BALTIMORE —
Joe Biden will inherit a mangled U.S. economy — one that never fully healed from the coronavirus and could suffer again as new infections are climbing.
The once robust recovery has shown signs of gasping after federal aid lapsed. Ten million remain jobless and more layoffs are becoming permanent. The Federal Reserve says factory output dropped.
Parents cannot return to work as childcare centres have shuttered. Restaurants and local retailers are draining whatever cash reserves are left–with many owners wondering if the next week might be their last. One in six restaurants was already closed in September, according to an industry survey.
Biden will also be facing an American public with decidedly different views about their own financial well-being, with higher income families weathering the pandemic reasonably well and those earning far less in increasing economic peril.
It will in some ways be a reprise of when Biden became vice-president at the depths of the financial crisis in 2008-09, with possibly fewer tools and less political leverage to press an agenda to both corral the virus and stoke economic growth.
He is expected to somehow inject enough aid to sustain workers, businesses and state and local governments, without necessarily having enough congressional partners who share his concerns. All of this could be the difference between a successful presidency and a floundering one.
It’s unclear whether his victory was enough to tip the Senate to the Democrats — with two Senate seat runoffs in Georgia — and provide a clearer pathway for the money. This means that any efforts to secure another round of aid may depend on Republicans who were already voicing concerns about a rising budget deficit before the election.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell of Kentucky previously said a measure should be passed before year-end, but it’s unknown in the aftermath of the election what a compromise would look like or whether U.S. President Donald Trump would back it. The longer that aid gets delayed, the greater the threat for the economy.
“The risk is that the recovery goes into reverse,” said Gregory Daco, an economist for the consultancy Oxford Economics.
AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 110,000 voters, found that the recession’s harm has mostly struck lower-income households, though most people were shielded in large part by initial rounds of aid that nearly totalled US$3 trillion.
Twenty-nine per cent of voters in households earning less than $50,000 annually said they’re falling behind financially. Their misfortune is a sharp contrast to what’s happening for those with incomes above $100,000. Not only are higher-earners less likely to be struggling, but 26% said their finances are improving.
Biden received more support than Trump from households earning less than $50,000. Voters in higher income households were more closely split between the two candidates.
Among Biden voters, 89% said it was more important to contain the pandemic than limit any ongoing damage to the economy. This is likely because they see no trade-off: the economy will never safely recover so long as the threat of the coronavirus exists.
“To get the economy under control, you need to get the virus under control,” said Amanda Fischer, policy director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a liberal think-tank . “It’s the K-shaped recovery–we see a divide between the wealthiest and everyone else.”
The economy was objectively hurting as ballots were cast, even if it has improved since April. The unemployment rate was 6.9%, compared to 4.7% when Trump took office. Retail sales slipped 0.8% since the start of 2020, with a collapse at restaurants, clothiers and furniture stores.
“The labour market still has a long way to go to recover to where it was before the pandemic,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist at the job posting firm Indeed. “Employment is down in almost all industries, dramatically down in industries that depend on travel and large gatherings.”
The nation’s top public health officials are warning that the virus is likely escalating — record numbers of cases have been reported this week — and are beseeching Americans to wear masks, maintain social distance, and avoid large groups, especially indoors. The worsening disease could force more businesses to close.
Still, 43% of voters believed the economy was excellent or good. This includes about three-quarters of voters backing Trump, who campaigned on the idea that the economy was booming and would continue to do if he remained president. With Biden in the White House, these once-optimistic voters may suddenly switch and say the economy is troubled.
“That’s what we saw in 2016 — a reversal by party in economic confidence,” Kolko said. “It was dramatic and very quick after the election. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the same.”
Alec Phillips, an economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a note Wednesday that control of the Senate will determine how much additional aid gets approved. He anticipates Republican control means a stimulus package under $1 trillion, but a Senate Democratic majority with Biden in the White House would push that up to $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a Thursday news conference that the pace of any recovery will depend on approving more aid, though he noted that the path of the economy will likely mirror the path of the disease.
“We’ll have a stronger recovery if we can just get at least some more fiscal support,” Powell said.
AP VoteCast indicates that there is little to no reservoir of bipartisanship for crafting policies to help the country. The vast majority of Trump voters, 85%, believe that corruption would be a “major problem” in a Biden presidency. Likewise, 92% of Biden voters say corruption would be a “major problem” if Trump secured a second term.
There is also a philosophical divide: Most Biden voters believe the government should do more to solve the nation’s problems, while most Trump voters say the government is already doing too much.
Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, estimates that the Democrats and Republicans have about $500 billion worth of shared priorities for additional aid. That might leave House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with little choice but to accept that sum, if Republicans preserve their Senate majority.
“Republicans have little reason to budge,” he said. “So the question is whether Democrats will accept a $500 billion package and come back later for more, or continue the stalemate.”
Part of the challenge is not just the size of any aid package, but whether it helps state and local governments that are starving for tax revenue and whether it can be passed quickly enough to help the families most in need. Trump has already colored that debate by saying that Democrats want to bailout poorly managed states, a talking point echoed by some Republicans.
The problem for Biden is that the group he lifted up during the election — the poor and the working class — are the ones who will bear the most pain from any gridlock.
“The U.S. economy is operating at around 80% of total capacity to produce and consume,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax advisory and consultant.
“The U.S. can afford to wait on additional fiscal aid,” he said, but “the poor and working class are going to pay a terrible price.”
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AP polling reporter Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report from Washington.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 250 points in late-morning trading, led by strength in the base metal and technology sectors, while U.S. stock markets also charged higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 254.62 points at 23,847.22.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 432.77 points at 41,935.87. The S&P 500 index was up 96.38 points at 5,714.64, while the Nasdaq composite was up 486.12 points at 18,059.42.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.68 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was up 89 cents at US$70.77 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down a penny at US2.27 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$9.40 at US$2,608.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.33 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Supervised injection sites are saving the lives of drug users everyday, but the same support is not being offered to people who inhale illicit drugs, the head of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS says.
Dr. Julio Montaner said the construction of Vancouver’s first indoor supervised site for people who inhale drugs comes as the percentage of people who die from smoking drugs continues to climb.
The location in the Downtown Eastside at the Hope to Health Research and Innovation Centre was unveiled Wednesday after construction was complete, and Montaner said people could start using the specialized rooms in a matter of weeks after final approvals from the city and federal government.
“If we don’t create mechanisms for these individuals to be able to use safely and engage with the medical system, and generate points of entry into the medical system, we will never be able to solve the problem,” he said.
“Now, I’m not here to tell you that we will fix it tomorrow, but denying it or ignoring it, or throw it under the bus, or under the carpet is no way to fix it, so we need to take proactive action.”
Nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths in British Columbia in 2023 came after smoking illicit drugs, yet only 40 per cent of supervised consumption sites in the province offer a safe place to smoke, often outdoors, in a tent.
The centre has been running a supervised injection site for years which sees more than a thousand people monthly and last month resuscitated five people who were overdosing.
The new facilities offer indoor, individual, negative-pressure rooms that allow fresh air to circulate and can clear out smoke in 30 to 60 seconds while users are monitored by trained nurses.
Advocates calling for more supervised inhalation sites have previously said the rules for setting up sites are overly complicated at a time when the province is facing an overdose crisis.
More than 15,000 people have died of overdoses since the public health emergency was declared in B.C. in April 2016.
Kate Salters, a senior researcher at the centre, said they worked with mechanical and chemical engineers to make sure the site is up to code and abidies by the highest standard of occupational health and safety.
“This is just another tool in our tool box to make sure that we’re offering life-saving services to those who are using drugs,” she said.
Montaner acknowledged the process to get the site up and running took “an inordinate amount of time,” but said the centre worked hard to follow all regulations.
“We feel that doing this right, with appropriate scientific background, in a medically supervised environment, etc, etc, allows us to derive the data that ultimately will be sufficiently convincing for not just our leaders, but also the leaders across the country and across the world, to embrace the strategies that we are trying to develop.” he said.
Montaner said building the facility was possible thanks to a single $4-million donation from a longtime supporter.
Construction finished with less than a week before the launch of the next provincial election campaign and within a year of the next federal election.
Montaner said he is concerned about “some of the things that have been said publicly by some of the political leaders in the province and in the country.”
“We want to bring awareness to the people that this is a serious undertaking. This is a very massive investment, and we need to protect it for the benefit of people who are unfortunately drug dependent.” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
