Anticipating the economic fallout stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Reserve (Fed) deployed its Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), which it initially established in 2008 to shore up asset-backed securities markets during the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC).  After excluding CLOs from the program’s initial scope in March 2020, the Fed announced the following month that, in addition to other structured products, certain AAA-rated collateralized loa...

On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared a nationwide emergency pursuant to Sec. 501(b) of the Stafford Act.  As a result, FEMA is coordinating the full federal response along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the White House Coronavirus Task Force.  The CARES Act was signed into law two weeks later.  Understanding the economic dynamics of natural disasters can help identify the relevant sections of the CARES Act for the current economy and identify p...

The US Congress today finalized the major provisions of the CARES Act stimulus package, which will likely be signed by President Trump by the end of the weekend.  The stimulus package includes numerous provisions to support business payrolls, unemployment benefits, and cash payments to lower-income Americans.  The policies included within the package mirror traditional measures used to alleviate recessions; however, the measures may fall short of preventing an oncoming consumer debt...

The economic crisis sparked by the COVID-19 outbreak has led to mortgage debt relief policies in countries such as Spain, Italy, and the UK.  On March 18, 2020, the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to suspend single-family mortgage foreclosures and evictions and provide forbearance and modification plans. But those fall far short of offering the sort of broad relief necessary for workers idled by COVID-19 because modifications cannot be executed quickly ...