Monday, December 7, 2020

HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF SPIES DOES RED CHINA EMPLOY IN AMERICA? - Harvard Researcher Pleads Guilty to Lying About Smuggling Cancer Research to China

 

Report: Chinese Spy Was in ‘Relationships’ with at Least Two Midwestern Mayors

China and United States flags together realtions textile cloth fabric texture
Getty Images
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A suspected Chinese spy was linked to at least two anonymous Midwestern mayors, according to a bombshell report from Axios.

The political journal said Fang Fang, who also goes by Christine Fang, developed political contacts primarily in California, including Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

It went on to report:

Fang attended regional conferences for U.S. mayors, which allowed her to grow her network of politicians across the country.

She also engaged in sexual or romantic relationships with at least two mayors of Midwestern cities over a period of about three years, according to one U.S. intelligence official and one former elected official.

“At least two separate sexual interactions with elected officials, including one of these Midwestern mayors, were caught on FBI electronic surveillance of Fang, according to two intelligence officials,” Axios said.

The outlet said it was not able to identify or speak to the elected officials.

Axios published photos of Fang with Democrat U.S. Reps. Mike Honda (D-CA) and Judy Chu (D-CA), as well as local California officials Fremont Mayor Bill Harrison (D) and San Jose city councilman Ash Kalra (D).

According to the outlet, Fang volunteered for the unsuccessful campaign of now-Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA). Fang was also a host for a 2013 event with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI).

A Gabbard spokeswoman said the congresswoman “has no recollection of ever meeting or talking with her, nor any recollection of her playing a major role at the fundraiser.”

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays — download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.

Harvard Researcher Pleads Guilty to Lying About Smuggling Cancer Research to China

China
GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images
2:16

A Harvard researcher from China pled guilty in federal court last week to lying to federal investigators over his role in an attempt to smuggle cancer research from Harvard University to the Chinese government. Over the past several years, dozens of researchers at institutions around the nation have failed to disclose their financial relationships with the Chinese government.

According to a report by the Crimson, former Harvard researcher Zaosong Zheng pled guilty on Thursday to lying to customs officials. Zheng was found by customs officials in December 2019 with 21 vials of biological materials from cancer research that was being conducted at the Harvard Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The researched had been flagged by customs as a high risk for smuggling research materials. When the biological materials were found in his luggage, he initially denied that they had come from Harvard, instead claiming a friend had given him the vials to carry back to China.

As part of his plea deal, charges of smuggling were dropped. Zheng will be required to leave the United States on January 6, 2021. However, a judge may impose five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines on Zheng for the false statements he made to customs officials.

In a statement, a Harvard University spokesperson said that they were grateful for the work done by law enforcement officials.

“We are grateful for the diligence and professionalism of federal law enforcement in this case,” she added.

Breitbart News reported in June that the former chair of Harvard’s chemistry department was indicted on two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. Dr. Charles Lieber allegedly maintained an undisclosed financial relationship with the Chinese government. Lieber took a position as a “strategic scientist” at the Wuhan University of Technology, which paid him $50,000 monthly. The university also offered him $1.5 million to establish a research lab in Wuhan. Lieber has pled not guilty to the charges and plans to continue to fight his charges in court.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

A Chinese Spy Infiltrated a Number of Democrat Campaigns

Katie Pavlich
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Posted: Dec 08, 2020 11:00 AM
A Chinese Spy Infiltrated a Number of Democrat Campaigns

Source: (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

UPDATE: Not only did the spy fundraise for Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell, she was also sleeping with him. 

***Original post***

A Chinese Communist Party intelligence operative successfully infiltrated a number of Democrat congressional campaigns in California and even served as a fundraising bundler for Congressman Eric Swalwell. Axios has the scoop

A Chinese national named Fang Fang or Christine Fang, targeted up-and-coming local politicians in the Bay Area and across the country who had the potential to make it big on the national stage.

Through campaign fundraising, extensive networking, personal charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, Fang was able to gain proximity to political power, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials and one former elected official.

Among the most significant targets of Fang's efforts was Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).

Fang took part in fundraising activity for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign, according to a Bay Area political operative and a current U.S. intelligence official. Swalwell’s office was directly aware of these activities on its behalf, the political operative said. That same political operative, who witnessed Fang fundraising on Swalwell's behalf, found no evidence of illegal contributions.

U.S. officials believe Fang's real reason for being in the U.S was to gather political intelligence and to influence rising U.S. officials on China-related issues.

Fang also made serious inroads with Democrats Ro Khanna and Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard and Swalwell both ran for president in the last election cycle.

Chinese espionage and influence campaigns are a serious, increasing national security threat.  In 2018, it was revealed a longtime driver for Senator Dianne Feinstein was a spy. His work for her spanned two decades and while she was the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

The Chinese spy was Feinstein’s driver who also served as a gofer in her Bay Area office and was a liaison to the Asian-American community.

He even attended Chinese consulate functions for the senator.

Former FBI agent and KPIX 5 security analyst Jeff Harp said he was not surprised.

“Think about Diane Feinstein and what she had access to,” said Harp. “One, she had access to the Chinese community here in San Francisco; great amount of political influence. Two, correct me if I’m wrong, Dianne Feinstein still has very close ties to the intelligence committees there in Washington, D.C.”

AMERICA'S SMALL BUSINESSES COLLAPSE AS THE RICH LOOT AND PLUNDER

The Pandemic Has Benefited One Group Of People: Billionaires

Ortiz: It’s Defcon 1 for America’s Small Businesses–This Is What Has to Happen Next

Closed Small Business
Fox Business
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Alfredo Ortiz of Job Creators Network writes in Fox Business that unless Congress passes an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, the survivability of small businesses is doomed:

It’s Defcon 1 for small businesses. Experts assume that the country will achieve vaccine-induced herd immunity by May, so call the effort to keep small businesses alive until then “Operation Mayday.” The best way to help small businesses bridge the gap from today till May is by extending the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers small companies forgivable loans if they maintain their payroll.

Obstructionist Democrats in the House of Representatives have held additional PPP funds hostage in return for a multi-trillion-dollar blue state bailout that would amount to a debt jubilee for badly governed states and localities.

The Pandemic Has Benefited One Group Of People: Billionaires

Consumer Credit Unexpectedly Hits the Skids As Pandemic Surges

A bunch of smashed pumpkins are seen together.
Getty Images
3:10

The pace of U.S. consumer borrowing fell steeply in October, reflecting a steep drop-off in the use of credit cards as the pandemic and efforts to stem its resurgence cut into consumer spending.

Total credit rose by $7.2 billion in October from the month prior, falling far short of the $17 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Econoday.  The figure was just half of the bottom of the range of forecasts.
September’s figure was revised to show a $15 billion expansion, down from the initial estimate of $16.2 billion.

Total consumer credit for the month rose an annualized 2.1 percent after growing at a 4.4 percent pace in September. Consumer credit contracted an annualized 5.6 percent in the second quarter as major parts of the economy were shuttered to fight the virus.

Outstanding credit card debt fell $5.5 billion as retail sales stalled and consumers pulled back from some of the big spending that had gone on over the summer. Revolving credit fell 6.7 percent for the month, from $985.1 billion to $979.6 billion, the seventh decline in eight months.

Drops in revolving credit usage, mostly in the form of credit card spending, can indicate waning consumer confidence. As well, restrictions on restaurants and other venues may be holding back spending and the use of credit cards.

It may be some American households are keeping credit cards tucking in wallets and instead spending down savings accumulated during the year, largely because many ordinary channels of spending—such as dining out, travel, movies, sporting events, and concerts—have been canceled or curtailed.

The revival of lockdowns and government restrictions on a variety of activities are likely to put further pressure on consumer spending and credit use, according to most analysts. The surge of Covid cases and deaths could hold back spending by many Americans wary of becoming infected, particularly among older Americans who ordinarily spend more than they earn and serve as net income contributors to the rest of the economy.

Progress in the labor market has stalled. Jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, are rising and the Labor Department’s jobs report on Friday revealed the economy generated far less employment growth than expected. The extraordinary government support for the unemployed has run dry, leaving millions of jobless Americans to rely on state jobless benefits that typically pay only half the income earned by workers. That leaves those workers with far less to spend and can even induce employed people to pull back on their spending in order to save to cushion possible future job losses.

Non-revolving debt, which includes auto and school loans, rose by $12.7 billion. Federal government lending increased by $4.5 billion, likely due to student loan lending and student loan forebearance.

The Fed’s measure of consumer credit does not include mortgage debt.


The Pandemic Has Benefited One Group Of People: Billionaires

 

The Pandemic Has Benefited One Group Of People: Billionaires

Roughly 3 out of 4 American billionaires have seen a rise in their net worths. Elon Musk alone has tripled his net worth during the pandemic.

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By Michael Hobbes

 

ILLUSTRATION: REBECCA ZISSER/HUFFPOST; PHOTOS: GETTY

Other than NetflixAndrew Cuomo and the virus itself, no one has benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic more than American billionaires.

Over the last six months, roughly 3 out of 4 members of America’s 10-digit-wealth club have seen a rise in their net worths. Sixteen American billionaires are worth at least twice as much now as they were in March. And Jeff Bezos, who was already worth $113 billion at the start of 2020, is heading into the year’s final stretch $73 billion richer.

Michael Bloomberg and Charles Koch are both up by $7 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg has added another $46 billion to his already staggering $54 billion in wealth. Elon Musk found time between COVID truther tweets and CPAP machine donations to take his fortune from $25 billion to $92 billion.

Some billionaires have gotten richer as a direct result of the pandemic. Amazon, for example, was one of the few companies in the United States to expand as consumers locked down at home and avoided brick-and-mortar retail. Facebook, Google, Tesla and Microsoft have also boomed in the past six months, adding to the fortunes of their respective billionaire founders.

See how much Jeff Bezos has made during the pandemic in 3D. On desktop, use your mouse to zoom and rotate the object in 3D; on mobile, place the object in your space, use your fingers to resize and rotate in augmented reality.

Most billionaires, however, have grown their wealth not as business leaders but as investors. One of the ongoing mysteries of the COVID-19 recession is why it has — so far at least — barely touched the stock market. After falling roughly 35% in February, both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 returned to pre-pandemic levels in just 126 trading days, a turnaround that may be the fastest ever recorded.

Others benefited directly from government relief funds, a significant portion of which went to large companies. Musk is among the billionaires who have increased their wealth by attracting investors who are betting that their companies will come out of the recession stronger than when they went in.

There are also larger forces at play. The pandemic wealth gap is a culmination of America’s decadeslong trend of increasing inequality. Since 1980, taxes on billionaires have fallen 79%. Unions, which help workers negotiate for a larger share of profits, represented roughly 1 in 4 workers in 1979, but now represent only 1 in 10.

 The Pandemic Has Benefited One Group Of People: Billionaires

The PPP was created as part of the CARES Act and was sold as a method for paying businesses through forgivable loans in order to keep workers employed through the pandemic. Instead, it has served primarily as a slush fund for big business and a money-printing service for the large banks that service the loans, with previous disclosures revealing millions handed out to major sports teams, multimillionaires and religious institutions, while millions of workers were still laid off. 

Bipartisan $908 billion “emergency relief framework” receives support from Democratic congressional leadership

 

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a joint press conference on Wednesday released a statement signaling their support for a bipartisan $908 billion “emergency relief framework” proposal that was first revealed by Republican and Democratic members of the Problem Solvers Caucus on Monday. The caucus includes Democratic senators Joe Manchin (West Virginia), Mark Warner (Virginia), and Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), and Republican senators Susan Collins (Maine), Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Angus King (Maine), and Mitt Romney (Utah).

The proposed four-month “emergency relief package” is another gift to big business and Wall Street and is less than half of the $2.2 trillion package the Democrats had passed before the November election and roughly $800 million less than the $1.7 trillion deal previously offered by the White House. Most important for the ruling class is the bill’s “temporary” liability shield for businesses and other organizations against COVID-19–related lawsuits brought against them by workers or customers who fell ill due to inadequate safety measures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, left, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrive to testify before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell however has already poured cold water on the proposal, instead sticking to the $550 billion package he has been pushing for and that has already been agreed upon by President Donald Trump.

“In the spirit of compromise we believe the bipartisan framework introduced by Senators yesterday should be used as the basis for immediate bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” Schumer and Pelosi said in their joint statement Wednesday, signaling their support for the bill.

The announcement of the proposal came Tuesday during testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin before the Senate Banking Committee. Both Powell and Mnuchin expressed support for the proposal, with Powell stating that it “sounds like you’re hitting a lot of the areas that could definitely benefit from the help.” Mnuchin stated he looked “...forward to reviewing with you the overall package. I do think that more fiscal response is needed.”

Five months after both political parties allowed enhanced unemployment benefits and housing protections within the misnamed $2.2 trillion CARES Act to expire, leading to food linesevictions, and death, and less than four weeks until some 12 million lose federal pandemic benefits, the latest murmurs of a possible agreement that leaves out much-needed aid for millions of workers, while protecting businesses from COVID-19–related lawsuits, epitomizes the bipartisan disdain the ruling class has for the lives and safety of workers and their families.

As with the CARES Act in March, the preliminary details reveal a windfall for the financial oligarchy while a pittance is made available for the majority of the population. The framework does not include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks and reduces the enhanced $600 unemployment benefit, which expired at the end of July, to a miserly $300 week.

Left unmentioned in the proposal is the fate of two key emergency economic relief programs—the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which provides benefits to so-called “gig” workers and the self-employed, and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which provides benefits to those who have already exhausted their state benefits. Combined, the two programs account for nearly 13 million of the over 20 million people currently receiving some unemployment compensation, and both expire on December 26, the day after Christmas.

The legislation also does not include any renter or mortgage protections, leaving some 30 million people in the US facing eviction in the next two months. The eviction of millions of people and their families with the virus spreading out of control will lead to hundreds of thousands of infections and tens of thousands of additional deaths, with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield already predicting that the US COVID-19 death toll could reach 450,000 by February. Redfield warned that this winter could be “the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation”

Hailing the $908 billion figure as a “good middle ground” that “hits the major elements,” Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin lent his support to the bill while offering mild criticism of the immunity from liability protections included in the bill, before adding that he didn’t want the liability issue to hold up the bill: “I want to make sure that we pass this COVID-19 bill, as the group has brought together, or something like it, for $908 billion, we shouldn’t be delayed or diverted from this effort over a debate for immunity for liability. It’s an important issue but 38 states have already enacted laws related to COVID-19 liability, the others can certainly do it if they wish.”

Of the proposed $908 billion, the bulk of the money in the proposal, $288 billion, is earmarked to the Small Business Administration, primarily to refill the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The PPP was created as part of the CARES Act and was sold as a method for paying businesses through forgivable loans in order to keep workers employed through the pandemic. Instead, it has served primarily as a slush fund for big business and a money-printing service for the large banks that service the loans, with previous disclosures revealing millions handed out to major sports teams, multimillionaires and religious institutions, while millions of workers were still laid off. For small businesses that attempted to obtain a loan, the shifting guidelines and paperwork proved a hurdle too high for many, unlike major corporations with dedicated teams of lawyers and accountants who were able to navigate the government bureaucracy.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit against the Treasury Department, that of the more than 5 million loans that have been processed so far under the PPP, more than half of the $522 billion allocated went to just 5 percent of the recipients. The top 1 percent of loans accounted for more than a quarter of all the loan value, approximately 28 percent.

The data showed that roughly 600 large companies received the maximum loan amount allowed under the program, $10 million. Some of the companies that received $10 million loans were the parent companies of major restaurant chains such as Uno Pizzeria & Grill, Boston Market and Legal Sea Foods.

Following the nearly $300 billion earmarked for the PPP, the next largest item in the framework is the estimated $180 billion for additional unemployment insurance. Under the current proposal, which is unsettled, the unemployment eligibility window would be increased by 13 weeks, allowing workers to claim through March 31, although it is unclear if they would be able to backdate claims.

The third highest figure—an estimated $160 billion—is reserved for state, local and tribal governments, which have seen their tax revenues evaporate due to pandemic-induced lockdowns and restrictions. The funding is more than $270 billion less than the $436 billion Pelosi had previously demanded in the $2.2 trillion package.

Another notable figure in the bill is the $45 billion set aside for transportation. The pandemic has decimated public transit, leaving several major cities to consider, or already implement, drastic cuts, including the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is threatening to lay off 9,300 workers.

The Chicago Transit Authority is also facing a $375 million budget shortfall in 2021, while Denver’s Regional Transportation District passed a budget in mid-November that included $140 million in spending cuts and the elimination of 400 jobs through layoffs and attrition, along with wage reductions and furloughs.

However, according to Senator Warner’s office, of the $45 billion earmarked for transportation, only $15 billion is for mass transit, with $1 billion for Amtrak and $8 billion for the bus industry, leaving $21 billion for the airlines, which already received $25 billion through the CARES Act and still went ahead with furloughing more than 40,000 aviation industry workers.

 The Pandemic Has Benefited One Group Of People: Billionaires

Ossoff, Whose Father Took $1 Mil from Gov’t Relief Fund, Slams Greedy Business Owners for Raiding PPP

GA Dem's millionaire father has given campaign thousands, owns private jet

Jon Ossoff / Getty Images

DECATUR, Ga.—Georgia Democratic Senate hopeful Jon Ossoff said Paycheck Protection Program funds were "raided by larger companies" without mentioning that his wealthy father's company received as much as $1 million through the program.

"[Republicans] don't care about small businesses. And as we saw, the PPP funds were raided by larger companies," Ossoff said during a Wednesday-morning campaign event in Decatur.

The Democrat said nothing about his father Richard Ossoff's involvement in the program. The elder Ossoff's Atlanta-based company, Strafford Publications, received between $350,000 and $1 million from the PPP on June 9. The company—which collects an estimated $28 million in annual revenue—has amassed Ossoff's father a sizable fortune that allowed him to purchase a private plane in 2014.

Ossoff's father has been a major driver of the Georgia Democrat's political career, contributing more than $17,000 to his son's campaigns since 2017 and nearly $150,000 to other federal Democrats since 2002. Ossoff's father also footed the bill for his son's Washington, D.C., residence while Ossoff worked as a congressional aide to Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.), and Ossoff used a large family inheritance to purchase control of his foreign film company in 2013.

Ossoff on Wednesday also noted that the PPP's reauthorization has been "blocked since late summer," saying that securing a second round of small business loans through the program "goes back to who has power." In October, however, Senate Democrats shot down a standalone measure allocating $258 billion in PPP funds, as the proposal did not include larger economic relief. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) called the measure a "political stunt," sparking criticism from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (D., Ky.).

"The Democratic leaders have spent months holding out for a long far-left wish list of non-COVID related priorities and restricting additional aid until they get it," McConnell said. "There's no reason the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program should wait another single day."

Democrats also voted against GOP coronavirus stimulus packages that included PPP funding in September and October.

Ossoff is running to unseat Republican Sen. David Perdue in Georgia's January 5 runoff. The Democrat on Wednesday criticized Perdue for having "no sense of what ordinary people are going through" but did not discuss his family's wealth and its impact on his political career. Perdue has labeled Ossoff a "trust fund socialist who lives off his family's money."

 The Pandemic Has Benefited One Group Of People: Billionaires

Tom Brady’s Company Received More Than $960,000 in PPP Loans

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

5 Dec 2020246

1:36

According to data from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Tom Branutrition and sports performance company, TB 12, collected $960,855 from the federal government in the form of PPP loans.

According to CNBC:

TB12 Inc., based in Massachusetts, received the loan on April 15, 2020, as part of the small business lending program created under the $2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress and the Trump administration in March. The loan was processed by Cambridge Savings Bank.

Brady, a former quarterback for the New England Patriots of the NFL, started TB12 in 2013. He agreed to a two-year $50 million deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March. The company announced in April plans to expand in Tampa, Florida, New York and Los Angeles.

It’s unclear how TB12 was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and how many jobs it retained with the loan. CNBC has reached out to the company for comment.

TB12 is not the only fitness company to have received government assistance during the pandemic. The Sports Business Journal reports that over 500 fitness and sports-related businesses received $150,000 or more from the SBA program.

Forbes reports that Tom Brady has made roughly $350 million during his NFL career.

Companies Owned by This Billionaire Governor Received up to $24 Million in Bailout Loans

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family received between $11 million and $24 million from a federal coronavirus economic relief program. His luxury resort received up to $10 million, but did not promise to retain jobs because of the loan.

by Ken Ward Jr.

An interior of The Greenbrier resort, one of several businesses owned by Jim Justice’s family. The Justice companies have received millions of dollars from a coronavirus economic relief program. (Craig Hudson, special to ProPublica)

Companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family received up to $24 million from one of the federal government’s key coronavirus economic relief programs, according to data made public Monday.

At least six companies from Justice’s empire showed up on the list of Paycheck Protection Program aid recipients released by the Small Business Administration.

The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation, Justice’s firm that owns and operates the iconic luxury resort, received a loan of between $5 million and $10 million.

That made it one of only nine companies in West Virginia to receive a loan of that size. Treasury Department officials did not specify the exact amount of the loans, and made public only the identities of companies that received more than $150,000.

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In all, Justice companies received between $11.2 million and $24.4 million in PPP money. The Greenbrier Sporting Club, a Justice company that runs an upscale residential development adjacent to the hotel, received between $1 million and $2 million.

Blackstone Energy LTD and Bluestone Coke LLC, two coal companies owned by Justice’s family, each received $2 million to $5 million. Ranger Fuel Coal Corp. received $1 million to $2 million. Justice Energy Company Inc. received $150,000 to $350,000.

Justice’s companies received PPP money from a mixture of small local banks and regional financial institutions. Previous reporting has shown banks were favoring their existing, regular customers when processing PPP applications.

Justice is ranked by Forbes as a billionaire and West Virginia’s richest man. He owns a vast array of businesses, including coal mines, resort hotels and agricultural interests, many of them regulated by the state agencies he now runs.

The Justice business empire has also been sued dozens of times for not paying bills. A ProPublica investigation found more than $128 million in judgments and settlements in such cases.

In the data released Monday, The Greenbrier listed “0” in a column about the number of jobs that would be retained on account of the loan. Under the PPP, loans don’t have to be repaid if businesses follow key parts of the program, mostly using a certain percentage of the money — originally 75%, but reduced to 60% — for payroll through Dec. 31.

“Under the guise of helping mom and pop shops on Main Street, large companies got millions of dollars of government money, represented as loans, but much of it will never be repaid,” said Aaron Klein, an economist at the Brookings Institution who has been following the PPP.

During a COVID-19 media briefing last week, Justice acknowledged that his businesses likely received PPP aid, though he said he didn’t know how much. Like President Donald Trump, Justice said when he took office that he would turn over the management of his companies to those adult children. But, as ProPublica reported last year, Justice continues to guide his business empire.

After complaints alleging lax reopening practices at Gov. Jim Justice’s luxury resort, a kitchen employee has tested positive at the sports club affiliated with the hotel. Officials at the venue are scrambling to be ready for the July 4 weekend.

On Monday, when asked about the newly released data, Justice again said he wasn’t sure of the amounts. But the governor added, “I encouraged all businesses in our state to try to seek anything and everything that they could possibly seek from the federal government in regards to loans.”

Justice said he believes West Virginia businesses have received nearly $2 billion from the PPP program, adding, “And I welcome every dollar of it.”

The new federal data shows that businesses owned by two of Justice’s recent political rivals also received PPP loans.

The Thrasher Group Inc., an engineering firm, received $5 million to $10 million. It is owned by Woody Thrasher, who unsuccessfully challenged Justice in the Republican primary this year. The government data said the loan helped retain 441 jobs.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ben Salango’s law firm, Preston & Salango, received $150,000 to $350,000. On Monday, Salango said the loan — he said the exact amount was $183,500 — helped his firm avoid laying off any employees or cutting their salaries or benefits. The federal data said the loan to the firm retained 10 employees.

In addition to The Greenbrier, which listed zero jobs retained, two other Justice companies left the field blank. The data for three of Justice’s other companies listed a total of 406 jobs retained.

The Greenbrier and related entities employ about 1,600 people, according to court records. In related court filings, lawyers for The Greenbrier have said the resort had already been pushed to “near financial insolvency” because of a devastating flood in 2016.

The resort suffered additional losses when it was closed for two months because of COVID-19, and West Virginia’s coal industry has been battered by the economic downturn brought on by the pandemic.

Though the program has been criticized for some of the loan recipients, particularly large, publicly traded companies, over all economists praise the PPP for having gotten billions to companies out relatively quickly, amid the sudden economic shock brought on by the pandemic.

Generally, the PPP loans are meant for small businesses, or those with fewer than 500 employees. As of 2018, there were more than 114,000 such businesses in West Virginia. The data made public with business names listed 2,300 loans to West Virginia businesses. The government also released a list, without company names, of another 15,000 West Virginia businesses that received loans of less than $150,000.

But, there is an exemption to that size limit for businesses in the “accommodations and food services” sector.

Through their attorneys, Justice company representatives have not responded to ProPublica requests for more detailed comments about the PPP loans.

Bipartisan $908 billion “emergency relief framework” receives support from Democratic congressional leadership

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a joint press conference on Wednesday released a statement signaling their support for a bipartisan $908 billion “emergency relief framework” proposal that was first revealed by Republican and Democratic members of the Problem Solvers Caucus on Monday. The caucus includes Democratic senators Joe Manchin (West Virginia), Mark Warner (Virginia), and Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), and Republican senators Susan Collins (Maine), Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Angus King (Maine), and Mitt Romney (Utah).

The proposed four-month “emergency relief package” is another gift to big business and Wall Street and is less than half of the $2.2 trillion package the Democrats had passed before the November election and roughly $800 million less than the $1.7 trillion deal previously offered by the White House. Most important for the ruling class is the bill’s “temporary” liability shield for businesses and other organizations against COVID-19–related lawsuits brought against them by workers or customers who fell ill due to inadequate safety measures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, left, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrive to testify before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell however has already poured cold water on the proposal, instead sticking to the $550 billion package he has been pushing for and that has already been agreed upon by President Donald Trump.

“In the spirit of compromise we believe the bipartisan framework introduced by Senators yesterday should be used as the basis for immediate bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” Schumer and Pelosi said in their joint statement Wednesday, signaling their support for the bill.

The announcement of the proposal came Tuesday during testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin before the Senate Banking Committee. Both Powell and Mnuchin expressed support for the proposal, with Powell stating that it “sounds like you’re hitting a lot of the areas that could definitely benefit from the help.” Mnuchin stated he looked “...forward to reviewing with you the overall package. I do think that more fiscal response is needed.”

Five months after both political parties allowed enhanced unemployment benefits and housing protections within the misnamed $2.2 trillion CARES Act to expire, leading to food linesevictions, and death, and less than four weeks until some 12 million lose federal pandemic benefits, the latest murmurs of a possible agreement that leaves out much-needed aid for millions of workers, while protecting businesses from COVID-19–related lawsuits, epitomizes the bipartisan disdain the ruling class has for the lives and safety of workers and their families.

As with the CARES Act in March, the preliminary details reveal a windfall for the financial oligarchy while a pittance is made available for the majority of the population. The framework does not include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks and reduces the enhanced $600 unemployment benefit, which expired at the end of July, to a miserly $300 week.

Left unmentioned in the proposal is the fate of two key emergency economic relief programs—the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which provides benefits to so-called “gig” workers and the self-employed, and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which provides benefits to those who have already exhausted their state benefits. Combined, the two programs account for nearly 13 million of the over 20 million people currently receiving some unemployment compensation, and both expire on December 26, the day after Christmas.

The legislation also does not include any renter or mortgage protections, leaving some 30 million people in the US facing eviction in the next two months. The eviction of millions of people and their families with the virus spreading out of control will lead to hundreds of thousands of infections and tens of thousands of additional deaths, with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield already predicting that the US COVID-19 death toll could reach 450,000 by February. Redfield warned that this winter could be “the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation”

Hailing the $908 billion figure as a “good middle ground” that “hits the major elements,” Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin lent his support to the bill while offering mild criticism of the immunity from liability protections included in the bill, before adding that he didn’t want the liability issue to hold up the bill: “I want to make sure that we pass this COVID-19 bill, as the group has brought together, or something like it, for $908 billion, we shouldn’t be delayed or diverted from this effort over a debate for immunity for liability. It’s an important issue but 38 states have already enacted laws related to COVID-19 liability, the others can certainly do it if they wish.”

Of the proposed $908 billion, the bulk of the money in the proposal, $288 billion, is earmarked to the Small Business Administration, primarily to refill the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The PPP was created as part of the CARES Act and was sold as a method for paying businesses through forgivable loans in order to keep workers employed through the pandemic. Instead, it has served primarily as a slush fund for big business and a money-printing service for the large banks that service the loans, with previous disclosures revealing millions handed out to major sports teams, multimillionaires and religious institutions, while millions of workers were still laid off. For small businesses that attempted to obtain a loan, the shifting guidelines and paperwork proved a hurdle too high for many, unlike major corporations with dedicated teams of lawyers and accountants who were able to navigate the government bureaucracy.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit against the Treasury Department, that of the more than 5 million loans that have been processed so far under the PPP, more than half of the $522 billion allocated went to just 5 percent of the recipients. The top 1 percent of loans accounted for more than a quarter of all the loan value, approximately 28 percent.

The data showed that roughly 600 large companies received the maximum loan amount allowed under the program, $10 million. Some of the companies that received $10 million loans were the parent companies of major restaurant chains such as Uno Pizzeria & Grill, Boston Market and Legal Sea Foods.

Following the nearly $300 billion earmarked for the PPP, the next largest item in the framework is the estimated $180 billion for additional unemployment insurance. Under the current proposal, which is unsettled, the unemployment eligibility window would be increased by 13 weeks, allowing workers to claim through March 31, although it is unclear if they would be able to backdate claims.

The third highest figure—an estimated $160 billion—is reserved for state, local and tribal governments, which have seen their tax revenues evaporate due to pandemic-induced lockdowns and restrictions. The funding is more than $270 billion less than the $436 billion Pelosi had previously demanded in the $2.2 trillion package.

Another notable figure in the bill is the $45 billion set aside for transportation. The pandemic has decimated public transit, leaving several major cities to consider, or already implement, drastic cuts, including the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is threatening to lay off 9,300 workers.

The Chicago Transit Authority is also facing a $375 million budget shortfall in 2021, while Denver’s Regional Transportation District passed a budget in mid-November that included $140 million in spending cuts and the elimination of 400 jobs through layoffs and attrition, along with wage reductions and furloughs.

However, according to Senator Warner’s office, of the $45 billion earmarked for transportation, only $15 billion is for mass transit, with $1 billion for Amtrak and $8 billion for the bus industry, leaving $21 billion for the airlines, which already received $25 billion through the CARES Act and still went ahead with furloughing more than 40,000 aviation industry workers.

The Pandemic Has Benefited One 

Group Of People: Billionaires