tyb's
Abe's signature virus-relief cash program faces barrage of criticism
Japan's blanket cash handouts to help individuals weather the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak have drawn a barrage of criticism from the public, with the ruling party accused of sending mixed messages and some of those in urgent need of the money expressing frustration at the application process.
The government launched the 100,000 yen ($940) universal handout scheme after an earlier proposal by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party targeting those most in need was dropped following criticism that it excluded too many. But the nearly 13 trillion yen relief package finally agreed on is still raising ire.
Originally, the ruling party planned to deliver 300,000 yen to households whose income had fallen sharply as part of an emergency policy package approved by the Cabinet on April 7.
Abe made a sudden policy shift to replace it with the across-the-board 100,000 yen cash handouts the following week, yielding to pressure from Komeito, the LDP's junior coalition partner, amid a storm of public criticism over the initial plan's strict eligibility requirements. But the handout program ran into controversy even before distribution of the money began. Finance Minister Taro Aso, who initially opposed the universal cash payment, appeared to undermine Abe's claim that making payments to all citizens and legal residents would promote "the nation's sense of unity."
A day after Abe endorsed the program, Aso told a news conference that the money would only be given to those who "raise their hands" and that he expects some wealthy individuals to choose not to receive it, provoking a public backlash.
On the application form which recipients need to file with their local government, a checkbox is provided for people who wish to decline the cash handouts. But this option of turning down the benefit caused controversy after the LDP decided its parliamentary members would not receive the money. While the move would potentially save the government about 40 million yen if all of the nearly 400 LDP members from both houses of parliament decline the handouts, Takanori Fujita, a director at nonprofit group Hotplus which supports people living in poverty, accused LDP lawmakers of being "irresponsible."
The cash handouts would be "meaningless" unless every person received and used the money, Fujita, who is also an associate professor at Seigakuin University, argued.
Opposition lawmakers have vowed to receive the money and make donations. Among them, Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, has offered to donate his share to the medical field. He said in a recent Twitter post that Cabinet ministers and lawmakers who plan to decline the benefit should not openly say so. While most local governments are sending out application forms by mail by the end of May, online applications can also be made through the "My Number" personal identification system.
But this has become yet another source of frustration for people wanting to get the relief as soon as possible.
The numbering system introduced in 2015 issues a 12-digit number to each citizen and foreign resident, though there is no legal requirement to receive the so-called Individual Number Card, designed to increase public convenience when receiving administrative services.
As a result, only 16.0 percent of all Japanese citizens were holders of the identification card as of April 1, according to the internal affairs ministry.
Hoping that the cash handouts would arrive more quickly through an online application, some people without the Individual Number Cards rushed to local government offices only to find it typically takes one to two months for the card to be issued.
Even some those with cards have not been able to send in their application for the cash handouts because they could not remember their security code needed for online processing. They too have been flooding local government offices to have a new security code issued, causing queues to get longer.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200516/p2g/00m/0fe/004000c
any japanons want to add anything to this?
seems quite the mess
Fed says around 600 smaller banks tapped PPP facility in its first days
Around 600 banks, most of them small community institutions, tapped the Federal Reserve’s Paycheck Protection Program facility for about $30 billion of loans as of May 6, the U.S. central bank reported on Saturday in its first detailed disclosure under the new program.
The lenders used 3,676 PPP loans they had issued to small businesses as collateral for money from the central bank’s PPP program, clearing room on their own balance sheet for further lending. The Fed said it had collected $2.5 million in interest and fees for the transactions so far.
The $30 billion involved is a fraction of the roughly $530 billion issued through the Paycheck Protection Program. The PPP is one of the core programs set up by the federal government to keep the economy stable during the coronavirus pandemic. It offers loans to small businesses which are forgiven if they are used to pay workers’ wages and some other allowed expenses.
The Fed program was set up to encourage banks to participate, allowing those who choose to do so a way to make the loans to businesses and collect a fee for doing so, then borrow a similar amount from the Fed at a nominal interest rate of 0.35%. Participation so far, however, shows it being used mostly by smaller institutions. Half of the firms used five or fewer loans in transactions with the Fed.
The group of firms also include some non-banks that were allowed by the Fed to participate in order to further encourage small business lending.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-ppp/fed-says-around-600-smaller-banks-tapped-ppp-facility-in-its-first-days-idUSKBN22S0VM