SPECIAL EDITION: CORONAVIRUS: Mary Miller on the New Economic Reality and What It Means for Women

much needed inspiration. Today I'm joined by Mary Miller. Mary was the first woman to serve as the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the U. S. Treasury Department. Mary also helped lead our economies recovery from the two thousand and eight financial crisis. Current lea, she's running for mayor of Baltimore, her home of thirty four years. Mary, thanks so much for joining us on all the meteor and talk to you today. We are at this unbelievable moment

um in recent history. We are experiencing an unprecedented health crisis, and now it seems that we are going to be experiencing a pretty significant economic crisis. You have a unique perspective given your role during the two thousand and eight financial crisis. How is this moment different or the same as two thousand eight. This moment is the same as two thousand and eight in that I think we can

expect a pretty deep recession. Hopefully it will be a relatively short recession as we had in two thousand eight oh nine. We don't know yet, but ideally this will be a short hit to the economy that we can recover from later this year. It is also the same in terms of the strong federal government fiscal response, in terms of the size and scale which the federal government

is coming to the rescued here. It is different in that the two thousand and eight financial crisis was more slow moving, with a lot of warning signs coming in two thousand and seven into the first half of two thousand and eight, with the real impact being selves in the third and fourth quarters of two thousand and eight. This time, we've taken this blow very quickly in a matter of weeks, and it's reaching the whole economy with

direct impact the individuals. The banks for part of the problem in two thousand and eight that the banks and the housing finance system. This time, the banks are being asked to be part of the solution, with a lot of the relief aid being driven through the banking system. So those are the ways that I think this is the same. But also this is quite different. So it does seem that, um, this is hitting main street very

quickly for obvious reasons. I think, Um, do you think the stimulus package as designed will be effective and can you sort of give us your perspective on it. Yes, I think the fiscal stimulus package is good in the breath of what it's trying to address. The direct assistance to individuals who have lost their jobs and their income, the assistance to small businesses, the assistance to state and

local governments, and of course the healthcare providers. So I think that it is good in terms of trying to reach the parts of the economy that have been most affected by this. In terms of getting cash into the hands of individuals, what is the goal and how realistic is it to get money into the system quickly. So the fiscal assistance provides a number of things to individuals.

There are direct cash payments of twelve hundred dollars to an individual, five dollars to children, and that money is intended to put some direct uh financial assistance into the hands of people, and at a macro level, it's it's a lot of money. It's not enough to get people through a month long crisis, but it's helpful. The questions turn around the speed with which the dollars will reach people.

If you're connected to the tax filing system and the banking system, you'll get your money faster than if you are not, so there are some equity issues in terms of how quickly these dollars will get into people's talckets. The unemployment insurance extension and increase are very helpful to

people have lost their jobs. There are more weeks that you can collect unemployment insurance benefits and the federal government is putting in additional six hundred dollars a week on top of the normal payments, so that's quite helpful to individuals. There are other pieces like the laying tax filing dates to July that will give people from relief. There's also a systance in asking um the banking system to differ

mortgage loan payments. There are still you know, equity issues and terms of it being challenging for those who work off the grid how they're going to you know, connect with these financial resources. It's also the case that they're available to people who make in the name you know, less than certain thresholds, So hiring some people who may have lost their jobs as well may not be able

to receive these benifits. And let's talk about small businesses, because we know that small business is the backbone of this economy and asking everyone to stay home has resulted in I think a pretty unprecedented slow down in small business. What does the stimulus package do for small businesses? You are correct in that over half of employees in the United States work for small businesses, so this is a

key area for the fiscal stimulus to reach. The flagship products is called the pay Text Protection Program, which is a new lending facility set up through your bank for loans of up to ten million dollars for businesses fewer than five hundred employees. The loans themselves will be guaranteed by the Small Business Administration and importantly provide loan forgiveness if the employer the borrower keeps their employees on the

payroll for at least eight weeks. And it's also using the funds to take some pretty important business expenses like mortgages, utilities, et cetera. So this is a really important and new learning program. The rollout of it has been rocks put up very quickly. The Small Business Administration, which backs the BROWN last year, I think, guaranteed about two billion dollars of loans and now they're looking at a program that

is three hundred and fifty billion dollars inside. So as you can expect, there's been some uh startup issues in terms of putting something of this scale through the system. It's also true that many of the banks have restricted the borrowers to existing lending relationships, which is cutting off this support for other businesses that may not have borrowed from that bank before. So I think we're still in the early stages of rowing this out. I think it

can be helpful, but it's still in the works. The other programs that have been rolled out includings like emergency and injury disaster loans that don't have all the relief in the paycheck Protection program, but should be things that small businesses should look at. There is a ten thousand dollar um immediate relief packages part of the Emergency Injury Disaster loans, so that might be something that they should

look at as well. And I wouldn't forget, you know, the regular lending UH potential that's out there through your banks and other programs that existed before COVID nineteen. So small businesses are really at risk here, and I think you need to move very quickly to try to find the financial assistance to get through this period. Will be back after this break. So we know that women are often um disproportionately affected in a crisis. Do you think

that is going to be the case this time. I think women will be disproportionately affected on the economic side of this crisis, not so much on the COVID nineteen incidents, but we know that women earn lower wages, are more represented in the service economy, which has been hit very hard by this crisis, and they're often care gifts either in their work or at home. I talked to teachers today who are trying to teach from home online at the same time that they're trying to care for their

children who are at home from school. Many women are also caring for elderly parents who are particularly at risk for the COVID nineteen virus. So this is very You have a lot to worry about in your own family, friends and network, about the healthcare incidents, but you also are worried about all the economic impacts. I'd also mentioned that the self employed, the so called gig workers, UM,

may still fall through the craft here. It's good that the unemployment insurance benefits have been extended to many people that are self employed or self proprietors, but I do worry that there are people who are only marginally attached to the economy that are not going to be able to access these benefits. We've been thinking about that a lot also, and particularly thinking about women entrepreneurs UM as you talked about that sort of double burden that women

have always faced. UM. We know that women entrepreneurs have had difficulty getting access to capital in the past and and um not always, but are often in those service businesses that are being shut down. Uh and no fault, you know, no fault to their own. So what do you recommend for women entrepreneurs? Well, I think this is going to be a toss curry because a lot of the assistance that's being provided are two existing businesses that are revenue producing with employees, and a lot of startups.

Maybe it's sole proprietors very small may not have existing banking relationships or borrowing relationships that will get them in the door to get some of this assistance, So the programs are not particularly well developed for startups and entrepreneurs. I have seen that the venture capital industry itself is creating some small grant assistance to start ups. So I certainly look at all those channels to see what might

be out there to help you. But I think coming out of this often when we come out of a recession, we see a birth of entrepreneurial activity because people don't immediately find jobs in the developed economy, and they'll strike out on their own to start businesses and be creative.

So we may see some of that as we come out the other side of this economic CRISI just so you are now running from Mayor, so you you've kind of had a very national perspective in your role at the Treasury, and now I think you probably have a very local perspective. What are you seeing on main Street? And from a local perspective, I guess what I'm seeing locally is that we are trying to rate against time. Here.

The direct hit of this crisis to the local economy is very hard, and the assistance that's been developed well important and big, and you know, coming, may not get to people or businesses quick enough. So I'm very worried about not having a stronger local response to bridge this period. We're seeing cities and counties across the country use their own funds to create direct financial assistance to help individuals and businesses, with the expectation that they will be able

to draw down federal aid later. I think that's a really important thing for every city to consider because the pain is very real and very now, very local. So I've been pushing locally to see if we can't put more dollars out there in an immediate way, because we know the needs very well at a local level, and I think that's what cities across the country are struggling with.

If I learned anything in my time in the Obama administration, it's that your ideas have to be bold, you have to be very decisive, and you have to move quickly, and you have to make the assistance pretty direct and easy to navigate. Complex programs does work against you in terms of making it difficult for people to navigate. So what I'm hoping to see locally here in Baltimore is a stronger local response to try to help bridge. As

I say, this very difficult period for our citizens. Well, obviously the news right now is very somber, and experts are predicting some unprecedented it's in our economy. But in this moment, is there anything that makes you optimistic or hopeful? Well, I think people have to begin by saying, this crisis is not my fault and I should ask for help, and there's a lot being offered here. I think individuals and particularly women, should pay a lot of attention to

some of the forbearances out there. On your student loans, for example, you can defer payment, you can ask your bank for help, you can file for unemployment insurance benefits if you're eligible, you can differ you know, filowing your tax returns this year. So I think you need to keep your with about you and recognize that there is a lot of assistance being offered and you should take

advantage of that. I think that we need to be prepared for pretty shocking numbers in May in terms of unemployment GDP collapsing um and you know, high unemployment rates. We have never hit the breaks quite like this before, so we're gonna have to stay focused and stay UM attentive to what our own these are. At the same time, I think we can be reasonably optimistic that this will not be a very long recessions And I think we're

all learning from this pandemic. We should be UM taking a lot from what we're doing every day in terms of operating virtually. This will change the way we can work UM as a country. And I think we should notice all the extraordinary generosity that we're seeing from people and institutions across the country. They are responding in just

unprecedented way. And the last thing I would say, and I think this is particularly important to women, is to really appreciate the importance of your relationships with your friends, with your family, with your network, because it's coming through in such valuable ways right now. We won't forget this time and the way we were on to each other. Mary, thank you so much for joining us, and we look

forward to following what you're doing. Thank you for all that you're doing UM in this field, and I'm very grateful to have the chance to talk to you today. You're listening to Seneca Women Conversations on power and Purpose brought to you by the Seneca Women podcast Network and

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