theintercept--2020-04-01--A Private Equity Baron Sitting on an Empty Philadelphia Hospital Is in Line for Huge Tax Gift in the

A Private Equity Baron Sitting on an Empty Philadelphia Hospital Is in Line for Huge Tax Gift in the Covid-19 Stimulus

for a place to house its growing number of coronavirus patients , a millionaire health care and private equity executive is effectively holding a hospital he owns hostage — and is in line for a massive tax break under the coronavirus stimulus plan signed into law last week .
Joel Freedman bought Philadelphia ’ s Hahnemann University Hospital , which primarily served low-income residents , along with St. Christopher Children Hospital , in 2018 for a total of $ 170 million .
Despite community protests that captured national attention , he shuttered it in September , hoping to turn a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to turn it into luxury condos .
Amid the coronavirus pandemic , city officials said they could not afford Freedman ’ s offer for the building , which he said was a fraction of market value .
They were negotiating its use until last week , when they said Freedman ’ s offer to rent the building to the city for just under $ 1 million a month , including necessary improvements and expenses was “ unreasonable.
” Meanwhile , the Los Angeles-based Freedman could benefit from the $ 2 trillion stimulus , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the property-related depreciation real estate investors are allowed to use to lessen their tax bill .
Depreciation is a paper cost that real estate investors can use to factor in losses to offset other income and reduce what they pay in taxes .
In Freedman ’ s case , that means he can use recent “ losses ” from the hospital as it depreciates to offset his overall taxable income and , as a result , what he owes in taxes .
A spokesperson for Freedman did not respond to requests for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ estate from Hahnemann from the last two years plus this year can be used to offset any tax liabilities for his household , to the extent that he ’ s got profit from other things that he ’ s done ” said Eileen Appelbaum , co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington , D.C .
Under the stimulus , Freedman would no longer be limited in the amount of business losses he could use to offset wages or investment income , according to a professor at the University of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefiting from the 800-page stimulus , which includes a $ 100 billion allocation for hospitals , in part to help fight the coronavirus .
Easton hospital , another private equity-owned hospital in Pennsylvania , got one of the first payouts of the coronavirus stimulus plan for $ 8 million after threatening to shut down on Friday at midnight .
“ They ’ re just shameless , ” said Appelbaum .
“ The very first payment out of that stimulus package went to a hospital owned by private equity that was blackmailing the governor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s poorest and most critically ill residents since 1848 , was acquired in 2018 by a subsidiary of American Academic Health System LLC , of which Freedman is the founder and chief executive officer .
That subsidiary , Philadelphia Academic Health Systems , filed for bankruptcy in June .
Freedman said Hahnemann had been losing millions of dollars a month , but the hospital ’ s real estate was not included in the bankruptcy filing .
Rather , it was redistributed to another of Freedman ’ s companies , Broad Street Health Care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which passed unanimously in the Senate and by a voice vote in the House , corporations and businesses will still see the bulk of dollars allocated , while workers get modest increases in unemployment benefits and a one-time check of up to $ 1,200 per individual .
At least one provision benefitting real estate investors , which increases the amount of nonbusiness income and capital gains they can protect from taxation , could result in tax breaks up to $ 170 billion over 10 years .
“ That group comprises the top 1 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Revenue Service data , ” the New York Times reported .
“ The result is that people can enjoy big tax breaks stemming from only-on-paper losses , even if they enjoy big cash profits in the real world.
” Philadelphia ’ s St. Christopher Hospital , which Freedman acquired along with Hahnemann in 2018 , was purchased earlier this year .
Affiliates of Freedman ’ s company , a number of which he also owns , have run facilities across the country including the Howard University Hospital in Washington , D.C. After Hahnemann @ @ @ @ @ @ @ listed his Rittenhouse Square home for $ 3.5 million .
“ We ’ d have to know more about his personal situation to know if he will personally benefit , ” Appelbaum said .
“ But if he owns businesses that have made a profit anywhere in the last two years or this year , he can use the paper losses from depreciation on real estate to offset that profit and reduce any taxes he would have to pay.
” Since it ’ s retroactive , Freedman could be in for a substantial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taxes he paid in previous years .
Hahnemann ’ s parent company is an LLC , which are treated as partnerships for tax purposes .
That means income from the company is partially Freedman ’ s own and would qualify for the new stimulus tax break .
Freedman is also the president and founder of Paladin Healthcare , AAHS ’ s parent company .
has 4,843 confirmed Covid-19 cases , and 63 deaths , including 1,315 cases and 14 deaths in Philadelphia .
The city is preparing to face a rapid increase in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York City , the epicenter of the pandemic , where health care workers have already begun to face the impacts of shortages in hospital space and supplies , and are bracing to run out of space in city morgues .
City officials last week said Freedman was using his position to profit while the city was trying to deal with a public health crisis .
“ I think he ’ s looking at this as a business transaction rather than providing an imminent and important aid to the city and our residents , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporters .
A representative for Freedman has cited having an interested buyer as one reason he can ’ t allow the city to use the hospital .
Freedman also said he offered the city a rate at a fraction of market cost .
Officials seeking additional space to treat patients said last week that they had scrapped attempts to negotiate with Freedman to use the 496-bed facility because they couldn ’ t accept his offer .
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said during a press conference last week that the city needed “ to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hospital beds.
” Kenney said the city had offered to pay a smaller amount in rent and to cover costs of what would be time-consuming repair and upkeep to make the hospital usable again , which Freedman refused .
The next day , the city announced that Temple University would allow use of its Liacouras Center as an overflow hospital , free of charge .
In Philadelphia , which has the highest poverty rate of the nation ’ s 10 most populous cities , experts have expressed concern that the coronavirus could disproportionately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wolf has the authority to seize the hospital immediately , Neil Makhija , lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School , told The Intercept .
“ This is no time to negotiate with Joel Freedman , and no time to wait for the long process of eminent domain .
Governor Wolf has the legal authority under his emergency declaration to ‘ commandeer or utilize ’ private property as needed .
The state should invoke that authority and prepare for the worst , so we aren ’ t caught off guard when we need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gym , who has been an outspoken voice in efforts to save Hahnemann and prevent similar financial mismanagement in the future , called last week for the city to acquire Hahnemann through eminent domain .
“ We can not allow unconscionable greed to get in the way of saving lives , ” Gym tweeted last week .
Kenney said the city had determined that proposal to be too costly and time consuming .
“ It is outrageous that a Philadelphia real estate investor who closed a hospital is now trying to gouge the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential candidate Bernie Sanders tweeted Monday .
“ @ HelenGymPHL is right : the city should reopen Hahnemann hospital immediately.
” In July , Sanders joined a demonstration protesting Hahnemann ’ s closing .
Former Vice President Joe Biden , a Pennsylvania native whose campaign headquarters is in Philadelphia , has not taken a position on the issue .
Biden ’ s campaign did not respond to a request for comment .
Days after Kenney announced the city was ending attempts to use the hospital , Freedman ’ s Rittenhouse Square-area residence was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” and “ FREE HAHNEMANN.
” At least “ many of the hospitals owned by private equity are in very bad shape , ” Appelbaum said .
“ I imagine we ’ re gon na see a lot more of what just happened with Hahnemann , and what just happened at Easton .
”

As Philadelphia searches for a place to house its growing number of coronavirus patients, a millionaire health care and private equity executive is effectively holding a hospital he owns hostage — and is in line for a massive tax break under the coronavirus stimulus plan signed into law last week.
Joel Freedman bought Philadelphia’s Hahnemann University Hospital, which primarily served low-income residents, along with St. Christopher Children Hospital, in 2018 for a total of $170 million. Despite community protests that captured national attention, he shuttered it in September, hoping to turn a profit by selling the building, possibly to turn it into luxury condos. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, city officials said they could not afford Freedman’s offer for the building, which he said was a fraction of market value. They were negotiating its use until last week, when they said Freedman’s offer to rent the building to the city for just under $1 million a month, including necessary improvements and expenses was “unreasonable.”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles-based Freedman could benefit from the $2 trillion stimulus, which temporarily and retroactively lifts a cap on the property-related depreciation real estate investors are allowed to use to lessen their tax bill. Depreciation is a paper cost that real estate investors can use to factor in losses to offset other income and reduce what they pay in taxes. In Freedman’s case, that means he can use recent “losses” from the hospital as it depreciates to offset his overall taxable income and, as a result, what he owes in taxes. A spokesperson for Freedman did not respond to requests for comment.
“Depreciation on the real estate from Hahnemann from the last two years plus this year can be used to offset any tax liabilities for his household, to the extent that he’s got profit from other things that he’s done” said Eileen Appelbaum, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.
Under the stimulus, Freedman would no longer be limited in the amount of business losses he could use to offset wages or investment income, according to a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Other hospitals are benefiting from the 800-page stimulus, which includes a $100 billion allocation for hospitals, in part to help fight the coronavirus. Easton hospital, another private equity-owned hospital in Pennsylvania, got one of the first payouts of the coronavirus stimulus plan for $8 million after threatening to shut down on Friday at midnight. “They’re just shameless,” said Appelbaum. “The very first payment out of that stimulus package went to a hospital owned by private equity that was blackmailing the governor of Pennsylvania.”
Photo: Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Hahnemann, which had served the city’s poorest and most critically ill residents since 1848, was acquired in 2018 by a subsidiary of American Academic Health System LLC, of which Freedman is the founder and chief executive officer. That subsidiary, Philadelphia Academic Health Systems, filed for bankruptcy in June. Freedman said Hahnemann had been losing millions of dollars a month, but the hospital’s real estate was not included in the bankruptcy filing. Rather, it was redistributed to another of Freedman’s companies, Broad Street Health Care Properties.
Under the federal stimulus, which passed unanimously in the Senate and by a voice vote in the House, corporations and businesses will still see the bulk of dollars allocated, while workers get modest increases in unemployment benefits and a one-time check of up to $1,200 per individual. At least one provision benefitting real estate investors, which increases the amount of nonbusiness income and capital gains they can protect from taxation, could result in tax breaks up to $170 billion over 10 years.
“That group comprises the top 1 percent of taxpayers, according to Internal Revenue Service data,” the New York Times reported. “The result is that people can enjoy big tax breaks stemming from only-on-paper losses, even if they enjoy big cash profits in the real world.”
Read Our Complete Coverage The Coronavirus Crisis
Philadelphia’s St. Christopher Hospital, which Freedman acquired along with Hahnemann in 2018, was purchased earlier this year. Affiliates of Freedman’s company, a number of which he also owns, have run facilities across the country including the Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. After Hahnemann’s closing last year, Freedman listed his Rittenhouse Square home for $3.5 million.
“We’d have to know more about his personal situation to know if he will personally benefit,” Appelbaum said. “But if he owns businesses that have made a profit anywhere in the last two years or this year, he can use the paper losses from depreciation on real estate to offset that profit and reduce any taxes he would have to pay.”
Since it’s retroactive, Freedman could be in for a substantial rebate if the paper losses can offset taxes he paid in previous years.
Hahnemann’s parent company is an LLC, which are treated as partnerships for tax purposes. That means income from the company is partially Freedman’s own and would qualify for the new stimulus tax break. Freedman is also the president and founder of Paladin Healthcare, AAHS’s parent company.
Photo: Matt Rourke/AP
Pennsylvania so far has 4,843 confirmed Covid-19 cases, and 63 deaths, including 1,315 cases and 14 deaths in Philadelphia. The city is preparing to face a rapid increase in cases and deaths already seen in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic, where health care workers have already begun to face the impacts of shortages in hospital space and supplies, and are bracing to run out of space in city morgues.
City officials last week said Freedman was using his position to profit while the city was trying to deal with a public health crisis. “I think he’s looking at this as a business transaction rather than providing an imminent and important aid to the city and our residents,” City Managing Director Brian Abernathy told reporters. A representative for Freedman has cited having an interested buyer as one reason he can’t allow the city to use the hospital. Freedman also said he offered the city a rate at a fraction of market cost.
Officials seeking additional space to treat patients said last week that they had scrapped attempts to negotiate with Freedman to use the 496-bed facility because they couldn’t accept his offer. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said during a press conference last week that the city needed “to find facilities that could contain several hundred hospital beds.” Kenney said the city had offered to pay a smaller amount in rent and to cover costs of what would be time-consuming repair and upkeep to make the hospital usable again, which Freedman refused.
The next day, the city announced that Temple University would allow use of its Liacouras Center as an overflow hospital, free of charge. In Philadelphia, which has the highest poverty rate of the nation’s 10 most populous cities, experts have expressed concern that the coronavirus could disproportionately impact poor residents.
Gov. Tom Wolf has the authority to seize the hospital immediately, Neil Makhija, lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School, told The Intercept. “This is no time to negotiate with Joel Freedman, and no time to wait for the long process of eminent domain. Governor Wolf has the legal authority under his emergency declaration to ‘commandeer or utilize’ private property as needed. The state should invoke that authority and prepare for the worst, so we aren’t caught off guard when we need it.”
Philadelphia City Council Member Helen Gym, who has been an outspoken voice in efforts to save Hahnemann and prevent similar financial mismanagement in the future, called last week for the city to acquire Hahnemann through eminent domain. “We cannot allow unconscionable greed to get in the way of saving lives,” Gym tweeted last week. Kenney said the city had determined that proposal to be too costly and time consuming.
“It is outrageous that a Philadelphia real estate investor who closed a hospital is now trying to gouge the city to re-open it,” Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders tweeted Monday. “@HelenGymPHL is right: the city should reopen Hahnemann hospital immediately.” In July, Sanders joined a demonstration protesting Hahnemann’s closing.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, a Pennsylvania native whose campaign headquarters is in Philadelphia, has not taken a position on the issue. Biden’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Days after Kenney announced the city was ending attempts to use the hospital, Freedman’s Rittenhouse Square-area residence was vandalized with the phrases “JOEL KILLS,” and “FREE HAHNEMANN.”
At least “many of the hospitals owned by private equity are in very bad shape,” Appelbaum said. “I imagine we’re gonna see a lot more of what just happened with Hahnemann, and what just happened at Easton.”


theintercept--2020-04-04--What the Coronavirus Pandemic Can Teach Us About the Climate Emergency

do it .
Bill McKibben and 350.org couldn ’ t do it , and neither could the Paris climate accord .
But Covid-19 is cutting human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as travel and other economic activity in much of the world slow or halt altogether .
While the contraction in CO2 emissions set off by the virus may not be as pronounced as the related though distinct fall in “ conventional ” pollutants like soot and smog , it is far more consequential .
Soot and smog poison and kill only in the present , while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ climate for the next century .
Burning a fossil fuel today is tantamount to signing a death warrant for future generations .
Conversely , forgoing an action that would have caused a fossil fuel to be burned creates a permanent benefit .
Until now , the only downturn of note in total worldwide CO2 emissions during the era of climate awareness — defined as the period beginning in 1995 with the first U.N .
Climate Change Conference — was in 2009 , the onset of the Great Recession .
That downturn was brief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ current contraction could be severe enough to cut in half this year ’ s addition to the atmosphere ’ s carbon dioxide concentration — the metric that dictates climate change — according to calculations by co-author Charles Komanoff for the Carbon Tax Center .
Is it cruel to point approvingly to the steep reduction in carbon emissions now unfolding , given the skyrocketing deaths , lost livelihoods , and widespread privation ?
And won ’ t the reductions be negated as the virus is tamed and emissions come roaring back ?
No and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whether or not the current reduction in CO2 is sustained will depend on who gets to reconstruct society after the virus .
But the reduction will not be negated .
Just as carbon emissions persist long enough in Earth ’ s upper atmosphere to act as permanent climate change agents in terms of one individual ’ s lifetime , avoided emissions are a permanent balm .
The airplane trips you won ’ t take this year won ’ t be made up in 2021 , for the simple reason that most people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ missed trip isn ’ t a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will be put back next year ; it ’ s a missed trip , period .
Ditto for work commutes and leisure activities .
So yes , the precipitous drop in burning petrol for vehicles and aircraft has a lasting imprint .
The contraction of the U.S. economy this year could purge 30 to 40 percent of carbon emissions we would otherwise spew .
Similar but milder jettisoning of carbon-burning in the rest of the world could collectively trim up to one part per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 415 ppm concentration of CO2 — a modest climate-protective achievement , to be sure , but one without precedent in the modern era .
The suffering is a different story .
Were a happiness/misery calculator able to quantify the pluses and minuses to well-being from events befalling human society , the coronavirus ’ s flattening of the rising CO2-in-the-atmosphere curve would obviously be swamped by the lost life and the disordering of business as usual .
And yet business as usual must come to an end if we are to hand down a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rub is how to slash carbon emissions with minimum suffering and maximum social and economic justice , and without nature forcing the reductions on us via pandemics or other chaotic black swan events that are surely in store .
The fact that human behavior and activity are undergoing climate-beneficial changes in the crucible of Covid-19 suggests that “ business as usual ” can be altered , and quickly .
Though we can ’ t yet point to new models of planned and equitable carbon reduction , there are four identifiable pandemic-driven upheavals of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of instituting the transformations necessary for civilization not to commit collective climate suicide .
One is that science ’ s prestige and value are being restored .
Americans watching Trump ’ s circus-like coronavirus daily briefings see National Institutes of Health immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci stepping in to correct the president ’ s dangerously ignorant commentary .
Similarly , we know it is the community of front-line doctors , nurses , and health care workers who will care for the sick ; the epidemiologists and science journalists who will inform the public ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ biologists , and statisticians who will synthesize and prove the vaccines that will bring the pandemic to an end .
As environmental legal scholar Michael Gerrard wrote this week , the climate change lessons of Covid-19 are to heed the warnings of scientists , do everything possible to minimize the hazards they predict , and prepare to cope with the impacts that remain .
Second , the crisis is helping us see just how much our well-being depends on muscular , proactive governance .
Government of the people and for the people is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed more than ever .
The people must be sovereign over corporations and not vice versa — a point driven home by the tepid response of big business to Trump ’ s exhortations to step up manufacture of equipment to protect health care workers .
Third , we may be shaking loose the defeatism that nothing can be done quickly .
Take the example of those of us sheltering in place : We are learning , overnight , that simplicity isn ’ t necessarily austerity , frugality need not be privation , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of our leisure and consumer entitlements if it serves some higher purpose — at present , to stop the sickening and death of our fellow human beings ; in the longer run , to bend the rising curve of carbon emissions and put a hard stop on climate chaos .
Moreover , if our society can act , finally , to manufacture a million ventilators and a billion protective masks , surely we can within a few years act on a far grander scale to erect , say , a million wind turbines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buildings , carve ribbons of bicycle paths throughout our cities and suburbs , and so on .
With the pandemic enforcing a brutal but necessary reset , the NIMBYism that has impeded this kind of progress practically everywhere might be swept into the dustbin for good .
Most hearteningly , the crisis is instilling a renewed appreciation of social solidarity .
The more we are forced to quarantine and isolate , paradoxically , the more we become cognizant of the need for mutuality and social relations and social conscience .
My well-being depends @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ability to be fed depends on your ability to grow and transport and distribute food .
My life is now literally in your hands , as you make decisions whether to restrain your activity in the public sphere , keep your distance , self-quarantine .
If we so fully need each other , how can I abide your not having affordable health care ?
In this moment when the precarity of half or more of American households is laid bare , how can I abide a government that places the well-being of billionaires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money than many of us earn in a lifetime — above that of the 90 percent of Americans who make less than $ 100,000 a year ?
What does solidarity have to do with climate ?
Everything .
People whose health is tenuous and whose pocketbook is empty can ’ t easily stand up for climate action , but they may do so if government has put them on a solid footing and , in the Green New Deal , provided a framework for paying them good wages to actually implement it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ providing direct payments to American households , it ’ s only a step or two to paying coal miners and cattle ranchers to become solar installers and wind farm maintainers .
Enacting some form of guaranteed income , even just temporarily , could pave the way for the “ carbon fee and dividend ” approach to taxing carbon fuels without further burdening the less well-off .
In a different vein , trading frenetic foreign travel for staycations could downsize socially destructive companies like Airbnb , making rental apartments more affordable and in turn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As for the super-rich , never have their fortunes been so fully revealed as hollow and corrosive .
Worldwide , the wealthiest 5 percent of households collectively burn more carbon than the entire bottom half , according to a comprehensive new report from the University of Leeds .
Could the past decade ’ s research and agitation on economic inequality now culminate , in the pandemic ’ s wake , in an insistence on transmuting extreme private wealth into a new collectively shared wealth of renewable energy and sustainable communities ?
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ class-action litigation , is the kind of program that will actually cast off the yoke of the fossil fuel empire upon which the portfolios of the super-rich depend .
In the process , the toxic aspiration to join the super-rich could be swept aside .
Bye-bye , lusting after commuter helicopters .
Bye-bye , hungering for one ’ s own island .
Bye-bye , legislatures purchased by dark money .
As for those in the rarified upper classes who , in Margaret Thatcher ’ s iconic phrasing , embrace the libertarian right-wing precept @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as society , ” let ’ s hope they will be answered by the millions of commoners who see clearly , as the pandemic rages , that we are all in this leaky boat together .
Charles Komanoff , a New York City-based economist and activist , directs the Carbon Tax Center .
Christopher Ketcham , an upstate New Yorker , is author of “ This Land : How Cowboys , Capitalism , and Corruption are Ruining the American West .
”

Greta Thunberg couldn’t do it. Bill McKibben and 350.org couldn’t do it, and neither could the Paris climate accord. But Covid-19 is cutting human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as travel and other economic activity in much of the world slow or halt altogether.
While the contraction in CO2 emissions set off by the virus may not be as pronounced as the related though distinct fall in “conventional” pollutants like soot and smog, it is far more consequential. Soot and smog poison and kill only in the present, while greenhouse gases stick around to maim the climate for the next century. Burning a fossil fuel today is tantamount to signing a death warrant for future generations. Conversely, forgoing an action that would have caused a fossil fuel to be burned creates a permanent benefit.
Until now, the only downturn of note in total worldwide CO2 emissions during the era of climate awareness — defined as the period beginning in 1995 with the first U.N. Climate Change Conference — was in 2009, the onset of the Great Recession. That downturn was brief and mild.
In contrast, the current contraction could be severe enough to cut in half this year’s addition to the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentration — the metric that dictates climate change — according to calculations by co-author Charles Komanoff for the Carbon Tax Center.
Is it cruel to point approvingly to the steep reduction in carbon emissions now unfolding, given the skyrocketing deaths, lost livelihoods, and widespread privation? And won’t the reductions be negated as the virus is tamed and emissions come roaring back? No and no.
Like so much else, whether or not the current reduction in CO2 is sustained will depend on who gets to reconstruct society after the virus. But the reduction will not be negated. Just as carbon emissions persist long enough in Earth’s upper atmosphere to act as permanent climate change agents in terms of one individual’s lifetime, avoided emissions are a permanent balm.
The airplane trips you won’t take this year won’t be made up in 2021, for the simple reason that most people who use airplanes do so regularly. A missed trip isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will be put back next year; it’s a missed trip, period. Ditto for work commutes and leisure activities.
So yes, the precipitous drop in burning petrol for vehicles and aircraft has a lasting imprint. The contraction of the U.S. economy this year could purge 30 to 40 percent of carbon emissions we would otherwise spew. Similar but milder jettisoning of carbon-burning in the rest of the world could collectively trim up to one part per million from the atmosphere’s present 415 ppm concentration of CO2 — a modest climate-protective achievement, to be sure, but one without precedent in the modern era.
The suffering is a different story. Were a happiness/misery calculator able to quantify the pluses and minuses to well-being from events befalling human society, the coronavirus’s flattening of the rising CO2-in-the-atmosphere curve would obviously be swamped by the lost life and the disordering of business as usual.
And yet business as usual must come to an end if we are to hand down a livable planet to our children.
The rub is how to slash carbon emissions with minimum suffering and maximum social and economic justice, and without nature forcing the reductions on us via pandemics or other chaotic black swan events that are surely in store.
The fact that human behavior and activity are undergoing climate-beneficial changes in the crucible of Covid-19 suggests that “business as usual” can be altered, and quickly. Though we can’t yet point to new models of planned and equitable carbon reduction, there are four identifiable pandemic-driven upheavals of social consciousness that should give us hope of instituting the transformations necessary for civilization not to commit collective climate suicide.
One is that science’s prestige and value are being restored. Americans watching Trump’s circus-like coronavirus daily briefings see National Institutes of Health immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci stepping in to correct the president’s dangerously ignorant commentary. Similarly, we know it is the community of front-line doctors, nurses, and health care workers who will care for the sick; the epidemiologists and science journalists who will inform the public’s response; and trained chemists, biologists, and statisticians who will synthesize and prove the vaccines that will bring the pandemic to an end. As environmental legal scholar Michael Gerrard wrote this week, the climate change lessons of Covid-19 are to heed the warnings of scientists, do everything possible to minimize the hazards they predict, and prepare to cope with the impacts that remain.
Second, the crisis is helping us see just how much our well-being depends on muscular, proactive governance. Government of the people and for the people is literally the thing that’s now needed more than ever. The people must be sovereign over corporations and not vice versa — a point driven home by the tepid response of big business to Trump’s exhortations to step up manufacture of equipment to protect health care workers.
Third, we may be shaking loose the defeatism that nothing can be done quickly. Take the example of those of us sheltering in place: We are learning, overnight, that simplicity isn’t necessarily austerity, frugality need not be privation, and that we can forgo quite a lot of our leisure and consumer entitlements if it serves some higher purpose — at present, to stop the sickening and death of our fellow human beings; in the longer run, to bend the rising curve of carbon emissions and put a hard stop on climate chaos.
Moreover, if our society can act, finally, to manufacture a million ventilators and a billion protective masks, surely we can within a few years act on a far grander scale to erect, say, a million wind turbines, insulate and solarize a hundred million buildings, carve ribbons of bicycle paths throughout our cities and suburbs, and so on. With the pandemic enforcing a brutal but necessary reset, the NIMBYism that has impeded this kind of progress practically everywhere might be swept into the dustbin for good.
Most hearteningly, the crisis is instilling a renewed appreciation of social solidarity. The more we are forced to quarantine and isolate, paradoxically, the more we become cognizant of the need for mutuality and social relations and social conscience.
Volunteers for nonprofit organization Martha’s Table load bags of fresh produce to distribute to people in underserved communities on April 1, 2020, amidst the coronavirus pandemic in Washington, D.C. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
My well-being depends on your not being sick. My ability to be fed depends on your ability to grow and transport and distribute food. My life is now literally in your hands, as you make decisions whether to restrain your activity in the public sphere, keep your distance, self-quarantine.
If we so fully need each other, how can I abide your not having affordable health care? In this moment when the precarity of half or more of American households is laid bare, how can I abide a government that places the well-being of billionaires — whose wealth each week generates more money than many of us earn in a lifetime — above that of the 90 percent of Americans who make less than $100,000 a year?
What does solidarity have to do with climate? Everything. People whose health is tenuous and whose pocketbook is empty can’t easily stand up for climate action, but they may do so if government has put them on a solid footing and, in the Green New Deal, provided a framework for paying them good wages to actually implement it.
Synergies abound. With the U.S. government providing direct payments to American households, it’s only a step or two to paying coal miners and cattle ranchers to become solar installers and wind farm maintainers. Enacting some form of guaranteed income, even just temporarily, could pave the way for the “carbon fee and dividend” approach to taxing carbon fuels without further burdening the less well-off. In a different vein, trading frenetic foreign travel for staycations could downsize socially destructive companies like Airbnb, making rental apartments more affordable and in turn diminishing long-distance commuting and slashing carbon footprints.
As for the super-rich, never have their fortunes been so fully revealed as hollow and corrosive. Worldwide, the wealthiest 5 percent of households collectively burn more carbon than the entire bottom half, according to a comprehensive new report from the University of Leeds. Could the past decade’s research and agitation on economic inequality now culminate, in the pandemic’s wake, in an insistence on transmuting extreme private wealth into a new collectively shared wealth of renewable energy and sustainable communities?
This, more than fossil fuel divestment or class-action litigation, is the kind of program that will actually cast off the yoke of the fossil fuel empire upon which the portfolios of the super-rich depend. In the process, the toxic aspiration to join the super-rich could be swept aside. Bye-bye, lusting after commuter helicopters. Bye-bye, hungering for one’s own island. Bye-bye, legislatures purchased by dark money.
As for those in the rarified upper classes who, in Margaret Thatcher’s iconic phrasing, embrace the libertarian right-wing precept that “there is no such thing as society,” let’s hope they will be answered by the millions of commoners who see clearly, as the pandemic rages, that we are all in this leaky boat together.
Charles Komanoff, a New York City-based economist and activist, directs the Carbon Tax Center. Christopher Ketcham, an upstate New Yorker, is author of “This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption are Ruining the American West.”


theintercept--2020-04-04--Coronavirus Hasn’t Stopped Jared Kushner’s Real Estate Empire from Hounding Tenants with Debt Collec

Coronavirus Hasn’t Stopped Jared Kushner’s Real Estate Empire from Hounding Tenants with Debt Collection, Eviction Lawsuits

family real estate company , which owns and manages thousands of apartment units , continued its aggressive eviction practices and debt collection lawsuits as Americans wait for government relief .
Well into the coronavirus crisis , which has led to skyrocketing unemployment , court records show properties owned by Kushner Companies are still filing new eviction lawsuits .
At least 15 tenants in New Jersey and Maryland have been on the receiving end of lawsuits from Kushner-owned properties even after both states declared states of emergency .
Gov .
Phil Murphy , D-N.J. , and Gov .
Larry Hogan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moratorium on evictions and courts have been closed , postponing hearing dates for a range of debt collection-related activities .
The Maryland and New Jersey moratoriums on evictions , however , do not prevent debt collectors from filing new lawsuits .
On March 25 , Westminster Management , a unit of Kushner Companies , filed a lawsuit requesting sheriff services to enforce an eviction against a man residing at the company ’ s Harbor Point Estate apartment in Essex , Maryland .
Days later , on March 30 , Kushner ’ s company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the same complex .
The previous week , on March 19 , Oxford Arms , a Kushner-owned apartment complex in Edison , New Jersey , filed six lawsuits against tenants .
Other lawsuits have been filed in recent weeks against tenants by legal entities tied to the Whispering Woods complex in Middle River , Maryland ; the Cove Village complex in Essex , Maryland ; and the Pier Village building in Long Branch , New Jersey — all of which are owned by Kushner .
Experts say the continued collection filings and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ future could cause undue stress during a period in which Americans are already reeling from the trauma of mass layoffs , social isolation , and health care issues fueled by the pandemic .
“ Not being able to sleep , eat , stress with the marriage , and stress with the family is typical for somebody being hounded by a debt collector , ” said Peter Holland , a consumer rights attorney based in Annapolis , Maryland , “ and I can only imagine it ’ s even more typical now.
” Kushner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , serves as a senior advisor at the White House .
His role in the Covid-19 response effort has come under fire in recent days after the promise of a nationwide network of drive-through testing sites never materialized .
Kushner also tapped his brother Joshua to build a federal response website promised by Trump , which was ultimately scrapped .
Kushner , whose estimated net worth is around $ 800 million , has said in the past that he has stepped away from day-to-day management of the real estate firm , though he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ethics disclosures show that he still receives tens of millions of dollars a year in income from rent collected by his assorted real estate portfolio , including the chain of apartment buildings .
Kushner Companies , as well as New Jersey and Maryland attorneys representing Kushner ’ s real estate subsidiaries , did not respond to requests for comment .
“ We ’ re doing all we can for tenants .
I ’ m not answering any questions , okay , ” said a staff member at one Kushner-owned apartment complex in Baltimore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ array of commercial and residential real estate units around the country .
The firm , founded by Kushner ’ s father , has come under fire for predatory business practices .
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh , in a lawsuit filed last year , accused the company of failing to address rodent infestations while forcing tenants to pay illegitimate fees .
The real estate firm ’ s debt collection practices , which involve hundreds of lawsuits pursuing tenants often for small amounts of debt , have been detailed in reporting in ProPublica and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Kushner ’ s attorneys have gone so far as to pursue civil arrest warrants for at least 105 tenants over unpaid fees and rent .
Last month , Netflix released “ Slumlord Millionaire , ” a mini-documentary about the abusive practices of Kushner ’ s real estate companies .
The feature describes Kushner as a “ tier one predator , ” who has used harassment tactics to drive tenants out of rent-stabilized apartments in New York , while systematically imposing hefty fees on tenants in Maryland .
The feature shows tenants dealing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , water damage , mold , fire code violations and shoddy maintenance .
The court docket of March cases in New Jersey and Maryland list a variety of eviction and landlord-initiated collection lawsuits .
Some of the filings do not list the underlying reason for the case .
New Jersey law , for instance , allows eviction lawsuits over unpaid rent , drug conviction , or a violation of the terms of the lease agreement .
The Wall Street Journal reported that Kushner Companies is pivoting to suburban markets without rent control laws @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a New York commercial real estate building in Manhattan plagued by vacancies and soaring debt in 2018 , the firm increased its low- and middle-income housing portfolio .
Last year , the company spent over $ 1 billion to purchase 6,000 suburban apartment units in Maryland and Virginia from Lone Star Funds , a Texas private equity fund .
The acquisition was funded in part by Freddie Mac , the government mortgage provider .
Laurent Morali , president of Kushner Companies , has said that the new multifamily apartment building units will drive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about 3 percent annually .
The Kushner real estate interests , responsible for the family ’ s vast wealth , have notably benefitted widely from government largesse .
The Baltimore Sun found that three Maryland apartment complexes owned by the family have received $ 6.1 million in federal rent subsidies from 2015 through 2017 .
The bailout could be an even bigger boon for the business .
Under the new CARES Act , mortgage payments for low and middle income housing developments may be suspended in exchange for freezing evictions on those who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ applies to units purchased with government-backed mortgages , which may apply to the apartment units purchased through Freddie Mac last year as well as another tranche of apartment units purchased by Kushner in 2012 .
It ’ s not clear whether Kushner meets the statutory threshold to qualify , and his company has not responded to reporters ’ questions on the issue .

Jared Kushner’s family real estate company, which owns and manages thousands of apartment units, continued its aggressive eviction practices and debt collection lawsuits as Americans wait for government relief. Well into the coronavirus crisis, which has led to skyrocketing unemployment, court records show properties owned by Kushner Companies are still filing new eviction lawsuits.
At least 15 tenants in New Jersey and Maryland have been on the receiving end of lawsuits from Kushner-owned properties even after both states declared states of emergency. Govs. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., and Larry Hogan, R-Md., have both called for a moratorium on evictions and courts have been closed, postponing hearing dates for a range of debt collection-related activities.
The Maryland and New Jersey moratoriums on evictions, however, do not prevent debt collectors from filing new lawsuits.
On March 25, Westminster Management, a unit of Kushner Companies, filed a lawsuit requesting sheriff services to enforce an eviction against a man residing at the company’s Harbor Point Estate apartment in Essex, Maryland. Days later, on March 30, Kushner’s company filed a collection lawsuit against another man in the same complex.
The previous week, on March 19, Oxford Arms, a Kushner-owned apartment complex in Edison, New Jersey, filed six lawsuits against tenants. Other lawsuits have been filed in recent weeks against tenants by legal entities tied to the Whispering Woods complex in Middle River, Maryland; the Cove Village complex in Essex, Maryland; and the Pier Village building in Long Branch, New Jersey — all of which are owned by Kushner.
Experts say the continued collection filings and letters threatening financial penalties in the near future could cause undue stress during a period in which Americans are already reeling from the trauma of mass layoffs, social isolation, and health care issues fueled by the pandemic.
“Not being able to sleep, eat, stress with the marriage, and stress with the family is typical for somebody being hounded by a debt collector,” said Peter Holland, a consumer rights attorney based in Annapolis, Maryland, “and I can only imagine it’s even more typical now.”
Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, serves as a senior adviser at the White House. His role in the Covid-19 response effort has come under fire in recent days after the promise of a nationwide network of drive-through testing sites never materialized. Kushner also tapped his brother Joshua to build a federal response website promised by Trump, which was ultimately scrapped.
Kushner, whose estimated net worth is around $800 million, has said in the past that he has stepped away from day-to-day management of the real estate firm, though he has not relinquished his ownership stake. Ethics disclosures show that he still receives millions of dollars a year in income from rent collected by his assorted real estate portfolio, including the chain of apartment buildings.
Image: Google Street View
Kushner Companies, as well as New Jersey and Maryland attorneys representing Kushner’s real estate subsidiaries, did not respond to requests for comment.
“We’re doing all we can for tenants. I’m not answering any questions, OK?” said a staff member at one Kushner-owned apartment complex in Baltimore County.
Kushner Companies owns a vast array of commercial and residential real estate units around the country. The firm, founded by Kushner’s father, has come under fire for predatory business practices. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, in a lawsuit filed last year, accused the company of failing to address rodent infestations while forcing tenants to pay illegitimate fees.
The real estate firm’s debt collection practices, which involve hundreds of lawsuits pursuing tenants often for small amounts of debt, have been detailed in reporting in ProPublica and the Baltimore Sun. In the past, Kushner’s attorneys have gone so far as to pursue civil arrest warrants for at least 105 tenants over unpaid fees and rent.
Last month, Netflix released “Slumlord Millionaire,” a mini-documentary about the abusive practices of Kushner’s real estate companies. The feature describes Kushner as a “tier one predator,” who has used harassment tactics to drive tenants out of rent-stabilized apartments in New York, while systematically imposing hefty fees on tenants in Maryland. The feature shows tenants dealing with debt collection letters, eviction notices, water damage, mold, fire code violations, and shoddy maintenance.
The court docket of March cases in New Jersey and Maryland list a variety of eviction and landlord-initiated collection lawsuits. Some of the filings do not list the underlying reason for the case. New Jersey law, for instance, allows eviction lawsuits over unpaid rent, drug conviction, or a violation of the terms of the lease agreement.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Kushner Companies is pivoting to suburban markets without rent control laws. After offloading 666 Fifth Avenue, a New York commercial real estate building in Manhattan plagued by vacancies and soaring debt in 2018, the firm increased its low- and middle-income housing portfolio. Last year, the company spent over $1 billion to purchase 6,000 suburban apartment units in Maryland and Virginia from Lone Star Funds, a Texas private equity fund. The acquisition was funded in part by Freddie Mac, the government mortgage provider.
Laurent Morali, president of Kushner Companies, has said that the new multifamily apartment building units will drive growth because rent can be increased by about 3 percent annually.
The Kushner real estate interests, responsible for the family’s vast wealth, have notably benefitted widely from government largesse. The Baltimore Sun found that three Maryland apartment complexes owned by the family have received $6.1 million in federal rent subsidies from 2015 through 2017.
The bailout could be an even bigger boon for the business. Under the new CARES Act, mortgage payments for low- and middle-income housing developments may be suspended in exchange for freezing evictions on those who cannot afford rent. The law applies to units purchased with government-backed mortgages, which may apply to the apartment units purchased through Freddie Mac last year, as well as another tranche of apartment units purchased by Kushner in 2012. It’s not clear whether Kushner meets the statutory threshold to qualify, and his company has not responded to reporters’ questions on the issue.


theintercept--2020-04-04--Amid Critical Supply Shortage, FEMA Is Spending Millions to Protect Trump Properties

has provided less than 10 percent of the N95 masks requested by officials in five states and the District of Columbia , according to documents released Thursday by the House Oversight Committee .
FEMA also told the committee that the Strategic National Stockpile had only 9,500 remaining ventilators — far short of what will likely be needed to treat a growing number of coronavirus patients .
Although federal officials have known of the shortages for months , they have not been remedied .
Yet every year since 2017 , Congress has directed FEMA to set aside $ 41 million of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of providing security for President Donald Trump ’ s properties .
The “ Presidential Residence Assistant Protection Grants ” were most recently funded by Congress in an appropriations package in December .
According to memos posted on its website , FEMA has previously identified Trump properties in New York , New Jersey , and Florida as “ qualifying residences ” and paid out millions of dollars to the New York Police Department and Palm Beach County Sheriff ’ s Office , among others .
The grant program is limited to reimbursing “ operational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enforcement and can not be used to underwrite salaries or purchase police equipment .
The grant program does not make up a huge part of FEMA ’ s annual budget or its disaster relief fund , which just received a $ 45 billion infusion from last month ’ s stimulus bill .
But at a time when every federal dollar counts , some question whether the payout to secure Trump properties is a good use of government resources .
Tyson Slocum , a program director with the advocacy group Public Citizen , told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ doesn ’ t seem to be in line with FEMA ’ s core objectives ” and that he had “ a financial conflict of interest concern ” about it .
Public Citizen recently used public records requests to show how much the Secret Service paid to rent rooms at Trump ’ s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida .
“ It ’ s been well established that President Trump spends an inordinate amount of time at his properties , that he routinely advertises his properties as part of his official duties , and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help offset local security costs is an indirect benefit to the president , ” Slocum said .
“ Allowing reimbursements to those local law enforcement costs could be relieving the Trump businesses of having to provide extra security.
” A former FEMA official who declined to be named for fear of professional reprisal , told The Intercept that the $ 41 million grant program was created in 2017 to help cover the huge costs of security at Trump ’ s residences , though it is unclear who in Congress shepherded the language to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The former official pointed out that previous presidents have spent time in private residences — like the vacation home Barack Obama rented on Martha ’ s Vineyard in 2013 , or the private ranch used by George W. Bush while in office — but that neither burdened local law enforcement agencies the way that Trump ’ s trips to his properties have .
In 2017 , for example , a letter from the NYPD to Congress estimated that it had cost the department $ 24 million to provide security to Trump Tower @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s headquarters during the transition period between Election Day and his inauguration .
A FEMA spokesperson told The Intercept by email that the money earmarked for security at Trump properties could not be repurposed due to language in the appropriations bills , which requires that the money be used “ exclusively ” for “ protection activities … directly and demonstrably associated with any residence of the President that is designated or identified to be secured by the US Secret Service.
” FEMA is “ evaluating changes in the application processes and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government ’ s Covid-19 response efforts , the spokesperson said .
Since 2017 , the Trump administration ’ s budget requests have proposed steep cuts to FEMA ’ s disaster preparedness grants , drawing condemnation from some experts who claim that they are necessary to prepare for future disasters .
Last year , the Trump administration also took more than $ 150 million from FEMA ’ s disaster relief fund to pay for immigration enforcement along the southern border .

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided less than 10 percent of the N95 masks requested by officials in five states and the District of Columbia, according to documents released Thursday by the House Oversight Committee. FEMA also told the committee that the Strategic National Stockpile had only 9,500 remaining ventilators — far short of what will likely be needed to treat a growing number of coronavirus patients.
Although federal officials have known of the shortages for months, they have not been remedied. Yet every year since 2017, Congress has directed FEMA to set aside $41 million of its budget to offset the extraordinary costs of providing security for President Donald Trump’s properties. The “Presidential Residence Assistant Protection Grants” were most recently funded by Congress in an appropriations package in December.
According to memos posted on its website, FEMA has previously identified Trump properties in New York, New Jersey, and Florida as “qualifying residences” and paid out millions of dollars to the New York Police Department and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, among others. The grant program is limited to reimbursing “operational overtime and backfill overtime” for law enforcement and cannot be used to underwrite salaries or purchase police equipment.
The grant program does not make up a huge part of FEMA’s annual budget or its disaster relief fund, which just received a $45 billion infusion from last month’s stimulus bill. But at a time when every federal dollar counts, some question whether the payout to secure Trump properties is a good use of government resources.
Tyson Slocum, a program director with the advocacy group Public Citizen, told The Intercept by phone that the program “doesn’t seem to be in line with FEMA’s core objectives” and that he had “a financial conflict of interest concern” about it. Public Citizen recently used public records requests to show how much the Secret Service paid to rent rooms at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
“It’s been well established that President Trump spends an inordinate amount of time at his properties, that he routinely advertises his properties as part of his official duties, and that having this sort of special fund to help offset local security costs is an indirect benefit to the president,” Slocum said. “Allowing reimbursements to those local law enforcement costs could be relieving the Trump businesses of having to provide extra security.”
A former FEMA official who declined to be named for fear of professional reprisal, told The Intercept that the $41 million grant program was created in 2017 to help cover the huge costs of security at Trump’s residences, though it is unclear who in Congress shepherded the language to passage then and in each year since.
The former official pointed out that previous presidents have spent time in private residences — like the vacation home Barack Obama rented on Martha’s Vineyard in 2013, or the private ranch used by George W. Bush while in office — but that neither burdened local law enforcement agencies the way that Trump’s trips to his properties have.
In 2017, for example, a letter from the NYPD to Congress estimated that it had cost the department $24 million to provide security to Trump Tower, the Manhattan property that served as Trump’s headquarters during the transition period between Election Day and his inauguration.
Read Our Complete Coverage The Coronavirus Crisis
A FEMA spokesperson told The Intercept by email that the money earmarked for security at Trump properties could not be repurposed due to language in the appropriations bills, which requires that the money be used “exclusively” for “protection activities … directly and demonstrably associated with any residence of the President that is designated or identified to be secured by the US Secret Service.”
FEMA is “evaluating changes in the application processes and grant requirements” as a result of the government’s Covid-19 response efforts, the spokesperson said.
Since 2017, the Trump administration’s budget requests have proposed steep cuts to FEMA’s disaster preparedness grants, drawing condemnation from some experts who claim that they are necessary to prepare for future disasters. Last year, the Trump administration also took more than $150 million from FEMA’s disaster relief fund to pay for immigration enforcement along the southern border.