DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus COVID-19 pt3

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Texas company looking to dock paychecks for those receiving stimulus checks

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) – While Congress was working out the details on a bill that would provide Americans with stimulus checks, at least one Texas company was looking for ways to save payroll.

“The form says they are preemptively deducting funds from our paychecks. That number is based on what they’re anticipating the government relief fund to be,” a worker for the company told KXAN. The worker asked not to be identified in this investigation so as not to impact his company’s ability to continue doing business.

The worker said his company emailed a form titled “Employee Acknowledgement of ‘Government Assistance’ Pay Reduction” to some staffers on Wednesday. “In response to the economic crisis that is affecting all of us due to the coronavirus pandemic…(company name redacted) are hereby enacting the Employee Emergency Compensation Fund,” the letter stated.

The agreement would put workers under a “temporary compensation reduction that is in line with the assistance that it receives from the federal government related to the COVID-19 pandemic.” By signing the agreement, the company’s employees would have their paychecks between April 6 and April 20 cut by 100% of any money received under the stimulus bill.

The company would also take half of the $500 stipend allotted for dependents under the bill.

The worker told KXAN the company laid off a quarter of its workforce this week. He believed the company was using the salary cuts as a way to meet payroll. But, he thought the company hadn’t explored all options before making a “knee-jerk” response.

“The company that I work for is a national company and they make hundreds of millions of dollars in profit a year and instead of making sacrifices at the higher levels, they’re passing it on down to everybody else,” the worker said.

“I think that this violates at least one law that we know of out there,” Austin labor attorney Austin Kaplan told KXAN. We sent Kaplan the salary reduction agreement to find out whether he believes the agreement was legal.

Kaplan said since Texas is a right-to-work state, workers who are not under contract have very little room to fight this.

“Employers can lay them off or fire them for good reason, bad reason or no reason at all as long as it’s not for an illegal reason with no notice whatsoever,” said Kaplan.

“From a legal standpoint, in Texas, the law isn’t as strong in employee rights as I would like it to be, but there is a federal law called the ‘Fair Labor Standards Act,” Kaplan said. “That law says that employees have to get at least minimum wage from the employer during their regular pay period.”

The act, which was signed into law in 1938, also established the employment classification for exempt and non-exempt employment in the United States.

Kaplan said he believes the company would be in violation of that law if it docked some paychecks to the amount described in the agreement.

“What they’re trying to do here, it looks like, is take people down to zero for at least one pay period and the law wouldn’t permit that,” Kaplan told KXAN. “It also just looks like a bad idea. I think employers have other options that they can do than something like this — I haven’t seen something like this before.”

Those options would be layoffs or furloughs — options that would allow workers to receive unemployment insurance benefits. Kaplan said even a reduction in hours would have allowed the workers to seek unemployment benefits to cover those reductions.

“If I was advising the employer, I always say don’t put your hands in the employees’ pockets,” said Kaplna. “And this just doesn’t seem right to me.”

The agreement, if signed, would also allow the company to continue the salary cuts indefinitely.

“The deduction will happen as many times as the government decides to make these types of distributions,” the company wrote in the agreement.

“I have no ill will toward the company. In fact, I’ve chosen to keep this anonymous because I have friends who work there, and I don’t want any harm to befall any of them,” the worker told KXAN.

“The whole reason for this is because if one person thought it up, it’s likely others have as well. So I want to make sure that there’s awareness that this could potentially happen with other businesses as well.”

This worker said he will not sign the agreement, despite the chance he could lose his job over it.

He’s asked his company’s human resources for the implications for not signing the agreement. The man said his company told him they likely would be sending out an amended form in the coming days.

“I would much rather sit in the unemployment line and be proud of my decision to leave a company that’s making these kinds of requests or demands, than hate myself for going along with it because I don’t agree with it,” the man said.

https://www.wfla.com/community/health/co...timulus-checks/

WTH? Is this even legal?

How low can you go.

I saw this elsewhere but am very skeptical of a report where they refuse to even name the company.

Trump.......

"He (Mike Pence) calls all the governors,” Trump said. “I tell him, I mean, I’m a different type of person. I say Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington, you’re wasting your time with him. Don’t call the woman in Michigan.”

“If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call,” Trump said.

Trump pushes back against congressional oversight for $500 billion bailout fund

President Donald Trump on Friday wrote in a signing statement accompanying the $2 trillion stimulus bill that he believes the inspector general overseeing a $500 billion relief fund for businesses will not have as much regulatory power as Democrats had sought.

The bill includes a $500 billion fund that companies, such as the struggling airlines, can tap to support their business. The fund is overseen by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. In original drafts of the Republican Senate bill, Mnuchin had wide discretion in overseeing that money. After criticisms from Democrats, Republicans agreed to add on a congressional oversight committee and Inspector General as added control measures.

The language gives the Inspector General power to report back to Congress information including the nature of the loan and its recipients. It has the power to make informational requests from other agencies “to extent practicable and not in contravention of any existing law.” It is required to let Congress know if those requests are blocked.

Trump, though, said Friday he believes the Inspector General needs his permission in order to make such reports to Congress.

“I do not understand, and my Administration will not treat, this provision as permitting the [the Inspector General] to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision,” he wrote in a signing statement. A signing statement indicate how the president intends to interpret a law.

Oversight of that $500 billion fund was one of the last major sticking points in Senate negotiations, CNBC previously reported. Senate Democrats cheered the ultimately agreed-upon language as a victory. They were wary of repeating the mistakes of the bank bailout after the financial crisis, in which Democrats were criticized for allowing bank executives to reward themselves with bonuses after receiving federal money.

“The president’s statement is indicative of the difference between Democrats and Republicans when it came to this bill,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Friday about the language.

“It’s not a surprise to anyone,” she said of Trump’s signing language. “But Congress will exercise its oversight — and we will have our panel appointed by the House to, in real-time, make sure we know where those funds are being expended.”

A Senate Democratic aide said, “We fully anticipated Trump shenanigans, so that’s why there are multiple layers of strict oversight in this bill, including a council of existing inspectors general and GAO review, in addition to the Special IG, reporting requirements and a Congressional Oversight Commission.”
The $500 billion question

Trump’s Friday declaration is one of many statements from the administration in recent days that highlight the lingering questions about the $500 billion fund. Emergency loans could equate to more than $4 trillion in lending power through the leverage of the Federal Reserve, administration officials have said.

After the Senate added language to the stimulus bill that effectively excluded the ailing cruise lines from aid, Trump told reporters earlier this week he may seek ways to get them money.

“We’re going to work very hard on the cruise line business and we’re going to figure something out,” the president said. Trump has previously indicated his support of the industry and Carnival chairman Micky Arison.

It remains unclear the exact structure of the financing options. Of the $500 billion the fund offers, it gives $50 billion in aid to passenger carriers, half in direct payments, half in loans and guarantees. It gives $8 billion to cargo carriers, half in direct payments and loans. It also gives $1 billion to $3 billion for the health costs of airline contract caterers.

Because airlines are the only businesses to get direct payments, as a result of their dire financial situation, those payments come with conditions including warrant provisions.

Trump indicated on Friday the government may take advantage of those warrants or other means of obtaining equity stakes.

“Will we end up owning large chunks, depending on what these geniuses decide along with executives of different companies — its possible. And they’ll make a better deal on the loan,” Trump said.

What that means for Boeing, the only domestic airline manufacturer, is unclear. The bill allocates $17 billion in loans and guarantees for companies important to national security − a provision that sources say Boeing is eligible at least in part for. Boeing has said it will not accept any money that requires giving up an equity stake, but the administration keeps implying that may be its only option.

“Right now Boeing’s saying they don’t need it,” Mnuchin told Fox News on Friday.

But Trump has repeatedly offered his intent to support the company.

“Boeing will probably need a hand, and we’re going to bring Boeing back to health,” Trump said at a Friday briefing of the coronavirus task force.

Meanwhile, Trump told reporters Friday the administration has been talking to “the most brilliant financial minds in the world” about helping with the bailouts, including Blackrock’s Larry Fink.

The New York Federal Reserve recently disclosed it has retained BlackRock as an advisor and asset manager in three financing programs. A person familiar with BlackRock said Fink doesn’t comment on discussions with public officials. A spokesperson for Blackrock declined to comment.

United Airlines warned on Friday that despite government aid, it expects layoffs or furloughs down the line, as demand for travel stays weakened. As a condition of financial relief, United and all airlines accepting aid agreed to withhold from furloughing or cutting the pay of their workers through Sept. 30. United executives committed to that on Friday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/28/trump-pu...ilout-fund.html

Trump considering 'enforceable quarantine' for N.Y., parts of N. J. and Connecticut
"I don’t know how that could be legally enforceable,” New York Gov. Cuomo said, adding, “I don’t even like the sound of it.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he was considering an "enforceable quarantine" in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area due to the coronavirus outbreak, saying the decision could come as soon as later in the day.

“Some people would like to see New York quarantined because its a hot spot. New York, New Jersey, maybe one or two other places. Certain parts of Connecticut quarantined,” Trump said as he left the White House en route of Norfolk, Va. to see off the USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship that is headed to New York to provide extra hospital space to help fight the outbreak.

"I am thinking about that right now. We might not have to do it but there’s a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine, short term, two weeks, on New York. Probably New Jersey, certain parts of Connecticut," Trump continued.

Trump said that he had spoken with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier Saturday morning about the coronavirus and said that the enforceable quarantine would include travel restrictions to limit people from the New York area spreading the virus to other parts of the country.

“Restrict travel because they are having problems down in Florida. A lot of New Yorkers going down, we don’t want that," Trump told reporters.

Some cities and states have already called for residents to shelter in place and it is unclear how a federal mandate would work and how it would be enforced.

"I’d rather not do it, but we may need it,” Trump said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he talked to Trump Saturday morning and a quarantine was not addressed.

“I didn’t speak to him about any quarantine,” Cuomo said. “I don’t even know what that means.”

"I don’t know how that could be legally enforceable,” Cuomo continued, adding “I don’t even like the sound of it.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-h...HmD-i-VqM95PnPU

That sounds like the opposite of opening the country back up doesn't it?

Trish Regan exits Fox Business after calling coronavirus a "scam" on air

Fox Business announced Friday that the cable news network "parted ways" with anchor Trish Regan, after she called the novel coronavirus a "scam" on air March 9.

The big picture: Conservative commentators, including Fox News' Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, have come under fire for minimizing the threat of COVID-19. Since the early days of the outbreak, a slew of Fox personalities instead focused on the "real" story, calling the pandemic a "Democratic- and media-led plot" against President Trump, The New York Times writes.

Meanwhile, Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of Fox Corporation, was focused on the $440 million acquisition of streaming company Tubi. He failed to "to pry its most important voices away from their embrace of the president’s early line: that the virus was not a big threat in the United States," per the Times.

Now, the network's leadership is trying to reel its hosts in to mitigate the spread of misinformation.

"The decision by Fox Business to remove Ms. Regan’s show took some journalists and anchors at the network by surprise: Fox executives are accustomed to withstanding public pressure, and rarely make personnel moves that can be construed as validating criticisms of the network," the Times wrote.

Context: Regan's show "Trish Regan Primetime" aired during Fox Business' 8 p.m. hour through March 13. The network initially said the show was on hiatus because of "the demands of the evolving pandemic crisis coverage," The Wall Street Journal writes.

What they're saying:

Fox Business, per a statement: “FOX Business has parted ways with Trish Regan - we thank her for her contributions to the network over the years and wish her continued success in her future endeavors. We will continue our reduced live primetime schedule for the foreseeable future in an effort to allocate staff resources to continuous breaking news coverage on the Coronavirus crisis.”
Regan released a statement via the network saying, “I have enjoyed my time at FOX and now intend to focus on my family during these troubled times. I am grateful to my incredible team at FOX Business and for the many opportunities the network has provided me. I’m looking forward to this next chapter in my career.”

What to watch: Fox Business replaced Regan’s time slot with general-interest programming.

https://www.axios.com/trish-regan-fox-bu...vlIWm5EBRd8buFs

If you're still getting a paycheck and are still whole, you shouldn't be getting a stimulus check, IMO.

It's unclear to me what this company is trying to do, however. If employees are still being kept whole, still getting their normal paychecks, and getting a stimulus on top of that, is the company reducing their checks by the amount of stimulus so that the company can stay afloat and continue paying everyone? That doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. Maybe I have it wrong.

But to me, this isn't about getting paid normally and getting extra on top of that. This needs to go to the people that need it.

I believe the issue there would be is that it's a one time payout.

While some people may be getting a paycheck now, they may not be a month from now, 3 weeks from now, 2 months from now, when this virus really start to peak. It would be inefficient to piecemeal it and send out a round of checks here, some there and a few here.

Many people will not qualify based on the income thresholds as well and will receive nothing as it is.

I understand your initial thought, however.

That makes sense Milk, but the stimulus is by nature a short term plan and is predicated on the country opening back up soon. It was never intended to be a long term fix. Keeping companies open and people employed is paramount right now. We are heading for a massive depression.

It's all depressing.

NY is a concern to us down here, as there are many flights still coming in from the NY area on a daily basis.

Florida Governor says they must quarantine, but who's verifying that they are?

https://cbs6albany.com/news/coronavirus/...hen-they-arrive

In addition to that, cruise ships are still coming in to FL and the impact of the the spring breakers may not be felt for a couple of weeks given the spread rate and incubation period.

I have a feeling FL is going skyrocket in cases.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/florida/20...ded-to-florida/

There are still people that aren't taking this seriously, but more maddening than that is there are still states not taking this seriously.

The Mayor of New Orleans and Senator Bill Cassidy just said on CNN it's the federal government's fault that they didn't cancel Mardi Gras. They said that they would have cooperated with any directive given. What horrible leadership there. Glad to be an Ohioan right now.

j/c...

Broken ventilators? Yikes.

Good information.

Wow! I like the spirit. Pretty tired of the blame game. Let's work together and beat its ass!

Its interesting how much of a nerve I touched with y'all before the last thread got locked LOL

Swish- we're #1 in the world... ooooh, how scary. I'd be willing to bet we're also #1 in the world for the number of people who have contracted it and gotten over it without even knowing. The act that the total number of cases since this began is being trotted out a a measure of the progression of the virus is more about sensationalism than it is accuracy. Seems to me a running total of people currentlydiagnosed with it would give us a more accurate assessment of where we're at.

Plus, do you really think China has been honest about it's stats?


Perfect... you do realize your denial of it being a personal dislike of Trump above all was nothing more than a rant about your personal dislike of Trump...


OCD... again, you're taking a statement and assigning your own personal belief about what it means and how it manifests in reality. Name ONE person who thinks Trump is doing a good job? How about...

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/24/donald-trumps-job-approval-rating-shows-coronaviru/

HINT: 60% approval on how he's handling the crisis. Of course he scores super high with REPS and super low with DEMS but he's at 60% with independents.


https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/politics/trump-approval-coronavirus-cnn-poll-of-polls/index.html

HINT: CNN reports a polling average of 52% approval of how Trump is handling the crisis

OH, wait let me guess... all those people who think Trump is doing a good job are uneducated morons right? Too stupid to know what you and Perfect et all know? But how can that be? You guys constantly tell us how uber intelligent liberals are and you guys have had a lock on the education system in America for decades. If you guys are as smart as you are, how come so many people are so uneducated????



PIT: How much do you want to base decisions off of anecdotal stories? I work in the nexus of 3 major hospital systems, an 3 of which I could end up going to for a call.

All 3 have different protocols for us to follow ranging from make sure you wash your hands and don't cough on people (PPE optional) to having to wear a mask and get my temp taken. The third has you wear a mask but doesn't require a temp.

3 good hospital systems in charge of their own protocols, and yet the data isn't there (yet) for them to be consistent.

And I'm the a-hole why? Because I see zero value in making decisions based on panic? Because I'm more moved when I see the local businesses my wife and I make it a point to patronize end up closing up for good than I am some jackass on social media trying to satisfy their own ego by trying to socially shame others?

No Pit, I'm not the a-hole. I'm not "triggered" like some have suggested because I dare challenge their BS narrative. I don't have the equivalent of Orange Man Bad living in my head rent free.

I'm just someone who does believe these are serious times, that deserve serious solutions. Well thought out, logical solutions. Dropping the transmission out of our economy by targeting and shutting down the middle class is a decision made out of panic could have far worse ramifications than Covid19. People do stupid stuff like buy TP when they panic. They do horrible things to others when they are desperate.

I'll leave this one for y'all... fair warning, prepare to have your minds blown:

Trump is no genius. I agree. But apparently he's a friggin Nostrodamus because he warned us of this 3 years ago...

You guys remember #COVFEFE ??

COV stand for COVID-19
FEFE in Samoan can be interpreted as fear, or afraid.

Clearly people are afraid of COVD-19

But wait there's more!

FEFE can also be an expression of mockery or to be dismissive.

99.9% of this thread has been mocking or being dismissive of how Trump has been handling COVID-19.

I'd post the link but the refs would probably remove it because the page has some cuss words and a National Geographic naked lady pic. But google FEFE and you'll see...

I think this virus, is systematic representation of the south, and Republican Party for decades.

Your flaws have been thoroughly exposed. We need to take a long hard look in the mirror.

This would happen if a potato was holding office, it's called rallying around the flag and it happens in every major crisis no matter who is in office or what party they represent. BUT you are correct, his approval for his handling of the crisis is up. And yes, they are mostly morons. And finally, the lack of education is part of the dumbing down of America. Another part of it is the participation trophy effect. Letting people with average or lower IQs think their opinions are as important as actual facts and science is a recent phenomenon that started with the Tea Party in GOP politics. Stupid people getting their public debate participation trophies, smh.

Dudes with reality issues. Pfff the trump era.

Minds blown? lmfao

Bro, any shred of cred you had was just completely obliterated with this one post. Congratulations! You've earned a new level of whackadoo award.

Hopefully his post is in jest.

I hope so,, cause that is NUTTY

Literally no one believes China has been honest about the stats.

Literally. No one.

Again, I posted a complete timeline of trump calling this a hoax and downplaying everything instead of taking action when he could’ve.

He’s been contradicting his own CDC damn near every time he speaks.

So if you think that’s leadership, then you deserve Kanye west 2024.

and btw Devil, his polls numbers -ya know, the same polls that same hillary would win - have already dropped after he claimed he wanted to open up the economy next month.

funny how you pick and choose the polls you want to believe and the ones you dont.

This post is systemic representation of USA politics in general. There are good people in both parties, but there are far more self serving, arrogant people in positions of power representing both sides of the aisle. They don't appear to care one iota about the average American. Just watching CNN this morning, they had Pelosi on to discuss the stimulas bill, but she spent her entire time bashing Trump. I'm sure if McConnell were on it would be the same in the other direction.

People are dying and these crooks are more worried about keeping their power and making the other side look bad. Too many people are letting their party hate override common sense.

You are the only voice of reason on this thread and the only objective thread in the last twenty or so.

We can only hope. But the post just before that screams coming unhinged because he drug it to the 'libs think we are stupid' angle for no apparent reason. I say when they post absurdly respond absurdly.

The only thing that blow my mind was that you typed this nonsensical BS.

Here is a thought I had. People complain Dems are politicizing the virus response. Well trump is politicizing it every day, much much more than the dems. Have you heard his press conferences. The standard format seems to be compliment the president say what you want to say then compliment the president again. He is also looking into having his signature on relief checks. Just as a political move. He has always been campaigning from the moment he got into office. Campaigning is more important to him than actual leadership for the benefit of the country. He is a joke of a leader and his inaction's are now killing people.

This proves the point of my earlier post. Seriously, trying to argue which side is worse? Congresss has the capability of overriding just about anything the president does if they would work together for the good of the people. They are using the "checks and balances" to attack each other vs. trying to do what's right.

You prop up a president who was briefed this was coming months before it hit hard and did nothing to ramp up production of critical supplies we would need.

Bravo!

The division starts with trump and it is reinforced daily in a pathetic way. He called the Governor of Michigan "that woman."
The signing of the stimulus bill included no democrats. The daily bashing of dems by trump goes on and on. Why are we not supposed to discuss it? he is a big part of the problem. If he didnt do it we could not make a big deal about it but it is at the forefront of every action he takes.

As an example I'll give you the state I live in, Tennessee. Our governor refuses to give a stay in place order. As a result, it's getting so bad that the governor of Kentucky has warned their citizens not to come to Tennessee unless they live so close to the border they either work here or are forced to shop here.

And that's the problem. Ohio has a solid governor. Be you a Republican or a Democrat, he's doing what is best for the people in his state. You must commend him for his actions. That's not political and this virus isn't political. But you have Trump and his Trumpian politicians, such as our governor, which follow along blindly and do NOT protect their people.

Trump was briefed and warned this virus was coming MONTHS before he took any action to ramp up supplies of PPE.

People wish to make it sound like you're being political for pointing these things out. They make it sound like it's us who are being political because we point out the stupidity and partisan comments and actions he does and says on a daily basis. How he uses the power of his presidency in daily news conferences which should be used as to inform our citizens, as a political platform to attack his political opponents. It's disgusting.

The fact this man shows to be inept, hateful and partisan in a time our nation needs unity and compassion in what he even describes as "a war" is something we should all make sure to expose. To make sure we let everyone see.

It starts at the top. And people need to quit acting like it's everyone elses fault we speak the truth about this idiot.

Why would he come out publicly and state NY NJ and CT might be quarantined without talking to state leadership? He said he talked to Cuomo about it. He didnt. Why would lie about that? This is a prime example of lack of good leadership. He only instilled more confusion and uncertainty in a horrible situation. trump is a moron.

I think what may be an even greater problem is creating a panic by all of the citizens in those areas only to back down from it later. He has backed away from doing that yet made public comments about it which created chaos and confusion.

Why would anyone do that? It's not as though we don't have enough speculation and misinformation without having your president making statements furthering that.

j/c...

Gov. DeWine was imploring the FDA to pass the use of this sterilization yesterday during his press conference. Here's the article along with an update...

Use war powers to make more masks. Why are we still talking about this.