economically. Mayor Daniel Horrigan won’t confirm or deny it, but Amazon is believed to be the company he has recruited to move into the old Rolling Acres Mall, which closed in 2008. Amazon would not comment on whether it planned to open a facility there.

Mr. Horrigan has been working to invigorate the economy of Akron, historically known as the Rubber City for its role in tire manufacturing. The tire jobs have mostly moved elsewhere.

Goodyear, which made the list of 60 by paying no federal corporate income taxes, employs 64,000 people worldwide, but only 3,000 of them remain here, mostly in the company’s headquarters. A spokesman said the company’s 2018 tax situation stemmed from “historical losses in U.S. operations.”

The Democratic Socialists have close to 100 members in Akron, many of them supporters of Mr. Sanders. Those attending this month’s meeting ranged from a stay-at-home mother who said she hadn’t been able to pay her water bill for a year to a college professor, David Pereplyotchik.

Mr. Pereplyotchik, 37, said he believed the group should come up with a viable alternative to the American corporate tax and wage system.

“If we’re fighting for something, what version of the thing are we fighting for?” asked Mr. Pereplyotchik, who teaches philosophy. “It seems like if you just make them pay employees more, they’re just not going to hire employees.”

Mr. Robertson, the carpet cleaner, has his own idea: nationalizing the companies. “I think forcing them to pay higher alone is inefficient,” he said, “and taxation alone is inefficient.”

[orbemnews]

Sleepless in the Senate On Feb. 22-23, DealBook will bring together some of the sharpest minds in business and policy for our DealBook DC Policy Project. Join us from anywhere in the world, free of charge. Register today. Fifteen hours later … From around 2:30 p.m. yesterday to 5:30 a.m. today, senators engaged in a “vote-a-rama,” dealing with a flood of amendments to a budget resolution that would accelerate the passage of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan, without any Republican votes if necessary. Indeed, after dealing with dozens of amendments, the Senate passed the bill along party lines, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote in the evenly split chamber. And so begins the “budget reconciliation” process. The arcane, filibuster-proof procedure — which was used to pass President Donald Trump’s tax cut in 2017 — features “baroque parliamentary tricks that few understand,” writes Times Opinion’s Ezra Klein. In short, after the House passes an identical resolution to the Senate’s, probably within a day or so, lawmakers will take a few weeks to work out the details of the stimulus bill, subject to some constraints under reconciliation. The final package won’t include everything Mr. Biden wants, most notably raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, which will be delayed by an amendment that senators passed to put off any increase until after the pandemic. Senator Bernie Sanders, unfazed, said that his plan for the wage increase was to phase it in over five years, not impose it immediately. Senators also agreed to a motion to block tax increases on small businesses during the pandemic, backed a fund to provide grants to bars and restaurants hit by the coronavirus crisis, voted to overturn Mr. Biden’s halt on the Keystone XL pipeline, and forbade $1,400 stimulus checks from going to “upper-income taxpayers,” which will be defined when the bill-writing process begins. The upshot: Something resembling the $1.9 trillion package proposed by the White House will probably become law in the coming weeks. Later today, the monthly jobs report will provide an important gauge of the strength of the economic recovery, and could influence lawmakers as they haggle over the small print for a huge stimulus. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING Johnson & Johnson applies for emergency approval of its Covid-19 vaccine. The drugmaker submitted paperwork for its single-shot treatment to the F.D.A. yesterday. Approval could come by late this month, clearing J.&J. to begin shipping it in early March. Senator Amy Klobuchar proposes sweeping changes to antitrust laws. The new Democratic head of the Senate antitrust subcommittee introduced legislation that would prohibit companies with dominant market positions from buying rivals unless they can prove such deals wouldn’t hinder competition. Expect skepticism from Republicans and the tech industry. The Bank of England paves the way for negative interest rates. The central bank told British banks yesterday that they should prepare for rates to go below zero, though policymakers have kept the benchmark rate at 0.1 percent. Still, the pound and bond yields rose in anticipation of a future rate cut. A short seller takes on Chamath Palihapitiya. Hindenburg Research, the research and investment firm, accused the health insurer Clover Health of misleading investors and failing to disclose an inquiry by the Justice Department. Hindenburg, which said it has no investment in Clover, questioned whether Mr. Palihapitiya was aware of those issues when one of his SPACs took the company public. Clover rebutted Hindenburg’s claims this morning, but acknowledged the S.E.C. has begun an investigation. Private equity might join the club of N.B.A. team owners. CVC Capital is reportedly in talks to buy a minority stake in the San Antonio Spurs at a $1.3 billion valuation, The Financial Times reports. A deal could open the door to investment firms buying pieces of other N.B.A. teams, as some minority owners demand more options for selling their stakes. Cashing in on meme-stock mania Here’s another winner in the meme-stock frenzy: the Koss family. The headphone maker that bears their name was swept up in the recent market mania, pushing the heavily shorted small-cap company’s share price up by nearly 2,000 percent in a matter of days. Koss insiders sold some $44 million in stock this week, an amount worth more than the company’s entire market cap before the crowds of retail traders sent its shares soaring. Michael J. Koss, the C.E.O. and son of the firm’s founder, sold shares worth more than $13 million, and was joined by other family members, executives and directors in paring their holdings. Can they do that? Although executives at other companies at the center of the frenzy, namely GameStop and AMC, haven’t sold shares during the rally, there is nothing untoward legally about the move, provided that the insiders did not have access to private information about the run-up in share price. There’s no reason to believe that they did, since it seems that the Reddit-fueled rally was largely conducted in the open, by investors cheering each other on via a public message board. “As the stock goes up in price, whether it makes sense or not, the people on the end of the short sale suffer,” said Craig Marcus, a partner at the law firm Ropes & Gray, “and people who hold the stock and have the opportunity to sell it and benefit from it, benefit from it.” Speaking of cashing in, Jaime Rogozinski, the founder of the WallStreetBets Reddit forum, where meme-stock traders gather, sold the rights to his life story to a production company. Other moderators at the forum, who pushed out Mr. Rogozinski last year, are now fighting for control of the group, which has 8.5 million members, amid accusations that they are trying to position themselves as key players in the saga in hopes of signing deals similar to Mr. Rogozinski’s. In other meme-stock news: GameStop crashed again yesterday, leaving it more than 80 percent lower than at the start of the week. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held a meeting with fellow regulators to address market volatility, which concluded with statements promising further research but no immediate action. And Elon Musk, who had celebrated the meme-stock rally before saying he would take a break from Twitter, returned to tweet praise of the jokey cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which promptly surged in price. A big week for Big Media At CNN: The news network’s longtime leader, Jeff Zucker, announced that he would be stepping down at the end of the year. His exit from CNN raises questions about the network’s future — including speculation about whether he would try to buy out the channel from AT&T or seek to replace his boss, Jason Kilar of WarnerMedia. At Fox News: The election technology company Smartmatic has sued the network for more than $2.7 billion, accusing Rupert Murdoch’s broadcaster of peddling false conspiracy theories about its technology. It follows Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.3 billion lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani on similar grounds. In the papers Some of the academic research that caught our eye this week, summarized in one sentence: Speculative trading in volatile assets creates “pseudo-wealth,” which becomes “dangerously untethered from either market wealth or the real wealth of the economy.” (Joseph Stiglitz) Bankruptcy filings have fallen during the pandemic, but governments should prepare for a surge later this year. (Simeon Djankov and Eva Zhang) Covid-19 may accelerate the automation of jobs, which would affect women more than men. (Alex Chernoff and Casey Warman) How you’d fix the market In his column this week, Andrew suggested six ways to restore trust and fairness in the stock market. We asked what you would add to the list, and received a ton of thoughtful submissions. We read all of them, and here is a selection of common suggestions, edited and condensed for clarity: “Have a zero percent capital gains tax on securities held more than two years. This would encourage long-term investing at the expense of short-term speculative trading.”— Bob Knutson in St. Paul, Minn. “Limit how much of each new issue the big guys can grab and let the small fish get their nibbles first.”— Miriam Kelly in Baltimore “Restore the uptick rule.”— Andrew Oliver in Marblehead, Mass. “Buying back shares should not be allowed. It does nothing for the value of the company, nor does it lead to better investment performance.”— Joyce Hum in Ottawa “Limit the total percentage of float allowed to be sold short. Anything over 100 percent seems to be a recipe for a short squeeze.”— Dan Niemiec in Chicago “Have the exchanges process market orders in a manner that nullifies the machinery of high-frequency trading, like adding a random delay of between five and 15 seconds to any market order.”— Ronny Lempel in Redmond, Wash. “Go to T-0 equity settlement, which reduces the overall credit exposures from trading T+2. Before anyone objects to the technical challenge, China operates this way.”— Stephen Howard in Hong Kong THE SPEED READ Deals Exxon Mobil is reportedly considering adding Jeff Ubben, the environmentally minded activist investor, to its board amid pressure from hedge funds like D.E. Shaw. (Bloomberg) In I.P.O. news: Shares in Kuaishou, a Chinese rival to TikTok, more than doubled in their market debut in Hong Kong. And the yogurt company Chobani plans to go public later this year. (CNBC) A SPAC backed by Alex Rodriguez — yes, A-Rod — hopes to raise about $500 million. (Reuters) Politics and policy Millions of dollars in donations to key Senate races last year came from mysterious nonprofits and companies with little to no paper trail. (Axios) “Can the Man Who Saved the Euro Now Save Italy?” (NYT) Tech Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook unexpectedly made his debut on the social network Clubhouse last night, causing service outages on the platform. (Newsweek) Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, President Biden’s pick for commerce secretary, said she saw “no reason” to lift U.S. national security restrictions on Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE. (Bloomberg) Best of the rest The economist Nina Banks argues that community activism and other unpaid social labor by Black women is ignored by traditional economic data. (NYT) The number of Black executives who serve as chairs, C.E.O.s or C.F.O.s of Britain’s 100 biggest companies has fallen to zero, thanks to a “vanilla boys’ club.” (HR Magazine) Peloton is spending $100 million on air and ocean freight to shorten shipping delays of its exercise bikes and treadmills. (CNBC) We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com. Source link Orbem News #Senate #Sleepless