Ron Paul to US Steel: beware the 'Golden Share'

President Trump will allow the Japanese takeover of U.S. Steel, but wants a "Golden Share" that will let him dictate company policy when national security is at stake. In fact, as Ron Paul notes, "there is almost no decision US Steel’s management could make that cannot be labeled as involving 'national security.'" 

A Golden Share Will Not Make America Great Again | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

Jun 2, 2025 - "Japanese company Nippon Steel’s plan to purchase US Steel was bound to provoke a strong reaction from left- and right-wing economic nationalists. After all, US Steel was once the world’s largest company, and it was the first company to be valued at over a billion dollars. US Steel was thus a symbol of America’s economic dominance. So it was not surprising that Nippon Steel’s purchase of US Steel was blocked by both the Biden and Trump administrations. This was disappointing — especially since Nippon Steel planned to invest billions in modernizing US Steel’s facilities.

"Last week, President Trump praised the deal with some added conditions. One major condition is that the US government will receive a 'golden share' in US Steel. This will enable the government to overrule any business decision made by the company’s management if the government determines the business decision threatens 'national security.' This power could be used to prevent US Steel from exporting steel to certain countries, as well as to require US Steel to prioritize production for the military and other government agencies. It could also be used to interfere with labor-management relations based on the idea that a labor dispute can disrupt production and thus harm national security. In fact, there is almost no decision US Steel’s management could make that cannot be labeled as involving 'national security.'

"Supporters of the 'golden share' have forgotten (or never learned) the lessons from the failures of allowing politicians and bureaucrats to run private businesses. When government takes a full or partial ownership interest in a business, the result is decisions made based on political considerations rather than on seeking to improve the company’s productivity and profits. This causes the company to lose money, resulting in laid off workers unless the government tries to cover up failures with subsidies. It also distorts the signals sent to other market actors via the price system because the government-run company is allocating resources based on considerations other than their most efficient use.

"This is not the only case where the Trump administration is harming the economy by interfering with businesses. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government sponsored enterprises created to support the housing market, may soon go public. President Trump has stated that the government would nonetheless continue to guarantee Fannie and Freddie backed mortgage loans. This will cause over-investment in housing as investors see only an upside from investing in Fannie and Freddie since the government will bail out Fannie and Freddie if they lose money while investors will keep the profits. The result will be a housing bubble, followed by a housing crash that may be worse than the one Fannie and Freddie — along with the Federal Reserve — helped cause in 2008. Once again, President Trump and his advisors have failed to learn from history.

"Government involvement with businesses may be promoted as intended to protect national security, or to protect 'great American companies' from being taken over by foreign companies, or to make the American dream of homeownership possible for every American, or to accomplish a myriad of other goals that may sound good in sound bites on the campaign trail. However, the result will be economic stagnation, recessions, or even depressions. To ensure a strong economy, government can get out of the way. A policy of limited government, free markets, free trade, peace, and sound money is the path to prosperity."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

Read more: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/a-golden-share-will-not-make-america-great-again/

Lockdowns cost Canadian businesses $60 Billion

Statistics Canada reported this month that small and medium-sized businesses lost almost $60 Billion during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Closed businesses in Toronto, November 2020. Nathan Denette/Canadian Press / fair dealing.

Lockdowns Cost Small and Medium-Sized Businesses $60 Billion in Pandemic’s First Year: StatCan | Epoch Times | Isaac Teo:

February 23, 2025 - "In a report published on Feb. 18, Statistics Canada said about 47 percent of all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) — businesses with annual salary expenses of less than $1.5 million — 'experienced a drop in gross profit, totalling a loss of nearly $60 billion' from 2019 to 2020.

“'The pandemic was most challenging for client-facing industries,' says the report, which examines how Ottawa’s Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program may have influenced SMEs’ survival rates during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and restrictions.

The CEBA program, created on March 27, 2020, paid businesses up to $60,000 in interest-free loans that would qualify for partial loan forgiveness if repaid by a set deadline. 'The businesses that reported the largest declines in gross profit were client-facing ones, such as food service and drinking places, hotels, and offices of dentists and physicians,' said the StatCan report, as first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.

"In addition, the federal agency said transportation and warehousing, administrative, waste management, and remediation services were also 'among the most severely impacted.... Output contracted sharply in these industries during the initial lockdown, anywhere from about 30% to 60%, and had not recovered to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2023,' the agency added. 'This was due, in part, to successive waves of public health restrictions.

"The provinces and territories started to declare public health emergencies in mid-March 2020.... Tight restrictions countrywide followed, including a month-long lockdown in April 2020. Over the summer that year, restrictions on social mobility began to ease before being tightened again in the fall.... In December 2020, restrictions were 'tightened to levels similar to those from the height of the first wave,' said StatCan in a 2022 report that measured the correlation between COVID restrictions and economic activity.

"The agency’s Feb. 18, 2024, report says retailers, and to a lesser extent builders and manufacturers, similarly saw 'large output declines' of roughly 20 percent to 25 percent during the initial lockdown, though they recovered more quickly when those initial restrictions were eased.... Bankruptcies began to accelerate in mid-2022 and reached a high of over 1,200 by the first quarter of 2024, compared to a low of about 250 in the third quarter of 2021 and about 400 to 450 per quarter throughout 2020, said StatCan’s Feb. 18 report.... 

"The report drew data from sources that includes Export Development Canada, administrator of the CEBA program; the banks and other financial institutions that provided loans to businesses; the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy; and StatCan’s own business register.

"The CEBA program was opened for applications from April 6, 2020, to June 30, 2021. The original deadline for repayment to qualify for partial loan forgiveness was Dec. 31, 2022. The deadline was extended to Dec. 31, 2023, [and] later further extended to Jan. 18, 2024.... Ottawa [lent] out $49.2 billion to 898,271 businesses ... [of which] 6,343 eventually declared bankruptcy by the end of September 2024. StatCan said 18.8 percent of CEBA loans ... currently remain outstanding and are due to be repaid by the end of December 2026."

Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/lockdowns-cost-small-and-medium-sized-businesses-billions-in-pandemics-first-year-statcan-5814949

5% of Canadian businesses closed in one month

Business closings in Canada rose in June 2024 to their highest level since the pandemic, wiping out a year of gains in a single month.

Canada Just Saw 1 In 20 Businesses Close In A Month, Biggest Wave Since Pandemic | Better Dwelling: 

October 1, 2024 - "Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows businesses suffered a major setback in June. The country saw the largest wave of business closures since the depths of the 2020 pandemic, when lockdowns physically restricted businesses from activity. In just one month, Canada saw enough businesses shutter to reverse more than a year of progress..... 

"Seasonally adjusted data shows 46,354 businesses closed in June, marking the largest wave in exactly 4 years. That’s right, the current environment is so rough that businesses are responding like 2020 pandemic lockdowns just kicked off. The closure rate (share as a total) also set a similar pandemic record. The rate climbed 0.2 points to 5.0% in June, meaning 1 in 20 businesses closed their doors for good last month. If that sounds high, that’s because it is—the highest rate since June 2020. 

"Even more disturbing is the fact this issue is now widespread. Stat Can observed closures across industries, noting it was a broad issue. They did note that construction and retail were slightly ahead of the pack. This highlights how weak households are these days, since both industries should have seen a large boost just by sheer population growth.

The opening vs closing rate of businesses across Canada. 
The rate is determined as a share of total active businesses at month end. 

Source: Statistics Canada. 

"At the same time, fewer Canadians are starting a new business. Monthly business openings fell 8.6% (-3,746) to 39,482 businesses in June. It was the slowest month for new businesses since March 2023, and one would assume the reason for closures is also holding back budding entrepreneurs. The opening rate, openings as a share of total active businesses, was also much weaker than usual. The rate fell 0.4 points to 4.2% in June, marking the weakest rate since August 2021. Once again, the weakness was observed across all industries.... 

"More business closures and fewer openings means a decline in total businesses in Canada. The net balance of openings and closures reduced active businesses by 1% (-9,037) to 929,173 in June. This is the lowest number of active businesses since April 2023, meaning a single month wiped out over a year of gains for the Canadian economy....  

"Canadian businesses are closing at one of the fastest clips in history — a rate not seen since they were locked down by a pandemic, and physically restricted from doing business. That doesn’t bode well with the rising unemployment rate, elevated even higher for young adults. It also seems to conflict with the [Trudeau government's] narrative of a strong economy that’s the envy of other G7 countries."

Read more: https://betterdwelling.com/canada-just-saw-1-in-20-businesses-close-in-a-month-biggest-wave-since-pandemic/

Corporate Canada lost Faustian climate bargain

With the passage of Bill C-59, which outlaws "greenwashing" claims, Corporate Canada has lost its climate bargain with the Trudeau government, writes Bruce Pardy.

Corporate Canada betrayed capitalism. Now it has been betrayed | National Post | Bruce Pardy:

July 5, 2024 - "After years of colluding with climate hysteria and betraying capitalism, Canadian companies have been dumped at the curb. On June 20, Bill C-59 received Royal Assent. It’s a hodgepodge bill of humdrum provisions, hundreds of pages long.... But buried in the stack are two sections that prohibit 'greenwashing.' Businesses cannot claim that their products or practices help to protect against climate change or provide other environmental benefits unless they can prove the claims are true. The provisions amend the Competition Act and make climate and other environmental claims subject to the same regulatory regime as false advertising.

"Companies and industry associations have taken down climate pledges and environmental commitments from their websites and social media. 'Ottawa’s ban on "greenwashing" has already put a chill on climate disclosure targets,' objected Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, in a commentary for CTV. It will affect the entire economy, she wrote, add bureaucratic burden, halt investment, and weigh on Canada’s sagging productivity. Corporate Canada has lost its climate bargain.

"Over the course of decades, Western countries, but nowhere more than Canada, have undergone a cultural revolution. Accelerating climate activism, aggressive social justice ideology and managerial government have changed the landscape. Business elites, instead of defending capitalism, competition, open markets, the rule of law and other values of Western civilization, decided to switch rather than fight. To protect their own prosperity and influence, corporate leaders learned to speak the language and adopt the norms of progressive collectivism. They became cheerleaders for the new regime. Many came to believe in it themselves....

"The social responsibility of business became not merely to increase its profits, as Milton Friedman famously insisted, but to serve as social welfare agencies. They were not just to obey the law and deliver products and services that people wanted to buy, but to pursue social and environmental causes. They would serve the interests not just of their shareholders but their 'stakeholders,' as 'Environmental, Social and Governance' (ESG) models demanded. In their marketing and rhetoric, they embraced climate action, corporate social responsibility, social licence, 'equity, diversity and inclusion' (EDI) and social justice. They promoted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a blueprint for socialist managerialism. The Business Council of Canada endorsed carbon pricing and Canada’s climate plans. Major oil companies promoted net zero and repeated the kinds of claims that governments themselves made: that climate action in Canada helps to prevent the climate from changing.

"Such claims are patently false. Even if you believe in anthropogenic climate change, if your country doesn’t contribute much to the problem, cutting its contribution isn’t a solution. Bringing Canadian carbon emissions to zero would make no measurable difference to anything. Countries that together produce far and away most of the emissions on Earth have no intention of changing their paths.... 

"Canada excels at climate boondoggles. Carbon taxes are just more money for government coffers that do not necessarily reduce emissions, if that actually mattered. Wind and solar power, a lucrative source of government largesse that some businesses have adeptly saddled up to, don’t replace fossil fuels. Carbon capture and storage, perhaps the most pathetic pretend of them all, is a breathtakingly expensive symbolic gesture that cannot be applied at scale. The Paris accord and its net zero aspirations are climate fairy tales. Canadian business leaders would never say any of this. That was the deal: pay homage to the climate gods, and you can be on the team. But now they can’t.

"Progressive statism has never been about the climate, or transgenderism, or whatever the cause du jour. The target has always been Western values and principles. Free enterprise is anathema to its aspirations, and as it turns out, so is prosperity itself. Canadian companies have betrayed the economic principles of their own society.... The Canadian business community still does not understand the point of the revolution. There can be no survivors."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/corporate-canada-betrayed-capitalism-now-it-has-been-betrayed

Four academic doctrines destroying Canada, Bruce Pardy, chapter author for The 1867 Project | Aristotle Foundation | June 13, 2023:

Business bankruptcies in Canada highest in 37 yrs

Business bankruptcies in Canada, which were up last year by the largest increase in 36 years, soared to a new record in the first quarter of 2024.  

Bankruptcies are soaring, but especially in Canada | Financial Post | Pamela Heaven:

February 5, 2024 - "Business insolvencies in Canada jumped the most in 36 years of records in 2023, as debt costs rose and the economy weakened. The number of businesses that filed for insolvency was the highest in 13 years, according to figures out last week from the federal Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.... The rise was mainly due to bankruptcies, rather than a renegotiation of terms, said Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist for Alberta Central.  Bankruptcies were up 75.6 per cent year over year, mostly in  accommodation and food services, retail and construction.

“'Businesses have been struggling to cope with a myriad of financial challenges over the past year, including higher input costs, wage costs, and debt servicing costs, exacerbating the rocky footing many have been on ever since the pandemic,' said André Bolduc, chair of the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals (CAIRP).... Business owners who were unable to pay back government pandemic loans known as CEBA by the Jan. 19 deadline now have to pay five per cent interest and make monthly payments on what was previously an interest-free loan with no monthly payments, CAIRP says."

Read more: https://financialpost.com/news/bankruptcies-soaring-especially-canada

Bankruptcies and insolvencies shot up in 2023 | CBC News: The National | February 2, 2024: 

Business insolvencies in Canada surge at fastest level in 37 years, consumer debt soars | True North | Isaac Lamoureux:

May 6, 2024 - "Data released by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy on Friday shows that business insolvencies in Canada increased 87.2% between the first quarter of 2023 and 2024. The number of insolvencies between the two years increased from 1,070 to 2,003. Between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, insolvencies increased from 1,521 to 2,003, a 31.7% increase.

"Consumers weren’t immune ... with consumer insolvencies increasing for the eighth consecutive quarter when measuring year-over-year increases, reaching the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2019. Insolvencies among consumers in Canada increased by 14% between the first quarter of 2023 and 2024. Consumer insolvencies increased from 29,725 to 33,885 between the two years. Between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, insolvencies increased from 31,813 to 33,885, a 6.5% increase. On average, 372 Canadians filed for consumer insolvency daily in the first quarter of 2024.

“'A perfect storm of economic challenges is brewing, with high mortgage renewal rates, soaring rental prices, and elevated costs of everyday necessities. The high cost of servicing debts is also compounding the financial strain for many Canadians and leaving them grappling with insurmountable debt burdens,' said André Bolduc, Chair of the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals.... 

"Business insolvencies surging 87.2% was the largest annual increase in 37 years of records from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, according to the CAIRP. 'We are seeing signs of a significant rise in distress among Canadian businesses. Many are still shouldering the burden of the pandemic, on top of high input and labour costs, declining consumer spending, and higher debt-carrying costs,' said Bolduc. 

"The actual number of business closures is even higher, considering many business owners decide to cease operations without pursuing formal insolvency proceedings. Based on members surveyed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, only 10% of their members who considered closing their business would officially file for bankruptcy....

"The government’s decision not to extend the CEBA deadline was 'the straw that broke the camel’s back,' said Simon Gaudreault, chief economist and vice president of research at the CFIB. Gaudreault said that other factors contributing to businesses filing for bankruptcy included lost revenue from public health closures, supply chain challenges, inflation, increased costs, rising interest rates, and labour shortages.

"Statistics Canada’s most recent data shows that 43,121 businesses closed in January 2024."

Read more: https://tnc.news/2024/05/06/business-insolvencies-canada-surge-consumer-debt/

Trudeau government cuts carbon tax rebates to small business

Canada's Trudeau government is cutting carbon tax rebates to small business, even though it has never been paying them anyway. 

Government to cut small business carbon tax rebate by $500 million in 2024 to fund higher consumer rebates | Canadian Federation of Independent Business:

February 22, 2024 – "New documents published by the federal government ... reveal that Ottawa is reducing the amount of carbon tax revenue it plans to rebate to small and medium-sized businesses from 9% to 5% starting in 2024. Meanwhile, the amount allocated for consumers and Indigenous governments will increase to 93% and 2%, respectively. 

“'Given the giant carbon tax rate increase planned for April 1, small business would have received $500 million more in rebates than is currently scheduled,' said [Canadian Federation of Independent Business] CFIB president Dan Kelly. This represents a 44% reduction in the rebate allocation for SMEs going forward. Last week’s announcement proved that the federal government has paid for the increased rural rebate and a doubling of the amount earmarked to Indigenous governments by cutting the share for small business. 

“'And it is important to keep in mind that despite the fact that the federal government has been collecting carbon taxes since 2019, there is still no system set up to return a nickel to small businesses,' Kelly added. In fact, the federal government confirmed last week that it still owes small businesses over $2.5 billion in carbon tax rebates collected over the past five years. 

“'While consumers are getting more in rebates, small businesses just keep getting the short end of the stick,' Kelly said. 'This is unacceptable and a slap in the face to all small firms, especially as CFIB estimates SMEs actually pay 40% of carbon tax revenue.'   

"To make matters even more unfair, the past $2.5 billion and the ongoing 5% share for small business are intended to go only to emissions-intensive, trade-exposed businesses even though all small firms pay the tax.... 

"While it is clear Canadians will debate the future of the carbon tax itself in the next federal election, CFIB is calling on government for immediate action, including plans to:  

• Immediately return the $2.5 billion owed to all small businesses, not just certain sectors.  
• Scrap the plan to reduce the SME share of carbon tax revenue from 9 to 5% in 2024 and rebate it annually.  
• Increase the share of rebates dedicated to SMEs to 40% over time. 
• Pass Bill C-234 as originally proposed to exempt natural gas and propane used for on-farm activities, including grain drying and heating farm buildings. 
• Freeze the carbon tax at its current level. 
• Exempt all heating fuels, including natural gas. 

"'Small businesses are rightfully owed what Ottawa has promised them in carbon tax revenues. It’s time for Ottawa to stop playing a shell game and fix the broken carbon tax system,' said Corinne Pohlmann, Executive Vice-President of Advocacy at CFIB. 'The upcoming federal budget is an opportunity for the government to provide substantial financial relief to small firms to offset the tremendous costs the carbon tax system has imposed on small businesses during a particularly challenging time.'

"Small businesses can add their voice to CFIB’s fight for fairness by signing a CFIB petition....

"The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 97,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca." 

Read more: https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/media/government-to-cut-small-business-carbon-tax-rebate-by-500-million-in-2024-to-fund-higher-consumer-rebates

Sign petition: https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/petition/national-petition-carbon-tax

Ottawa sitting on $2.5 billion in carbon tax rebates owed to small business since 2019: CFIB | Canada's Podcast | February 8, 2024: 

Less than 20% of Covid business loans repaid

The Trudeau government has extended the deadline to repay its small-business pandemic loans another year to the end of 2024, while the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says only 18% of its members who took loans have managed to repay them to date.

COVID-19 small business loans deadline pushed to 2024, only 18% repaid | Western Standard | Christopher Oldcorn 

16 September, 2023 - "For the second time, the Trudeau government has extended the deadline for repayment on $49.2 billion worth of interest-free pandemic loans for small businesses, announced on Thursday. The loans, which were initially expected to be repaid by December 31, 2022, now have an extended repayment deadline of December 31, 2024....

"According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business [CFIB] estimated that only around 18% of its members who had taken loans had managed to repay them.

"Parliament in 2020 introduced the Canada Emergency Business Account program offering small businesses up to $40,000 interest-free loans with a quarter forgiven on repayment. Loan terms were later expanded by cabinet to $60,000 with a third forgiven on repayment due December 31, 2023.

"'The government has failed to address the most critical issue on outstanding loans, the loss of the $20,000 forgivable portion,' the Federation [CFIB] said in a statement.'The extension of the forgivable deadline by a few weeks will be of very little value to the thousands of small business owners who just don’t have money to repay now.' The Federation estimated 69% of its members who applied for loans were unable to repay what they borrowed.

"Businesses that applied for loans were typically small and indebted, according to a Department of Industry report. 'In general, loan recipients tended to be young businesses,' said the report SME Profile: Recipients of the Canada Emergency Business Account.

"Eighteen percent of the applicants reported they had resorted to borrowing from lines of credit, taking out second mortgages and increasing their credit card balances to keep their businesses going. The results were from a survey of 19,283 small business owners across the country.

"Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland previously stated the government was aware that borrowers faced risks and did not know the default rate on the loan program. 'Small business owners are resilient and our government will continue to be there to help them,' said Freeland."

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/business/covid-19-small-business-loans-deadline-pushed-to-2024-only-18-repaid/article_7f10c2a2-540d-11ee-a40d-ef861df72804.html

Small businesses are struggling with Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) repayment | Rachel Notley | August 4, 2023:

Canadian business bankruptcies up >40%

More than 1,100 Canadian businesses filed for bankruptcy in the third quarter of 2023 (2023/3), up more than 40% from 2022/3, 

Business insolvencies in Canada up 42% | True North | Quinn Patrick: 

Closed businesses in Montreal, 2020. CTV News.

November 5, 2023 - "Canadian business insolvencies shot up by 41.8% in 2023 when compared to the third quarter of last year. 

"According to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, a total of 1,120 businesses filed for bankruptcy, up 3.6% from the second quarter. 

"Those numbers far surpass the amount of bankruptcies filed before the pandemic. In the third quarter of 2019, for example, only 827 businesses filed for bankruptcy. 

"The Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals (CAIRP) believes businesses are struggling to stay afloat due to a combination of economic challenges. Businesses no longer have support from government Covid-19 benefits, [while] record high interest rates, and a dip in consumer spending are all contributing factors. 

“'Many companies emerged out of the pandemic already over-leveraged and now they have the added pressures of higher borrowing costs, less access to capital, and high inflation leading to increased costs. It is inevitable that some will be significantly challenged, especially those in consumer-facing sectors,' said CAIRP chair André Bolduc in a press release. 

"Bolduc warns that the current insolvency estimates are conservative at best as many businesses will choose to close up shop and walk away without going through the insolvency process. 'The official statistics don’t reveal the full scale of serious indebtedness because many wait years before they consider legal debt-relief options,”'said Bolduc.... 

"In September, the Bank of Canada announced that it would retain its key interest rate at 5% until it sees the full effect of a stricter monetary policy permeate through the economy."

Read more: https://tnc.news/2023/11/05/business-insolvencies-up-42-2/

The rising costs of Canada's lockdowns

 What 16 months of COVID lockdowns have cost us | National Post - Tristin Hopper:

July 28, 2021 -"Canada’s pandemic response, particularly in Ontario, has been defined by strict lockdowns — often at a level of severity well beyond anything seen in the rest of the developed world. It will take years to fully assess the societal costs of social distancing, from learning loss in schools to a rise in famine conditions caused by disruptions to global trade. Below is a rough accounting of the price Canada has paid thus far.

"In March 2020 ... the country’s federal debt stood at $721.4 billion. Only one year later, the Department of Finance was pegging the debt load at $1.2 trillion.... And that’s just federal spending. COVID-19 has also blown out the debt of every other conceivable public institution in the country. In the three post-pandemic years, Ontario is set to run up as much debt as the prior 10 years combined.... Dozens of Canadian post-secondary institutions are posting multi-million dollar deficits, often for the first time. Newfoundland and Labrador’s already-shaky financial situation has been thrust onto the brink of bankruptcy.... For now, all this unprecedented borrowing has not overly compromised Canada’s federal credit rating, but the consequences will begin to show in future budgets as the cost of servicing debt becomes our single greatest public expense....

"It’s difficult to put an exact figure on the number of businesses wiped out by COVID-19, but a running list of retail closures includes everything from the shuttering of 300 Canadian Starbucks locations to the mass-closure of Canadian Disney stores. In November, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business was estimating that 225,000 firms would not survive the pandemic. 

"And the worst wave of business closures may be yet to come. Last month, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce projected that a disproportionately high rate of bankruptcies and business closures could extend well into 2022. Many businesses that were critically wounded by COVID-19 remain open by taking on debt or relying on government supports such as the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy....

"As of this writing, Canadian COVID-19 deaths stood at 26,550. Second only to the Spanish Flu, the toll makes COVID-19 our deadliest natural disaster. However, Canada’s average death rate (70.53 per 100,000) is roughly in league with Israel, which has often received praise for its handling of the pandemic....However, COVID-19 deaths have overshadowed a dramatic rise in fatalities in other areas, often as as a direct result of pandemic measures.

"Most notably, the opioid crisis has never been worse. Between April and December of 2020, 5,148 Canadians died of an overdose, a rise of 89 per cent over the same period in 2019. As Health Canada has theorized, border closures made the illicit drug supply more toxic, and social distance caused the curbing of medical services that had previously been instrumental in keeping many addicts alive.

"The months-long suspension of routine medical services is also expected to yield a rise in preventable cancer deaths that will be playing out for years after the official end of lockdowns. Modelling by Statistics Canada has estimated ... an extra 440 Canadians will die of colorectal cancer as a result of the more than 540,000 screenings missed during the pandemic. A November paper in the Journal of Medical Screening similarly estimated that just six months of missed mammograms could yield up to 250 additional breast cancer deaths in Canada. In Quebec, the province’s health ministry has estimated that up to 4,000 people have gone undiagnosed with cancer as a result of a sharp dropoff in mammograms, pap smears and colorectal cancer screens.

"One spot of good news, however, is that lockdowns haven’t inspired a spike in deaths in the one category where everybody assumed they would: suicides. Although the pandemic has played havoc with people’s mental health, the number of Canadians taking their own lives under lockdown has either remained stable or gone into decline." 

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/what-16-months-of-covid-lockdowns-have-cost-us

Some making billions from Covid pandemic

Meet The 50 Doctors, Scientists And Healthcare Entrepreneurs Who Became Pandemic Billionaires In 2020 | Forbes - Giacomo Tognini:

December 23, 2020 - "Nearly a year after the first case of Covid-19 was reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, the world could be nearing the beginning of the end of a pandemic that has killed more than 1.7 million people. Vaccination for Covid-19 is underway in the United States and the United Kingdom, and promising antibody treatments could help doctors fight back against the disease more effectively. Tied to those breakthroughs: a host of new billionaires who have emerged in 2020, their fortunes propelled by a stock market surge as investors flocked to companies involved in the development of vaccines, treatments, medical devices and everything in between.

"Altogether, Forbes found 50 new billionaires in the healthcare sector in 2020. The most notable newcomers of the year are the scientists behind the two most successful vaccines for the coronavirus  — one developed by Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech, the other by Massachusetts-based Moderna — who have seen their net worths skyrocket since January: Uğur Şahin and Stéphane Bancel. Virtually unknown at the outset of 2020, both men are now billionaires several times over. BioNTech CEO Şahin, who cofounded the firm with Özlem Türeci, his wife and the firm’s chief medical officer — she owns no shares in the company — is now worth $4.2 billion; his French counterpart at Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, has a $4.1 billion fortune. Moderna’s meteoric rise also produced two more billionaires among its earliest investors, Harvard professor Timothy Springer and MIT scientist Robert Langer. Those vaccines will require billions of glass vials to safely transport them — enter Italy’s Sergio Stevanato, a new billionaire and the majority shareholder in the privately-owned Stevanato Group, which is making glass vials for several dozen vaccine efforts around the world.

"It’s not just vaccines: companies developing antibody treatments and drugs to help doctors fight the virus have also benefited from the market frenzy. Carl Hansen, the CEO of Canadian biotech outfit AbCellera, is now worth $2.9 billion after his company went public on December 11, fueled by the Food and Drug Administration’s approval last month of its antibody treatment developed with pharma giant Eli Lilly. Even the firms working behind the scenes to help larger companies test new drugs and devices have seen their stock prices reach new highs. August Troendle, the founder and CEO of Cincinnati-based contract research firm Medpace, is now worth $1.3 billion thanks to a nearly 70% jump in the company’s shares since the beginning of the year.

"The new moguls hail from 11 different countries, but the majority live in China, the early epicenter of Covid-19, which is now home to nearly three dozen new healthcare billionaires  — chief among them is Hu Kun, the chairman of medical device manufacturer Contec Medical Systems, which went public on the Shenzhen stock exchange in August. Contec’s shares have risen nearly 150% since the IPO on the back of strong overseas sales of products ranging from pulse oximeters to pulmonary devices used for checking lung conditions, all of which have become more necessary with the spread of Covid-19 throughout the globe."

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2020/12/23/meet-the-50-doctors-scientists-and-healthcare-entrepreneurs-who-became-pandemic-billionaires-in-2020/

Connecticut lifts some Covid restrictions

Connecticut dramatically rolls back COVID restrictions, allowing full indoor dining, increased entertainment and sports capacity; travel ban lifted | Hartford Courant - Emily Brindley, Eliza Fawcett, and Alex Putterman: 

March 4. 2021 - "Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday announced that he will roll back COVID-related restrictions in Connecticut starting March 19, including allowing restaurants to operate at full capacity, loosening rules on sports and entertainment venues and lifting the state’s travel ban. The state will maintain some key measures, including a mask mandate, social distancing rules, a curfew for restaurants and the closure of all bars. 

"Restaurants, retail stores, houses of worship and other businesses will be allowed to reopen at full capacity, within the confines of the remaining rules. Sports will be allowed to resume fully, with outdoor venues permitted up to 50% capacity, capped at 10,000 visitors, and indoor venues permitted up to 10% capacity. Travelers will still be recommended to quarantine after arriving in Connecticut, but they will not be required to do so....

"Lamont emphasized that Connecticut had not gone as far as Mississippi and Texas, states which drew sharp criticism from President Joe Biden after revoking their mask mandates.... Still, Connecticut’s new plan defies guidance from Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who recommended earlier this week that states move slowly in reopening.... Lamont said that he looked at other states’ reopening approaches. Massachusetts, for instance, recently announced a similar reopening plan, including lifting capacity caps at restaurants.....

• "Beginning on March 19, Connecticut restaurants will be permitted to move from 50% capacity to 100% capacity, with social distancing and mask requirements still in place.... Restaurants will also have an 11 p.m. curfew for on-site dining, and tables will be limited to a maximum of eight patrons. Bars that only serve beverages will still not be permitted to open at all.... 
• Retail stories, offices, houses of worship, gyms, libraries, person services such as nail and hair salons will all be allowed to reopen at full capacity on March 19. Masks and social distancing will be required....
• Lamont’s reopening plan also significantly opens up the playing field for sports teams. According to Lamont’s plan, all sports teams will be allowed to fully practice and compete — including in tournaments — beginning on March 19.... As of April 2, indoor sports venues will be allowed to open at 10% capacity and outdoor event venues will be able to increase to 50% capacity, capped at 10,000 people.

"Lamont’s emergency powers are set to expire April 20, but the governor said Thursday some of his executive orders — such as masking — will likely need to be continued beyond April 20. The governor implied that he does not plan to extend his emergency powers but that he will work with the legislature on those issues."

Read more: https://www.courant.com/coronavirus/hc-news-coronavirus-daily-updates-0304-20210304-56d7cbx6k5da7auqqroznhhdfa-story.html

Some Canadian businesses plan to reopen Feb.11

'Together we can end the lockdowns': Group urges businesses across Canada to reopen | National Post - Margarita Maltceva:

February 3, 2021 "Some businesses across Canada are planning to reopen on Feb. 11 in defiance of local COVID-19 restrictions. 'We are gonna call it the great reopening of Canada,' Vladislav Sobolev, the founder of the We Are All Essential movement, said in a Facebook video posted on Monday. 'Just open everything up! The opening means that you are just gonna conduct the business the way you see fit.'

"Varying provincial lockdown measures have hit businesses across Canada hard. The latest Statistics Canada report found that 57,301 businesses closed between February and September last year. Many retail stores have been limited to curbside pick up and in some provinces, such as Ontario, service industries have had to close during a lockdown.

"The group 'We Are All Essential' was formed at the beginning of November 2020 in order to educate small businesses about their rights during the pandemic and provide community support to help protect business owners, Sobolev says in the video.... The group comprises around 300 businesses from across Canada, including Adam Skelly, the owner of Adamson Barbecue in Toronto, who reopened his business in November and was subsequently arrested and charged for violating the lockdown restrictions. BlogTo reported that most of the businesses that are registered in the group are from Ontario....

"While Ontario’s stay-at-home order was originally set to expire after 28 days, on Feb. 11 — the same day the group has planned its nationwide reopening — the province now says that the lockdown restrictions won’t be lifted until the daily number of new COVID-19 cases falls to 'around or below 1,000.' In addition, the number of patients in the intensive care units (ICU) have to drop from 400 to about 150, CTV News reports.

"Sobolev said in an interview with BlogTo that around 100 businesses in its network across Canada are currently operating secretly or openly, with some of them racking up fines that they intend to fight in court....

"We Are All Essential members believe that lockdown measures imposed by the government are 'unjustified' and threaten the prosperity of small businesses that were forced to shut down or limit their operations, Sobolev said in the Facebook video. 'The government has no right to define which group of businesses is essential and which one is not.' 

"Sobolev said that COVID-19 restrictions have unfairly targeted small, independent businesses compared to huge companies like Costco and Walmart that have been able to remain open. 'Most of the businesses that are forced to shut down (had) either zero transmission or very-very minute transmission numbers… and they are forced to shut down, (while) you have Costco, Walmart, Amazon, where actually documented transmission takes place. However, they can continue to operate,' he said."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/together-we-can-end-the-lockdowns-group-urges-businesses-across-canada-to-reopen

For more information, visit: WeAreAllEssential.ca

Also read: Italians defy business shurdowns

The economic ideas behind the 'Great Reset'

Terence Corcoran: The murky rise of Klaus Schwab's stakeholder 'capitalism' and the WEF's Davos corporate plan | Financial Post:

January 22, 2021 - "For several years now the World Economic Forum [WEF], host of the annual corporate celebrity bash known as the Davos Summit, has been a driving global force behind a move to overthrow market capitalism and profit-maximizing corporations and replace them with a new economic model called 'stakeholder capitalism'.... In the words of Klaus Schwab, the 82-year-old German economist who founded the WEF in 1973, the existing corporate enterprise model, the shareholder version that has dominated much of the world’s economic progress over the past century, needs to be replaced. 'We need a change of mindset, moving from short-term to long-term thinking, moving from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder responsibility. Environmental, social and good governance have to be a measured part of corporate and governmental accountability.'

"With the U.S. government now under Democratic Party control, a reformation of capitalism appears to be underway. 'It’s way past time we put an end to the era of shareholder capitalism,' said Joe Biden when he outlined his platform last July.... An army of academics, consultants, executives and politicians is already on board the stakeholder movement....

"Schwab claims to have invented the stakeholder concept as a replacement for the shareholder version of corporate purpose most often associated with Nobel economist Milton Friedman. But in fact Schwab’s stakeholderism ... has a long and messy history.... Ending shareholder capitalism by merging private enterprise with government power is not a new idea....  In the United States, the idea ... reached a peak of sorts in the 1970s when Ralph Nader ... proposed a U.S. federal charter of major U.S. corporations 'whereby a government gives the corporate entity existence and that entity, in return, agrees to serve the public interest'.... Nader’s call for a U.S. government 'federal charter' for corporations was revived in 2018 by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. She proposed an Accountable Capitalism Act that would force American corporations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue to obtain a federal charter.... Corporate directors would be obligated to consider the interests of all corporate stakeholders, 'including employees, customers, shareholders, and the communities in which the company operates'....

"University of Calgary economist Randall Morck, editor of A History of Corporate Governance Around the World, sets the origins of legalized stakeholderism in Germany and the passage of the National Socialist government’s Shareholder Law of 1937. The law, writes Morck, 'freed corporate managers and directors of their specific fiduciary duty to shareholders and substituted a general duty to all stakeholders.' A paper in the 1938 issue of The American Economic Review described the new German corporate model as an application of the leading ideas of the German government at the time. The objectives of the law included 'protection of the interests of the public, employee and company by granting the state broad powers of intervention.' All forms of economic activity must observe the principle of 'public welfare before individual gain.' Beyond Germany, during the early years of the 20th century, many theorists and corporate executives embraced stakeholderism....

"The current effort to 'put an end to the era of shareholder capitalism,' as Biden said, aims to undo the free-market foundations of shareholder capitalism.... 'We must move on from neoliberalism in the post-COVID era,' says Schwab. We need to abandon the 'sacred cows,' such as 'free-market fundamentalism,' ...'start to build institutional platforms for public-private co-operation.' In his new book ... Schwab lists the four key power sectors that would sit at the corporate governance table: governments, civil society, corporations, and such international organizations as the United Nations. In that model, shareholders are likely to end up standing in line behind stakeholders — and stateholders.

"Shareholders are already taking a back seat. Corporate managers today fund the arts, finance political parties, give to charities, declare their climate-change activism and set up multimillion-dollar foundations that sponsor radical environmentalism. Supporters of the stakeholder movement include major institutional investors, accounting organizations, agencies and giant consultancies seeking to cash in on the corporate need for advice.... Canada’s top government-based pension plans, from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan — the country’s largest shareholders — are now backing the stakeholder movement....

"Overhanging the stakeholder juggernaut is the total absence of any method to measure the performance of stakeholder governance. Randall Morck at the University of Calgary argues that loading multiple social and political responsibilities ... on to corporate executives and boards would likely lead to gross distortions in corporate decision-making at the expense of shareholders. 'Presented with a multitude of objectives, the decision-maker ends up focusing on none. Thus, with no way to keep score, stakeholder theory leaves top corporate managers unaccountable for their actions'....

"Two Harvard law professors — Lucian Bebchuk and Roberto Tallarita — recently described what they refer to as 'The Illusory Promise of Stakeholder Governance.' Stakeholderism, they conclude, 'would insulate corporate leaders from shareholder pressures and make them less accountable.” Even more bluntly, Bebchuk and Tallarita argue that the rise in support for stakeholderism among corporate leaders and their advisors 'is motivated, at least in part, by a desire to obtain insulation from hedge fund activists and institutional investors. In other words, they seek to advance managerialism by putting it in stakeholder’s clothing.' The result would be detrimental to shareholders and the economy. It would also, they add, undermine the achievement of stakeholder objectives. 'For those interested in addressing corporate externalities and protecting corporate stakeholders, embracing stakeholderism would be counterproductive.'

"Scholarship on the purpose of corporations dates back centuries, but the current prevalence of 'stakeholder capitalism' theory in law, economics and politics is an affront to fundamental principles. How can they call it 'capitalism' when the result would be the destruction of capitalism as we know it? Call it what it is: Stateholderism. That seems to be the plan."

Read more: https://financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-the-murky-rise-of-stakeholder-capitalism

Italians defy Covid business shutdowns

As officials talk of tighter lockdown, Italian restaurants open their doors in protest | RT:

January 16, 2020 - "Though much of Italy remains under strict coronavirus restrictions, restaurants and bars have opened their doors in protest. Customers drank, ate, sang, and in one viral video, apparently booted the police back out the door. 

"Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended the country’s three-tier coronavirus restrictions on Friday, imposing a nationwide 10pm to 5am curfew until March and forbidding travel between Italy’s 20 regions until February 15. These measures were originally implemented in [October], and were set to expire on Friday. The extended restrictions haven’t gone down well with bar owners and restaurateurs. Organizing on social media under the hashtag ‘#IoApro’ (I Open), owners threw their doors open on Friday in protest.

"The number of participants is unclear. Before Friday, the #IoApro organizers said that as many as 50,000 restaurateurs were expected to take part. However, reports in Italian media suggest that far fewer actually opened their doors. 

"In one video that went viral on Friday night, the footage apparently shows police attempting to enter a pub, before being bullied out the door by chanting customers.... In at least one restaurant in Florence, nine patrons were fined and the owner was forced to shut altogether for a week, despite Florence being in the ‘Yellow’ zone....

"While restaurant owners may be sick of the country’s tiered restrictions, an adviser to Health Minister Roberto Speranza told Bloomberg on Friday that a return to a strict national lockdown could be on the cards soon. 'We have to limit people’s movement, block everything except essential businesses for two months,' he said."

Read more: https://www.rt.com/news/512744-italy-restaurants-protest-lockdown/

Italy's South Tyrol again flouts Rome over virus closures | Associated Press - Coleen Barry:

January 17, 2021 -"The autonomous province of South Tyrol with its German-speaking majority is flouting Rome’s decision to put it under partial lockdown starting Sunday, with provincial authorities citing its autonomous status to allow stores and restaurants to remain open. Provincial officials are contesting the criteria that prompted the Rome government to designate South Tyrol a red zone, along with Lombardy and Sicily. The designations require authorities to close nonessential businesses and bars all indoor dining, permitting only takeout and delivery.

"Provincial Gov. Arno Kompatscher said he was 'surprised' by the designation. He has registered his disagreement with Italy’s health minister and is taking the province’s case to the technical committee in Rome. But he isn’t waiting for a response, instead allowing all stores to stay open and restaurants to serve until 10 p.m., defying Rome as he did in May when he invoked autonomy to reopen businesses earlier than in the rest of the country.

"Health officials argue that the high percentage of positives is due to additional screenings with antibody tests that are revealing more positives and claim that the technical committee in Rome didn’t take into account its decreasing rate of transmission. The province of 520,000 people has registered more than 800 deaths and nearly 33,000 positive cases.

"Lombardy governor Atilio Fontana also contests his region’s partial lockdown. He is taking his case to an administrative court this week in a bid to get it overturned, his only recourse."

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-italy-sicily-coronavirus-pandemic-rome-dd0ec3c88530de59969a70065b52c7a9

Guess who wants to reopen his state?

Andrew Cuomo Makes an Infuriating Declaration for Those Living in His COVID-19 Dystopia | PJ Media - Stacey Lennox:

January 11, 2021 - "Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his annual State of the State address on Monday. He has overseen some of the most draconian COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions in the country. Some of his more chilling moves were threatening to close churches and synagogues, yanking the licenses of business owners who defied his ridiculous orders, and covering up his own culpability in forcing COVID-19-positive patients into nursing homes. More recently, he has led what might be the most botched vaccine rollout in the country. Originally he had set strict rules about who would have priority to receive the vaccine, and threatened to levy fines of up to $1 million if a healthcare provider gave it outside of his specified hierarchy. When doses, which have a short shelf life, expired, they were thrown in the trash.

"Meanwhile, businesses are dying in the state, especially in New York City. As of August, the New York Times reported that up to one-third of the state’s small businesses were closing for good. In-person schooling has been an on-and-off affair thanks to the teachers’ unions insisting on a ridiculous 3% positivity rate to trigger closings.... Supposedly, according to Cuomo and many others, the vaccine was going to save us all, and everyone could get back to normal when a sufficient number of people were vaccinated. That was before the Electoral College vote was certified.

"Today he said: 'We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass. The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open. We must reopen the economy, but we must do it smartly and safely'.... I predict he will be the first of many lockdown governors to say this.

"Here’s how I think things will go: Joe Biden will be inaugurated in nine days and make some proclamations about how he will defeat COVID-19 in the next 100 days. A national mask mandate and some other useless moves, like another “30 Days to Slow the Spread,” will be announced.

"During that time, the National Center for Health Statistics will change the way COVID-19 deaths are reported to mirror how influenza deaths are tracked. This will cause the death rate to fall. The cycle threshold on the PCR tests will be lowered to indicate active illness and the ability to transmit the disease. According to a New York Times analysis in August and a study by Jaafar et al., this means positive tests will gradually fall to about 10% of what we see now.

"I predict it will be underreported and ignored that states that ignore the national mandates, like Florida and South Dakota, will fare just as well, if not better. Governor Ron DeSantis has already said he will not lock Florida down again and Governor Kristi Noem has said she would not enforce any national COVID-19 mandate. Other governors whose states are open, like Georgia and Tennessee, will face backlash if they follow the mandates.

"Then Cuomo and the other governors — who did the Democrats’ bidding by crushing their economies and keeping people isolated and miserable and blaming it on President Trump — will get their due. Remember how Mitch McConnell and President Trump said they were not bailing out years of mismanagement in states like New York, California, and Illinois?.... With complete Democrat control in Washington, leaders in the state are looking for that bailout with renewed hope. In his speech, Cuomo said: 'Washington has savaged us for four years.... We expect basic fairness from Washington. Finally'....

"New York ... got the same resources from the federal government to manage the pandemic that are available to every state. Cuomo’s projected deficit comes from decreased tax revenue from business closures, people fleeing the state in record numbers, and unbridled spending. New York’s budget for 2020 was $177 billion. Florida, with a similar and slightly larger population, spent $93.2 billion.

"Cuomo is sure his deficit problems are solved now so he can 'safely' open. Meanwhile, the rest of the country will pay off New York’s debts with our tax dollars and higher inflation caused by the additional money we will print. That’s just  'fair,' according to Governor Cuomo. You have to wonder how the New York business owners and parents whose children have lost nearly a year of education will view it."

Read more: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2021/01/11/andrew-cuomo-makes-an-infuriating-declaration-for-those-living-in-his-covid-19-dystopia-n1331601

2 Libertarians elected to Hanford CA city council

Morrow’s First Action as City Councilwoman is to Make All Businesses in Hanford, California “Essential Businesses” | EIN Presswire (press release):  

December 18, 2020 - "This week on Tuesday evening, the City of Hanford, California swore in two newly elected council members. One of them, Libertarian Kalish Morrow, won the November 3rd election with over 42% of the vote in District B, unseating the incumbent, with the promise of making the city business friendly. She and her supporters ran a positive and unique campaign including park clean ups, charity activities including Habitat for Humanity™ and neighborhood by neighborhood canvassing. She was sworn in by another elected Libertarian, Jeff Hewitt, Riverside County Supervisor District 5.

"In her first action as a councilwoman, Morrow moved to agendize naming all businesses of Hanford essential, not just those that state and county governments deem essential. Morrow said, 'As a result of the pandemic the US economy is in a tailspin due to lockdowns. We cannot continue like this. Families need to put food on their tables and heads of households need to be able to provide that food. Stimulus checks are not the solution, they are not substantial and we will pay for them for decades.'

"Mimi Robson, Chair of the Libertarian Party of California stated, 'Since March politicians have decided which businesses were and weren’t essential, without recognizing that every business is essential to those business owners and their customers. A mom and pop store is more likely to put in place protections for their staff and clients than a big box store, but yet the large corporations that line the pockets of the old parties’ elected representatives are the only ones that have been able to continue doing business. Immediately after taking office Kalish has started the process to change that in her home town and recognize that everyone is essential. This is what Libertarians do!'...

"Hanford City Councilman, Francisco Ramirez, was elected Mayor of Hanford that same night.... Ramirez recently changed his party affiliation to Libertarian from Democrat. Ramirez explains, 'Having been both a registered Republican and Democrat in the past, I became disenchanted in how those two parties limit or remove many of our freedoms. I became a Libertarian because it is the only party that truly fights for our freedoms and it fits my own political and social beliefs best.'

Read more: https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/533044659/kalish-morrow-newly-elected-libertarian-city-councilwoman-is-sworn-in-and-begins-her-business-friendly-plan

Big business got bigger in US during pandemic

America’s biggest companies are flourishing during the pandemic and putting thousands of people out of work | Washington Post - Douglas MacMillan, Peter Whoriskey & Jonathan O'Connell:

December 16, 2020 - "As the coronavirus pandemic devastated small businesses and plunged millions of Americans into poverty this summer and fall, executives at some of the country’s largest corporations sounded surprisingly upbeat.... With few exceptions, big businesses are having a very different year from most of the country. Between April and September, one of the most tumultuous economic stretches in modern history, 45 of the 50 most valuable publicly traded U.S. companies turned a profit, a Washington Post analysis found.

"Despite their success, at least 27 of the 50 largest firms held layoffs this year, collectively cutting more than 100,000 workers, The Post found.... On one side, corporate leaders are touting their success and casting themselves as leaders on the road to economic recovery. On the other, many of their firms have put Americans out of work and used their profits to increase the wealth of shareholders.

"When the coronavirus struck, big companies promised to help battle the crisis. Dozens of prominent chief executives, who last year signed a public pledge to focus less on shareholders and more on the well-being of their employees and broader communities, appeared eager to make good on that promise. Many suspended payments to investors and vowed not to hold layoffs.

"Then, 21 big firms that were profitable during the pandemic laid off workers anyway. Berkshire Hathaway raked in profits of $56 billion during the first six months of the pandemic while one of its subsidiary companies laid off more than 13,000 workers. Salesforce, Cisco Systems and PayPal cut staff even after their chief executives vowed not to do so.... Walmart, whose CEO spent the past year championing the idea that businesses 'should not just serve shareholders,' nonetheless distributed more than $10 billion to its investors during the pandemic while laying off 1,200 corporate office employees....

"The Post contacted all 27 large firms that held layoffs this year. Many said the cuts were not related to the pandemic, but instead a necessary part of broader 'restructuring' plans, where companies shift spending from declining lines of business to growing ones.... Several emphasized that they hired more people this year than they let go.... Others pointed to the work they have done to help ease the pain in their communities, such as expanding health and family benefits to employees and distributing personal protective equipment to front-line workers. Cisco gave $53 million in cash and PPE to vulnerable populations and PayPal pledged $530 million in investments in minority-owned small businesses....

"The majority of the largest American corporations have prospered in the coronavirus economy. Millions of consumers spent more time and money online during government-mandated lockdowns, watching Netflix, viewing ads on Google and Facebook pages, filling Amazon shopping carts and turning the video game business into a bonanza for Nvidia, Microsoft and others. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)... 

"Shoppers began splurging on cleaning supplies, hobbies, home cooking and home improvements, driving record growth at big-box stores including Home Depot and Walmart. Even in the hardest-hit sectors, such as restaurants, travel and hospitality, the biggest companies were largely insulated from the worst of the virus’s reckoning. While independent restaurants struggled to survive, McDonald’s ramped up its takeout and drive-through operations, rolling out new apps and technology catering to on-the-go orders.... In many industries, the giants devoured market share ceded by small businesses, who lacked the resources to keep stores open during unpredictable swings in customer demand,

"While the 50 largest companies averaged 2 percent revenue growth over the first nine months of 2020, small business revenue shrank 12 percent over the same period, according to data collected by software provider Womply from thousands of small firms."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/business/50-biggest-companies-coronavirus-layoffs/

Walmart thanks governors for economic leadership (satire)

Walmart Thanks Government For Completely Obliterating Their Small Business Competition | Babylon Bee:

November 23, 2020 - "In an open letter addressed to state officials, Walmart leadership expressed gratefulness to the government for inflating their sales and stock price while completely pulverizing their small business competition. 

"'Yeah, we know 2020 has been tough for the little people,' said one board member while shoveling piles of cash into his vault. 'But it's been super great for us! No longer do we have to worry about the baker down the street or the family-owned hardware store next door taking away some of our business. The government just blew them up! We didn't even ask them to! Can you believe it? What luck!'

"According to reports, Americans are really looking forward to giving all their business solely to giant mega-corporations like Walmart, Amazon, and McDonald's until all local culture has disappeared.

"'This is my dream come true!' said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. 'Within 10 years, everyone will be wearing the same identical futuristic grey jumpsuit and eating Amazon-issued food cubes, just like in the movies! That will be so cool.'

"Sources indicate most powerful corporations are advocating at least one more year of lockdowns to make sure small business competition stays dead. 'We have to make sure those uppity business owners never threaten us again,' said Bezos while sitting in a massive chair and stroking a white cat."

Read more: https://babylonbee.com/news/walmart-thanks-government-for-completely-obliterating-their-small-business-competition

The social responsibility of business

 How Liberals Opened the Door to Libertarian Economics | New York Times Magazine - Kurt Andersen:

September 13, 2020 - "On September 13th, 1970, the New York Times Magazine published an essay by Milton Friedman entitled “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits,” which turned out to be one of the most influential economic arguments of the century. To mark its 50th anniversary, DealBook and the Times Magazine assembled experts including chief executives, Nobel Laureate economists and top think-tank leaders to debate and dissect the legacy of Friedman’s ideas."
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/business/dealbook/milton-friedman-free-markets.html

A Friedman doctrine - The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits | New York Times Magazine - Milton Friedman: 

September 13, 1970 - "The discussions of the 'social responsibilities of business' are notable for their analytical looseness and lack of rigor. What does it mean to say that 'business' has responsibilities? Only people can have responsibilities. A corporation is an artificial person and in this sense may have artificial responsibilities, but 'business' as a whole cannot be said to have responsibilities, even in this vague sense. The first step toward clarity in examining the doctrine of the social responsibility of business is to ask precisely what it implies for whom.

"Presumably, the individuals who are to be responsible are businessmen, which means individual proprietors or corporate executives. Most of the discussion of social responsibility is directed at corporations, so in what follows I shall mostly neglect the individual proprietor and speak of corporate executives.

"In a free‐enterprise, private‐property system, a corporate executive is an employe of the owners of the business. He has direct responsibility to his employers. That responsibility is to conduct the business in accordance with their desires, which generally will be to make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom. Of course, in some cases his employers may have a different objective. A group of persons might establish a corporation for an eleemosynary purpose — for example, a hospital or school. The manager of such a corporation will not have money profit as his objective but the rendering of certain services. In either case, the key point is that ... the manager is the agent of the individuals who own the corporation or establish the eleemosynary institution, and his primary responsibility is to them....

"What does it mean to say that the corporate executive has a 'social responsibility' in his capacity as businessman? If this statement is not pure rhetoric, it must mean that he is to act in some way that is not in the interest of his employers. For example, that he is to refrain from increasing the price of the product in order to contribute to the social objective of preventing inflation.... Or that he is to make expenditures on reducing pollution beyond the amount that is in the best interests of the corporation or that is required by law.... Or that, at the expense of corporate profits, he is to hire 'hard core' unemployed ... to contribute to the social objective of reducing poverty. 

"In each of these cases, the corporate executive would be spending someone else's money for a general social interest. Insofar as his actions in accord with his 'social responsibility reduce returns to stock holders, he is spending their money. Insofar as his actions raise the price to customers, he is spending the customers’ money. Insofar as his actions lower the wages of some employes, he is spending their money....

"[I]t may well be in the long‐run interest of a corporation that is a major employer in a small community to devote resources to providing amenities to that community or to improving its government. That may make it easier to attract desirable employees, it may reduce the wage bill or ... have other worthwhile effects. Or it may be that, given the laws about the deductibility of corporate charitable contributions, the stockholders can contribute more to charities they favor by having the corporation make the gift than by doing it themselves, since they can in that way contribute an amount that would otherwise have been paid as corporate taxes. In each of these — and many similar — cases, there is a strong temptation to rationalize these actions as an exercise of 'social responsibility.' In the present climate of opinion ... this is one way for a corporation to generate goodwill as a by‐product of expenditures that are entirely justified in its own self‐interest....

"[But] blameworthy or not, the use of the cloak of social responsibility, and the nonsense spoken in its name by influential and prestigious businessmen, does clearly harm the foundations of a free society. I have been impressed time and again by the schizophrenic character of many businessmen. They are capable of being extremely far‐sighted and clear‐headed in matters that are internal to their businesses. They are incredibly short sighted and muddle‐headed in matters that are outside their businesses but affect the possible survival of business in general.... This short sightedness is ... exemplified in speeches by businessmen on social responsibility. This may gain them kudos in the short run. But it helps to strengthen the already too prevalent view that the pursuit of profits is wicked and immoral and must be curbed and controlled by external forces. Once this view is adopted, the external forces that curb the market will not be the social consciences, however highly developed, of the pontificating executives; it will be the iron fist of Government bureaucrats. Here, as with price and wage controls, business men seem to me to reveal a suicidal impulse.

"The political principle that under lies the market mechanism is unanimity. In an ideal free market resting on private property, no individual can coerce any other, all cooperation is voluntary, all parties to such cooperation benefit or they need not participate. There are no 'social' values, no 'social' responsibilities in any sense other than the shared values and responsibilities of individuals. Society is a collection of individuals and of the various groups they voluntarily form.

"The political principle that underlies the political mechanism is conformity. The individual must serve more general social interest — whether that be determined by church or a dictator or a majority. The individual may have a vote and a say in what is to be done, but if he is overruled, he must conform. It is appropriate for some to require others to contribute to a general social purpose whether they wish to or not.

"Unfortunately, unanimity is not always feasible. There are some respects in which conformity appears unavoidable, so I do not see how one can avoid the use of the political mechanism altogether. But the doctrine of 'social responsibility' taken seriously would extend the scope of the political mechanism to every human activity. It does not differ in philosophy from the most explicitly collectivist doctrine. It differs only by professing to believe that collectivist ends can be attained without collectivist means. That is why, in my book Capitalism and Freedom, I have called it a 'fundamentally subversive doctrine' in a free society, and have said that in such a society, 'there is one and only one social responsibility of business — to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception [or] fraud.'”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctrine-the-social-responsibility-of-business-is-to.html

New York City is dead

NYC is Dead Forever... Here's Why |  JamesAltucher.com - James Altucher:

 August 14, 2020 - "NYC has never been locked down for five months. Not in any pandemic, war, financial crisis, never. In the middle of the polio epidemic, when little kids (including my mother) were becoming paralyzed or dying (my mother ended up with a bad leg), NYC didn’t go through this.... 

"In early March, many people (not me), left NYC when they felt it would provide safety from the virus and they no longer needed to go to work and all the restaurants were closed. People figured, 'I’ll get out for a month or two and then come back.' They are all still gone. And then in June, during rioting and looting, a second wave of NYCers (this time including me) left.... I was a little nervous when I saw videos of rioters after curfew trying to break into my building.... Now a third wave of people is leaving....

"Businesses are remote and they aren’t returning to the office. And it’s a death spiral — the longer offices remain empty, the longer they will remain empty.... 

"Broadway is closed until at least the spring. The Lincoln Center is closed. All the museums are closed. Forget about the tens of thousands of jobs lost in these cultural centers. Forget even about the millions of dollars of tourist-generated revenues lost by the closing of these centers. There are thousands of performers, producers, artists, and the entire ecosystem of art, theater, production, curation, that surrounds these cultural centers. People who have worked all of their lives for the right to be able to perform even once on Broadway, whose lives and careers have been put on hold.... 

"Around late May, I took walks and saw that many places were boarded up. OK, I thought, because the protesting was leading to looting and the restaurants were protecting themselves. They’ll be OK. Looking closer, I’d see the signs. For Lease. For Rent.... Yelp estimates that 60% of restaurants around the United States have closed. My guess is more than 60% will be closed in New York City.... If building owners and landlords lose their prime tenants (the store fronts on the bottom floor, the offices on the middle floors, the well-to-do on the top floors, etc.) then they go out of business.... 

"There are almost 600,000 college students spread out through NYC.... I don’t know of any college fully coming back right away.... Let’s say just 100,000 of those 600,000 don’t return to school and decide not to rent an apartment in New York City.... That’s a lot of landlords who will not be able to pay their own bills..... So now it ripples back to the landlords, to the support staff, to the banks, to the professors, etc.... 

"Everyone has spent the past five months adapting to a new lifestyle. Nobody wants to fly across the country for a two-hour meeting when you can do it just as well on Zoom. I can go see 'live comedy' on Zoom. I can take classes from the best teachers in the world for almost free online.... You can live in your hometown in the middle of wherever. And you can be just as productive, make the same salary, have higher quality of life with a cheaper cost to live.... 

"It will be cheaper for businesses to function more remotely and bandwidth is only getting faster.  Wait for events and conferences and even meetings and maybe even office spaces to start happening in virtual realities once everyone is spread out from midtown Manhattan to all over the country. The quality of restaurants will start to go up in all the second- and then third-tier cities as talent and skill flow to the places that can quickly make use of them. Ditto for cultural events. And then people will ask, 'Wait a second, I was paying over 16% in state and city taxes and these other states and cities have little to no taxes? And I don’t have to deal with all the other headaches of NYC?'.... What reason will people have to go back to NYC? 

"I love my life in NYC. I have friends all over NY.... I could go a few minutes by Uber and meet with anyone or go play PingPong or go to a movie.... I could go out at night to my favorite restaurants and then see my favorite performers perform. I could go to the park and play chess, see friends. I could take advantage of all this wonderful city has to offer. No more."

Read more: https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/nyc-is-dead-forever-heres-why/