What have you bought lately? Not much, I bet. Nonessentials seem beside the point right now, and the things we actually need are hard to find. I donned my mask and schlepped to three different stores to hunt down flour on Tuesday (success, finally, at a nearby bodega), but yeast? Forget about it. A record plunge in retail sales for March shows the bigger story. Here's the latest business news, and what to know for the week ahead.
Most Americans aren't exactly in a shopping mood these days, and as expected, the Commerce Department reported abysmal retail sales for March . Consumer spending online, in brick-and-mortar stores, and at bars and restaurants fell 8.7 percent from February, by far the biggest and fastest drop in the nearly three decades that sales data has been recorded.
Quite a lot has been going on:
How Ruth's Chris Got an Extra Helping of Small Business Aid Money - WSJ
Tiburon starts business task force to ease virus impact
Downtown Tiburon stands mostly dormant on April 14, 2020, as the coronavirus restrictions continued. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
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Pedestrians use an alley from Main Street to the waterfront in downtown Tiburon on April 14, 2020. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
A message for customers hangs in a window at the Luna Blu restaurant on Main Street in Tiburon on April 14, 2020. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
Trump Opens Outer Space for Business - WSJ
President Trump acted two weeks ago to bring about the kind of 21st century that we expected in the 20th. If all goes well, it will open the way for mankind to become a true "multiplanet species," as Elon Musk puts it.
An April 6 executive order, "Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources," is meant to spur a new industry: the extraction and processing of resources from the moon and asteroids to facilitate settlement of the solar system. With this order, Mr. Trump ended an era of legal uncertainty in outer space and laid the foundation for international cooperation on American terms.
While you're here, how about this:
Bush Center CEO Ken Hersh has weathered tough business times before.
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Small businesses aren't ready to reopen.
A s the Trump administration and states put together their plans for "reopening" the economy, hundreds of thousands of small businesses are eagerly anticipating getting permission to open their doors once again and get back to business. But are they really ready to get back to business? Probably not.
The world has changed and running a small business won't be the same in May as it was in February. Widespread testing is still not available. A consensus on coronavirus treatment has not been achieved. A vaccine is at least a year away. Politicians are desperate to get the economy moving again and in doing so will be risking a reignition of the virus.
Mnuchin, Democrats Say They Are Close on Small-Business Funding Agreement - WSJ
WASHINGTON—Democratic leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday they were close to striking a deal to replenish a popular program to help small businesses weather the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. lawmakers close to deal on new coronavirus funding for small business: Officials - QNS.com
"I think we're very close to a deal today and I'm hopeful we can get that done," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in an interview with CNN.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also said he hoped an agreement with Republicans could be sealed as early as Sunday evening. Schumer cautioned, however, that both sides had a few more issues to deal with.
Over two frantic weeks, the U.S. government pledged $350 billion to Main Street businesses across America desperate for cash after coronavirus lockdowns.
Happening on Twitter
We cannot let minority-owned small businesses fall through the cracks of the Paycheck Protection Program. I joined… https://t.co/eis991rIKo KamalaHarris (from California) Sat Apr 18 17:36:00 +0000 2020
How dare you say you're for small business when you're blocking legislation to replenish the Paycheck Protection Pr… https://t.co/AkMqNe3NUz marcthiessen (from Washington, DC) Sat Apr 18 21:45:33 +0000 2020
NEW- CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE: It seems like CARES 2 is likely to get done this week. Although much could change or der… https://t.co/UHkvSGqPxw ASlavitt (from Edina, MN and Washington, DC) Sun Apr 19 16:57:01 +0000 2020
Ilhan Omar may pay husband's firm $1M by year's end Corrupt former sister wife is keeping her campaign donations b… https://t.co/c35m6C6B1y johncardillo (from Florida ) Sat Apr 18 12:37:06 +0000 2020
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