You Did That

Can't flip from "THE BAD ORANGE MAN AND HIS MINIONS ARE AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT" to "oh we'll trust them to do the right thing this time" over and over.

I should mention here that the blame for this lies fully at the feet of Congress. They built this money cannon, and they deferred to Treasury and the Fed on virtually all of the terms. If they wanted to foreground employee retention they could have said so. If they didn’t like it they could have voted against the bill. It passed 96-0, including the support of Sen. Warren, the questioner today. Congress failed the public on that vote, and too few of them will admit it. It’s notable and good that Joe Biden picked up on Warren’s questioning, demanding “more conditions” to “ensure relief goes to… workers, not their CEOs.” But expecting Steve Mnuchin to make that happened is a fool’s errand.

Mnuchin, in fact, pointed out that the airline bailout has a job retention component, which is true, because Congress wrote that directly into the bill. If you want a policy outcome, put it in writing. If not, don’t expect regulators to fight your battles for you. Yes, Steve Mnuchin is “boosting Wall Street buddies and leaving the rest of Americans behind,” as Warren said. Yes, Treasury and the Fed will prioritize Wall Street, and “any economic recovery will be slowed” as a result, as Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) said in the hearing.