Week of April 6th, 2020

It’s “Economics on Tap,” our Friday happy hour edition of “Make Me Smart.”

Plus, America’s truck driver shortage and the psychology of app-based tipping. 

Many farmers are facing reduced demand for their products as well as falling prices.

Therapists and psychiatrists are just starting to submit their March bills.

Many DMVs and driver-training schools are closed, making it impossible for new drivers to get behind the wheel.

Gig platforms have long been ambivalent about encouraging tips that many workers depend on.

The company changed policies on refunds and payouts at the end of March, to the chagrin of buyers and sellers on the secondary ticket marketplace.

Innovation from the likes of Amazon and WeWork to make the COVID-19 workplace function. Wholesale food businesses turn to door-to-door delivery. Where does the Federal Reserve find $2.3 trillion?

Turns out it’s much more akin to printing money than it is to borrowing.

Demand for oil is falling so quickly that even a reduction in supply will take some time to affect markets.

“We’re pretty much experiencing Christmastime at Easter,” one manufacturer said.

With some supermarket shelves empty, food providers turn to door-to-door delivery.

OPEC and OPEC-adjacent Russia have reached a deal to cut oil production by 10 million barrels a day. State workers process the millions of unemployment claims. Have you done a puzzle lately? You’re not alone.

Eurozone finance ministers agree on protections worth $590 billion for businesses and workers. Russia tells OPEC it will cut oil production. Wholesale food businesses rush to sell directly to consumers.

Early days programmers, you know what we’re talking about.

The incredible surge in claims is putting a huge amount of pressure on the public service workers processing them.

Today: Grocery shopping and the grocery shopping supply chain.

How do I keep from fighting with my partner about money? What do I say to a friend who’s just lost a job? This week we get a little therapy.

A Maine-based business has ramped up Easter production, keeping its employees at work and donating unsold chocolate to local nonprofits.

Plus: how America’s food banks are coping with the crisis and how credit markets might indicate recession.

Nearly one out of 10 people who had a job to go to before the pandemic don’t have one now.

As millions lose their jobs or suffer furloughs, the demand at food banks is surging.

The risks are concentrated in companies that already have a lot of debt in industries that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

In the city of 11 million, it is far from business as usual.

More than 6.6 million Americans have filed for unemployment claims in the past week, and they’re spreading into new industries. The Fed will make $2.3 trillion more available to backstop the economy. President of the Boston Fed surveys the economy.

The actual number of Americans out of work or nearly so is almost certainly higher.

Most federal student loans qualify for a temporary suspension during the coronavirus pandemic, but not all.

This is the second largest number on record.

The loans, to support American households, businesses and local governments, is part of the Main Street Lending Program authorized by the economic relief law.

Warnings that the pandemic could push half a billion people into poverty. Nobel laureate Esther Duflo offers advice for aiding the poor. We’re in for another awful report on layoffs in the U.S. today.

Italy’s Prime Minister says European countries must agree over debt sharing. Sub-Saharan African nations face their first recession in 25 years. Brazil’s top companies agree on no job cuts for 60 days.

“Until we have a vaccine and people are completely comfortable, the duration and severity of this downturn are hard to determine,” Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said.

If a segment of the population stops buying things, it could lead to a much larger economic crisis, Duflo warned.

Some ingenious tech is on offer. Government officials just need to say the word to get some solutions rolling.

More of your COVID-19 pandemic questions, answered.

“We’re talking about some fundamental issues in terms of how our society is ordered and structured,” one professor says.

Even a smaller decline is likely to have a knock-on effect.

Consumers are seeking comfort and convenience in their foods as they endure lock downs.

Students and the unemployed are asked to help harvest crops that could go to waste.

Homeless people are much more likely to contract COVID-19 — and to die from it — than the general population.

Plus, converting hotels into homeless shelters, when recession turns into depression and our new embrace of processed food.

The coronavirus makes planning and logistics even more difficult for industry coming off trade war with China.

Some rebounding for U.S. markets; less confidence for those in Europe. Honda, Nissan and Tesla on the list of car companies triggering mass furloughs of factory workers. An update on the extra $600 in unemployment benefits.

The auto industry is juggling the need to cut costs while preserving its workforce to ramp up once factories reopen.

Dealerships are ramping up online sales and offering deferred payment plans.

New rules on tax-protected retirement plans, so people can take their money out without penalty and put it back when cash flow returns. TJX the latest retailer to trigger mass furloughs. Slow ramp-ups for Chinese cities after lockdowns.

People affected by the crisis can access of up to $100,000 of their retirement savings without the usual 10% penalty.

Buses, trains and domestic flights have resumed from the Chinese city at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic. Does the British government face a leadership vacuum? Spain considers a universal basic income.

VC firms are figuring out how to help their companies weather the coronavirus crisis.

The treasury secretary is asking for another $250 billion to help small businesses.

It’s mostly up to companies to decide who gets hazard pay, and for how long.

“We’re doing everything we can to continue the critical activities that we need to do,with a lot of added precautions for the sake of our employees,” said Patrick Smith of Loftus Ranches in Washington.

Gig workers and self-employed now qualify, but accessing payments is still a challenge.

Mary Daly talks about the pandemic, the economy and what it might take to emerge from the crisis.

Plus, we explain deflation, the new distressed property market and why unemployment numbers are even higher than the data suggests.

Banks are starting to process applications for loans from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, but businesses aren’t sure when they’ll see the checks.

“Now’s the time to innovate and go hunting,” says an investment firm co-founder.

Stocks are up again today, despite new data about the misery of American small businesses. The Fed steps in to help finance small business loans. How commercial fishers are faring. The push for corporations to donate to fight COVID-19.

The Federal Reserve is creating a “lending facility” to keep things running smoothly for small business loans.

Health care businesses face medical risks, while retail and food service companies are seeing plunging sales.

Fishers scramble to find new markets as its traditional markets close.

The calculation is that fewer cars on the road result in fewer accidents, and savings on insurance payouts.

Allstate says it’s proactively giving a 15% shelter-in-place discount to its car insurance customers. The call for the immediate cancellation of the debt of poor countries. The effect of the pandemic on black-owned businesses.

The 19 countries using the euro currency meet to discuss financial aid. After news the British Prime Minister is in intensive care, the pound sterling is now stable. Dog obedience classes go online amid social distancing.

“I can’t die for somebody’s milkshake or somebody’s hamburger.”

Consumer spending plummeted while people stayed home. But Taobao saw livestream sales sessions double on its app.

The word of the day is “monopsony.”

With millions working from home, video chats are on the rise. They can be exhausting.

A new report sheds light on what it will take to end the pandemic and the economic crisis it created.

Plus: consumer spending’s drop-off, what happens when retailers stop paying rent and how social distancing can lead to social media overload.

For Marco Saavedra, his family, and millions like them, there will be no $1,200 coronavirus stimulus check and no small business disaster loan to help get them through the pandemic.

Today’s news is worse — and coming faster — than in the scenarios the central bank tests for.

Guidance is a way for a company to help others assess what its stock is worth, but right now, a lot of companies just don’t know.

Consumer spending accounts for 70% of U.S. GDP. Is that going to change soon?

Stores are closed. Sales have evaporated. A lot of retailers can’t pay their rent.

Americans earning up to $75,000 are about to receive $1,200. Could this be the future?

The Small Business Administration is guaranteeing paycheck protection loans. But applying for one of them hasn’t been so simple.

Signs of COVID-19 cases perhaps peaking. No deal yet from OPEC to cut oil production. Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will produce 1 million face shields a week. New streaming service Quibi launches today.

“Small companies and a lot of us are getting a lesson in, ‘Risk is real,'” one business professor says.

All of Quibi’s content is designed to be watched on phone screens. Will new consumer habits from COVID-19 help or hurt the service?

Demand for milk is down in this shelter-at-home mode. Sink or swim for startups in this COVID-19 economy. How Nashville, which is still recovering from tornadoes in early March, and its musicians are faring right now.

Tokyo and other key cities in Japan prepare for a state of emergency. Singapore unveils another emergency budget. Stocks rally as oil prices suffer a fresh fall. Can India help Trump with “game-changer” COVID-19 drug?

Now that Nashville’s music industry has weathered a literal storm, they’re facing tough times again with a stream of cancellations.

Virtual visits and facilitating chats with loved ones helps.