As the economic outlook worsens, Steven Mnuchin is “stripping lifeboats from the Titanic,” said Elliot Smith at CNBC. That’s how one economist described the Treasury secretary’s decision to end several of the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending programs by Dec. 31. The $650 billion in potential aid put in place by the CARES Act could soon disappear. That includes two programs that buy corporate bonds and the Main Street lending program for companies with up to 15,000 employees. Mnuchin said it was never Congress’ intent to let the central bank keep the money past 2020.
