What A Day - Mind Your Small Business

Episode Date: April 21, 2020

As Congress continues to negotiate their next relief bill, Democrats are pushing for a requirement that the administration develop a national testing strategy. Meanwhile, the National Restaurant Association is pushing for an industry bailout.Then, an update on case numbers around the country and the world. Plus, why Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina think it’s a good idea to reopen right now.And in headlines: the Supreme Court knocks down split jury convictions, John Stamos has a Dumbo, and Whole Foods' anti-unionization map is revealed.

It's Tuesday, April 21st. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, your helpful guide to the latest news and also what day it is. Yeah, it's Tuesday today. If you're wondering, it's Tuesday again. It's only seven days. It's up to you to keep track now, you know. On today's show, where coronavirus cases are trending downward and up throughout the world, then some headlines. But first, the latest. Please protect yourselves. We are one family and we need you. We need your voices, your abilities and your strength all over this world. I know it's very hard, but please be patient. Stay encouraged. Keep the faith. Stay positive and continue

to pray for our heroes. God bless you. That was Beyonce, Queen of the Universe, speaking as part of Lady Gaga's One World together at home. We featured a different clip from this event yesterday, but what can we say? You know, it was a banger and it was streaming everywhere. But news. We're going to start with the $450 billion deal for small businesses. On yesterday's show, we told you that Democrats and the Trump administration were hammering out a deal on this, which is still happening. But there are a few key updates we need to go through. So Gideon, take it away. Yeah, the final sticking point in these negotiations has to do with testing, which is perhaps the single most important element of the country's public health and economic future. So something that needs to be worked out. The deal

that has been discussed allocates $25 billion for testing, but Democrats want to include a requirement in it that the administration come up with a national testing strategy to go forward. The Republican response has been that states should be coming up with their own strategies and carrying them out accordingly based on what works in those states. And this is just a microcosm of the same story that has played out over the last couple of weeks now. Governors point to the Trump administration for the shortage of tests. The Trump administration points back to governors and says, effectively, it's up to you. Figure it out. Now, how has this actually been manifesting on a state-by-state level? Well, in Maryland, for instance, here's what happened in just the past couple of days.

A Korean air flight reportedly landed on Saturday at the airport in Baltimore carrying about 5,000 test kits, which translates to about 500,000 tests. According to the Republican Governor Larry Hogan, his wife, who speaks fluent Korean, had to negotiate with the foreign suppliers in the middle of the night to actually get this deal done. Yeah, I mean, thank goodness that his wife can speak another language. That's what we're really relying on now. Well, quickly on this congressional deal before we move on, besides working out a national I mean, thank goodness that his wife can speak another language. That's what we're really relying on now. Well, quickly on this congressional deal before we move on. Besides working out a national testing strategy, there were other concerns raised by some progressives in the House.

What are they pushing for? I mean, in short, they don't think any of these relief efforts have gone nearly far enough. As Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal and Ilhan Omar have said on our show in recent weeks, they want to see congressional action that actually gets to the heart of what is crippling working people at the moment. And that's anything from more direct and sustained cash assistance to rent relief and health care costs, to name just a few. But specifically on Monday, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez said that she would not support this interim bill. We have not seen the final text of this bill. But what I can say is that if it matches up with what has been reported, I will not support this bill. Personally, I'm not speaking

for a caucus, I'm not speaking for a delegation, I'm not speaking for anybody. But as the person who's representing the most impacted district in the country, my constituents are upset. My constituents were upset about the first package. because it is insulting to think that we can pass such a small amount of money in the context of not knowing when Congress is even going to reconvene and pass such a small amount of money, pat ourselves on the back, and then leave town again. Yeah. So these members want to push for more in this deal, but also for more in the next relief package that's been talked about. And so they don't have to keep going back to the drawing board over and over. It's important to point out, though, that Ocasio-Cortez also said that she

would likely not hold out on this bill on her own, which would force lawmakers to go back to DC, because she doesn't want to needlessly endanger people. So that's the lay of the land in the House. But the Senate has scheduled a session for this afternoon, which could mean that we'll get some forward movement on their end as soon as today. Yeah. And we should also note that in the meantime, the small business loans at the center of this deal are getting even more scrutiny. Yesterday, we talked about Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, a not-so-small business that got $20 million in loans.

Now Shake Shack is giving their loan back. What did they have to say? Yeah, Shake Shack is returning its cheese. Its lettuce, too. We made it through that one. They were one of the larger chains, including Potbelly and Ruth's Chris, as you mentioned, that received money via the Paycheck Protection Program. Now, Shake Shack said they were able to get money from an equity transaction, which is part of why they were okay

forsaking this $10 million from the government. And it just goes to show that they're the kind of company that is large enough to probably make it out of this more financially secure than the local restaurant down the street. According to the National Restaurant Association... Which is like the NRA, like not the bad one, but a better one. Not the NRA that most people are familiar with. It's the only one that I'm going to recognize. Since March, about 8 million restaurant employees equivalent to around two thirds of the workforce has been laid off or furloughed. That's what they're saying. The industry has lost about $30 billion so far and could lose another $50 billion by the end of April.

Overall, it is a very, very bad situation. So yesterday, the organization asked Congress for a recovery fund that would specifically apply to the restaurant industry. They also want changes to the loan program to allow establishments to spend more of the loan money on non-payroll expenses like rent and to extend the deadline for rehiring staff. As all this is happening on the economic front, the country is nowhere near out of the woods with the virus itself. We've seen some states and cities on a downward trend for cases and deaths, while others are trending in the opposite direction. Akilah, what's going on across the country? All right, so we haven't really discussed the numbers in a while.

And honestly, it's just because, you know, these are real people and it's all incredibly sad. But here is where America stands. There have been over 750,000 people infected with more than 37,000 deaths, according to the New York Times database. You know, these are the confirmed cases and deaths. It's obviously likely that they're undercounts. You know, staying at home has been working overall. The number of new cases across the United States has showed signs of flattening. So we're now around 30,000 new cases a day, though, you know, testing is flattened out. So, again, those numbers are just what we have to go on. Getting a bit more granular, states and cities are each on their own curves due to factors like when they chose to close, international travel, and a confluence of other things. So in New York,

the hardest hit state, case counts and deaths are now both on a downward trajectory. In New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California, which rank next in total case counts, it's still too soon to say if they've reached their peaks. There have been some pretty significant workplace-based clusters popping up in Kansas, Iowa, Tennessee, the Dakotas, a few other states. So if you were, you know, toying with the romantic idea of going back to work, stop toying. It's a waste of time. And dear God, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp thinks he's going to reopen Georgia this week, or at least some businesses. In his plan, this Friday, people can get their roots touched up at a salon, lift heavy stuff at a gym, and stick their gloveless fingers into the public holes of bowling balls at a bowling alley, which I just can't imagine ever

again, but in a week? Like, I'm just not ready for that kind of thing. But again, it's a stupid idea. And it's so stupid that shortly after he announced his plan, Tennessee and South Carolina followed suit by making their own announcements. By the way, you know, just throwing it out there. Georgia has 18,000 cases in several cities with some of the highest per capita counts in the country. So this is the same governor who only recently said he knew that asymptomatic people can spread the virus. So, yeah, certainly seems behind the general public in a number of ways. OK, that's the United States. What about the rest of the world?

All right. So nearly 2.5 million people have been infected worldwide and 100,000 people across Europe have died. But the latest indicators are showing that they've passed their peak, which is great news. In Chile, immunity passports are being issued to those who have recovered from the virus and test positive for antibodies so they can go back to work. I don't love it, since in South Korea, some patients who've recovered from COVID-19 have been testing positive again later, and the reliability of these antibody tests is an issue. And fearing

a new outbreak, China is warning its citizens who are currently in Russia to stay in Russia. And that's the latest. Okay, it's Tuesday, which, you know, to be honest, was pretty unremarkable before all this happened but now it's an exciting time to check in so why waste any more preamble let's get into it Giddy have you watched anything in a genre you normally wouldn't since we've been at home old movies I guess I don't know I you don't like old movies that doesn't even count. Like I used to watch like older stuff when I could get it from the library. Wow. That was like an insult without even trying to be an insult.

You know those library movies, those dorks like that are from before the 80s. No, no, no. It's not insulting. I used to be such a library DVD fiend that we had a collection service have to mail us because they would accrue two dollars a day for each day that you were late and i would get the maximum which was 10 at a time so it was quickly 20 a day and you multiply that by a week and all of a sudden you owe this public library a decent amount of money um so to answer the question, I guess more on the side of things that have come out

like pre 1960. I've been doing a lot more of that recently. But what have you seen that's been outside your wheelhouse? Okay, so I, I think that I'm learning about myself, I tend to watch movies that have like a very chill vibe and like rely on storytelling with like and not like blood or major action and I have seen so many things that I'm like, I would never choose this otherwise but like that's the point Like this is not otherwise and so I I think the most outside the wheelhouse thing I watched attack on Titan, which is like an anime show. And I don't think I,

I mean like, and it's highly rated. I mean, it's like considered one of the best shows of all time. And I just like, it has never occurred to me to want to watch that because I know that it is bloody. And I,

I honestly really enjoyed it. So, you know, look at me. I have the taste of people who have good taste. Anime, older films, library DVDs. This is the gambit.

This is why people listen. This is why people effing listen, Gideon. And look, just like that. We've checked our temperatures. We did it. You know, this is honestly my favorite little side conversation I have every day. And you all should try it. You know, just check in.

Stay safe. We're going to check in again tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. The Supreme Court has decided that non-unanimous jury verdicts are unconstitutional in cases involving serious crimes. The decision involved a 2016 murder case in Louisiana where a defendant was found guilty by a jury on a 10-2 vote, enough to convict him under state law at the time. Louisiana has since outlawed the practice, but it didn't apply to earlier cases. Only one state, Oregon, still

allows split jury criminal convictions. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that these state laws were rooted in racism and meant to ensure that, quote, African-American juror service would be meaningless. Over a thousand defendants in Oregon may now be able to challenge their convictions based on the ruling. Awesome. The price of oil dropped below zero on Monday as the coronavirus pandemic halted global economies and led to a sharp drop in anybody driving. The negative price of oil is mostly theoretical. Unfortunately, for now, no one will be paying you to gas up your red Corvette and cruise down historic Route 66. What it means is the world has too much crude oil and not enough places to store it, so no one's buying. An OPEC

agreement that cuts oil production by almost 10 million barrels a day starting in May may help, but it won't compensate for the decline in consumption. Turns out the teenagers doing Donuts by My House and their dad's SUV are actually doing their part to counteract the global oil crisis. Those insane teens are the best. With celebrities recording stuff from home every day, we're getting more opportunities to see what their houses look like. Most of the time, they're just places I'd feel lucky to own in the Sims 4, but at other times, more puzzling details come to light. It was the latter case with actor-turned-member of the Beach Boys in their lowest period, John Stamos,

who revealed on ABC's Disney Family Sing-Along last week that he has a full-size Dumbo from the Dumbo ride at Disneyland somewhere in his home. Truly an amazing place to just relax and think one's thoughts. A sticky plastic booth that sucks to enter and exit. Fans pointed out that Samos is a documented Disney head. He also owns a 14-foot tall light-up D from an old Disney sign and a grumpy cart from a Snow White ride.

Honestly, even if I owned these carts and kept them in a secret sealed chamber, I would still be afraid to touch them for fear of getting coronavirus. Oh, man. Like, we know he has a Dumbo in one room, but what if he has one in every room? We don't know for sure. We don't know.

All right, well, the Amazon-owned grocery store chain where apples cost $9 and Jif peanut butter is a heinous swear, Whole Foods Market, uses a heat map to track the likelihood that employees at its 510 stores will unionize. That's according to a report yesterday from Business Insider, which described how the corporation uses metrics like employee racial diversity, proximity to a union office, and percentage of families in the store's zip code living below the poverty line to calculate a risk score for each Whole Foods. Then, Whole Foods takes actions to lower the threat of unionization at highest need locations, though it's not clear what those actions are.

Whole Foods said the vast majority of their employees prefer a direct relationship with their company over union representation. When you think of it that way, this interactive Death Star map they made is like a benefit and is one more reason to keep denying employees hazard pay. Jeff Bezos is going to have RoboCop showing up any minute now. Well, RIP to me. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show show make sure you subscribe leave a review do donuts in your dad's suv and tell your friends to listen and if you're into reading and not just difficult riddles on the backs of children's cereal boxes like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter check it out and subscribe at crooked.com subscribe i'm akilah h. I'm Gideon Resnick. And we'll see you in John Stamos' Dumbo.

If it's only the one. I will not be seeing you or anyone there. Sorry. What a Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long.

Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.