Faces of Unemployment amid the Crisis; Federal Reserve Warns of Unemployment Soaring
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of Americans are looking to Congress for relief and they remain in limbo this morning amid a stalemate in the Senate over a roughly $2 trillion stimulus plan.</s>JOSH SOUDER, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS. I.E. ENTERTAINMENT GROUP: How you doing guys? It's just been a completely life altering experience from start to finish, and within a week. I mean this is unbelievable.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I have a 2 ounce and I have the 8 ounce.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Like the virus spreading across the globe, the economic damage leaves no restaurant untouched.</s>SOUDER: We would have all the seats filled.</s>LAH (on camera): All of these seats?</s>SOUDER: We'd have -- it would -- it would be a line out the door.</s>LAH (voice over): California's stay at home orders to fight coronavirus changed the entire industry in an instant.</s>SOUDER: We went from being about to franchise to basically running a to-go business. I, you know, haven't slept. I am -- I'm worried about having a heart attack to be perfectly honest with you.</s>LAH: With no diners, the Drunken Crab (ph) is hemorrhaging thousands of dollars a day. Restaurants, a sign of what's to come in the U.S. economy. The industry estimates up to 7 million people will lose their jobs in the next three months, nearly half of all service workers.</s>SOUDER: Have a good night.</s>LAH: Josh Souder already forced to make that hard choice.</s>SOUDER: I had to, you know -- I was forced to lay off 75 people. At first you're thinking about them, OK, I feel horrible for them, and then they have to go home and tell their family, I just got laid off.</s>JAY BOCKEN, RESTAURANT GENERAL MANAGER LAID OFF LAST WEEK: I called my wife over the phone and said, honey, I'm on my way home, and she just -- she pretty much immediately knew.</s>LAH: Laid off from the Drunken Crab, former general manager Jay Bocken immediately filed for unemployment. One of the 2.25 million Americans that Goldman Sachs estimates filed jobless claims in the</s>BOCKEN: You're talking thousands and thousands of</s>LAH: And already signs money is getting tight. Outside this west Hollywood bar, employees only, a line. Inside, the small staff preps meals. Free meals for workers who show a pay stub. Like bartender Geri Courtney-Austein.</s>GERI COURTNEY-AUSTEIN, BARTENDER LAID OFF LAST WEEK: All of us like immediately lost our jobs, I think, as of Monday or Tuesday.</s>LAH (on camera): Are you worried about how long this is going to last?</s>AUSTEIN: One hundred percent. If it goes on months like I -- I don't think any of us have any idea what we're going to do.</s>TOM SOPIT, RESTAURANT OWNER: The moment this happened, we were going to dig ourselves in a hole regardless.</s>LAH: Are you scared?</s>SOPIT: I'm concerned.</s>LAH (voice over): Restaurant owner Tom Sopit's rent is a thousand dollars per day. he doesn't want to fire anyone. But this is a new reality he will have to face.</s>SOPIT: Yes. All we can do is help each other.</s>LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>BERMAN: It is so hard for so many people now. Not a few people. We're talking millions of people.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.</s>BERMAN: Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins me now. And, Romans, people are struggling with this. People who were working two weeks ago are now not working.</s>ROMANS: Yes.</s>BERMAN: They're looking to Congress for answers. Congress isn't getting its act together, at least not yet. They're delayed. So what should people do?</s>ROMANS: Well, look, so if Congress does get its act together, for example, those small business owners would have a couple of weeks or maybe even more of cash flow to retain their workers. I mean that's one of the things the stimulus plans wants to do. It wants to give money right away to small business owners so they can at least pay people not to work so that you don't disrupt the economy even more. If you have lost your job or you're a small business owner and you've got bills to pay on April 1st, the first thing to do, John, is talk to your lender. They're ready to hear from you. The phone lines might be jammed, but you've got to talk to your lender. Bank of America, for example, is deferring your mortgage payment, your small business loan, your auto loan, a lot of other banks are doing the same thing, you just have to talk to them right away. Student loans, by the way, the president has said that interest -- he waived interest for the next 60 days on student loan payments, and then went even further and said you don't have to pay the student loan minimum for the next couple of months. So check into that. Again, check with your lender, though. Super important. And if this stimulus plan passes, John, you're going to get some money. You know, the Treasury secretary this weekend said the plan was is was going to be about $3,000 for a family of four. It caps out at a certain income level, you know, so this is meant for people who are working people, people who need money to pay their bills right now, that's if Congress gets its act together.</s>BERMAN: What's so sounding is the idea that $2 trillion might not even be enough.</s>ROMANS: Yes.</s>BERMAN: So, if it is enough or if we do or when we get through this, Romans, why are people talking about a v-shaped recovery. I'll give a visual aid here.</s>ROMANS: Right.</s>BERMAN: What is a v-shaped recovery? How quickly can we come back from this?</s>ROMANS: Well, and that's what the president is saying. You know, last night we heard from the president. He's talking about -- he said the economy will be beautiful again. Let's listen to the president.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to help the worker. We have to save the companies, because as soon as we're finished with this war, it's not a battle, it's a war, as soon as we're finished with this war, our country is going to bounce back like you've never seen before.</s>ROMANS: He's talking about pent up demand. All the things you're not buying, the things you aren't doing right now will come surging back in the end of the year. And there's some economists who are hoping that's the way it is, but that's assuming everything is perfect, right? That's assuming we get our hand around the virus, that there's money, maybe even more, well over $2 trillion, maybe two more phases of stimulus gets passed and gets into the hands of American consumers and American business owners quickly. You know, John, what they're fighting about right now on Capitol Hill is essentially, you know, how do you -- do you -- do you throw money at the companies, do you throw money at people? I mean the answer is, yes, both, and even then some. We've never embarked on a rescue. And that's what this is, it's a rescue of the -- of the American economy. So the next couple of days I think are pretty critical.</s>BERMAN: They're not trivial questions that they're held up on right now in Congress.</s>ROMANS: No.</s>BERMAN: I don't want people to think that it's some technicality here. They're talking about how much oversight should be on $500 billion. That's a lot of money.</s>ROMANS: That's a lot of money. And, you know, look, we have recent history of the 2008 financial crisis. The American people were really unhappy about the perception that --</s>BERMAN: And we're talking about just weeks. It's only been about six weeks since this came into focus in the United States specifically. Christine Romans, thanks so much for your work on this. Appreciate it.</s>ROMANS: Sure, John.</s>BERMAN: Erica.</s>HILL: Coronavirus cases continue to spike across Europe this morning. Italy and Spain being hit especially hard. We've got a live report, next.