Shuttered By Coronavirus, Bar And Restaurant Workers Push D.C. For A Bailout Too | MSNBC

The shutdown of everyday life in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is alsocrippling many small businesses and restaurants. Marcus Samuelsson, head chef and owner of Harlem's Red Rooster, speaks out on the coronavirus's impact on local businesses and calls for Congress to fund this industry in addition to the planned airline bailout. Samuelsson tells MSNBC anchor Ari Melber that “cooks, the dishwashers, the servers” will all need support in a crisis that may have a wider impact on the industry than 9/11. Aired on 03/17/2020.
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Shuttered By Coronavirus, Bar And Restaurant Workers Push D.C. For A Bailout Too | MSNBC

66 comments

    1. Gabriel White : Oh, crap, you’re right. I hadn’t even thought of that, yet. I’ve been focused on how this is affecting/could affect the living in terms of illness and food and education, but that would definitely be another concern. Thank you for bringing this up.

    1. @EST Bernie probably paid more taxes on his book sales , than 100s of working people, if you dont get your hands dirty, you’re not really working

    2. @Troy Stocker Watch “Free to Choose” by Milton Friedman. It’s the core of Free Market Economics pioneered under Ronald Reagan. The poor pay more taxes than anyone because everything they buy is taxed, rent has more taxes built into the cost structure than property taxes. There are no write-offs and there are greater taxes on their labor and transportation. Taxes are collected as a percentage. And even if you only counted people with full time jobs, the amount of their wages that goes to taxes averages 34-38% depending on where you live, where as the top 5% of earners pay 22-26%.

    3. @Troy Stocker The rich don’t pay more taxes even Trump admitted he pays ZERO in taxes because that “makes him smart”

  1. I actually am a waitress in The Sole Provider in my household. I was laid off last week in Michigan, and I am already broke. I’m one of those paycheck to paycheck Americans raising two small children. I do not receive any assistance, and I’m not on the books at work. Most of us aren’t for one reason or another. This is hit me hard!! Already have had to hit the in-laws up for small loan, luckily my income tax refund should be coming this week. already have had to hit the inlaws up for a small loan, and luckily my income tax refund should be coming this week. Not only do I waitress but I also clean houses on the side business. And pretty much everybody’s cleaning their own house right now too. So how will I get a bailout, people like me and my coworkers??

    1. I’ve been thinking “I’m so glad this isn’t happening when I was waitressing because I’d never be able to get my tip money reimbursed from Unemployment Insurance.” And, “I’m so glad my kids are grown because having them at home for weeks without going out would be so hard.” You, Starr Davis, are dealing with both of these scenarios and I feel really badly for you. Best of luck.

    2. Our government bails out who’s important to them and average everyday workers are not important to them. They will bail out banks and big corporations so that when this is over they can repossess our houses, shut off our utilities, and get all the bail out money doubled and never have to pay anything back

    3. @Beth Griesauer its all state by state now. My friend is Kentucky gets lunch delivered for her kids. Here in Michigan, cant find anyone that knows about it here. Its a dumpster 🔥!

  2. Believe it only after you see it in your pocket! This is an economic stimulus package where Trump will decide who deserves to get it and will cherry pick his buddies, cronies and friends. The rest of us are SOL.

    1. Whoever gets the $1000 will have to pay taxes on it next year….trust me. This is more like a loan.

  3. When Trump called this a hoax and other Republicans that were making fun of this hoax, where is the apology. Where is the apology from the President for not listening to the experts?

    1. Cassidy Smith
      What’s worse, is that when Trump was calling it a hoax, he had more information than we did, so he knew it wasn’t.
      But he was more concerned about the stock market and his chances of being re-elected, and I suspect he was also concerned about empty rooms at his hotels and resorts than human lives. It’s not by chance that he was hosting foreign officials at his resort while the virus was spreading.
      He knew the seriousness of the matter and that people were dying.
      When Obama was president, no one had to convince Trump that the Ebola virus was real, since he was highly critical of Obama’s handling of it, even though Obama handled it so much better than he’s “handling” this current crisis.
      It was so easy for Trump to criticize Obama, but now that he’s in that office, all he does is whine/complain and blame Obama for his own incompetence.
      His hatred and envy of Obama may have cost lives.

    2. @BudaVision 007 Trump said it’s a hoax and warm weather will cure it Trump dismantled pandemic response unit trumps a lying swine and he cares more for money than the health of America. Only 20 k have been tested yet in America and it going to blow up big time
      Imperative to vote Herr Doctor Quack Trump out on nov 3rd.

  4. Why should tax payer money being used for QE to help big Wall Street firms and big corporations? They should be left to fend for themselves and use this money for all equally

  5. I laid off all my staff at my piano bar. We’ve been open for 40 years. We need answers and relief as soon as possible

    1. no less than Sept, america will have the most casualties…nobody is listening and still grouping everywhere

    2. The quarantine CANT last that long. You would need a bailout each month. Not going to happen. People will be forced to open up the businesses. The choice will be a collapsed economy and coronavirus or a sputtering economy and coronavirus.

  6. Yep…. save the banks again not regular people!
    Oh… i’m sure there’s a Trump’s Hotel’s bailOUT!

  7. I’m a Corporate Exec Chef … tonight i was fired over Corona virus .. I’m just one amongst thousands and thousands laid off or fired since yesterday morning… That’s just the beginning… I have enough savings to make my family and I live for the next 6 weeks… I considered myself lucky… most of this profession doesn’t have 400 $ on their bank account..
    After these 6 weeks : i don’t know what’s gonna happen…

    1. It’s hard to fell sorry for someone who has $400,000. What about the people who make minimal wage they can’t save up 6 weeks of cushion. I really don’t feel sorry for someone in your position who has no cushion. They should Use their 401 the money should go to the poor. Who barely survive anyway.

    2. Van Gogh wait a minute … so by your logic those whom have worked hard and saved money as a result, should lose their savings to survive … While those who spend everything they make should get relief? 401ks just took a massive hit and you can’t just “take money out” … Just trying to understand what you’re saying here?

    3. Grey Goose 4×4 many people who worked at minimal wage couldn’t do your job or anything near it thus they have very little money to survive on. Have you ever figured out how much money $10 an hr gives you per week . The people in the middle and the top should have savings I agree. Americans don’t think anything like this will really happen. But there are still single parents, low wage earners, people who have true disabilities that really struggle to make it day by day and savings are not realistic.

    4. Grey Goose 4×4 and I went back and read your question again. I taught for thirty years in a very economically diverse school district. You have the privilege of eating out, going on vacation, wearing good clothes because you are smart enough to make a good living. Many people are not smart enough to make a good living or some other part of their life prevents it. (Single parents) they don’t have for next week’s food or rent. Do I think there are people who abuse this absolutely and I’d love to see someone solve that problem. But we are still a country who helps the innocent.

  8. The airline industry doesn’t need relief. They have a very nice cushion to sit on, and besides there’s travel bans.
    Help the workers, not the CEOs.

    1. Perhaps the airlines would’ve had such cushions if their boards had not prioritized shareholder dividends above all else. That’s starting to change, but not fast enough. Giving credit where credit is due, Delta disbursed $1.6B in employee profit-sharing just last month.

    2. They can sell stocks if they need money. If they go broke, the airplanes they own do not magically disappear. Leave it to investors to create new airlines when this is over, no reason to spent a cent on bail outs.

    3. Christian Winter if airlines cannot operate, a large portion of businesses relying on air travel will also be impacted. It’s not as cut and dry as you think.

  9. This shutdown has exposed the fraud of a “great trump economy”. And the irony that he now has to give them relief checks to survive even a Single month of no work pay.

    1. no economy in the world can survive when everything comes to a screeching halt… the economy will recover… this will actually end up benefiting him because the economy will start recovering in July right through the elections.

    2. @feeding frenzy 1 How do you know? and do you have a link to prove this will start getting better in July

  10. This is much worse than 9/11, folks still shopped and visited restaurants after 9/11. Our entire economy just took a kick in the nuts.

    1. When 9/11 happend, stock market dropped 7%, the last week stock market dropped 30%, Dow Jones fell from 30 000 to 20 000.

      S&P 500 fell from 3300 to 2300. This is the beginning, 16 days ago there were 60 cases, today there are 6000 corona virus cases, when nothing changes in 14 days there will be 60 000 cases. Everything will go downhill.

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