What a ‘Wartime’ Economy Looks Like

Steve Pearlstein of the WaPo has other demands, including limiting executive compensation to $2 million and authorizing the Small Business Administration to guarantee loans from private lenders — but making sure those banks bear the first loss of any defaults.

Readers, what would you demand from a bailout package? Send us your thoughts, and we may highlight them in a future newsletter.

Keeping everybody at home is not a boon for TV profits

“Social distancing” means a lot more time spent at home glued to screens. Indeed, surveys show that TV watching has soared in recent weeks, write the NYT’s Ed Lee and John Koblin.

But the benefits of a bigger-than-usual audience may be short-lived. If a deep recession leads people to cut back on expenses, they may drop cable packages and pare down their streaming subscriptions.

The loss of live-sports programming is a pivotal moment for channels owned by Disney, ATT, ViacomCBS and others, since it generates billions of dollars in advertising and underpins pricey cable subscriptions. Ed put it this way to DealBook:

“Media giants are staring down the disappearance of the delicate ecosystem that protects their business: live events. Now, the very structure of the industry is now in doubt.”

The week so far in pictures

With more countries imposing self-isolation to slow the spread of the pandemic, here’s a look at what’s happening — or, more precisely, not happening — around the world.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/business/dealbook/coronavirus-war-spending.html