7 SMARTER LIVINGCan’t find it at the store? Try
bartering to make sure
everyone gets what they need
— and feels good about it.
MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020 B10 NTECH ECONOMY MEDIA FINANCE
2 FINANCE
Deutsche Bank has begun an
internal inquiry into the
personal banker to President
Trump and Jared Kushner.
2 AUTOMOBILESThe founder of Valkyrie
Racing is on a worldwide
quest in her Porsche, battling
child trafficking.
WASHINGTON — President Trump
has blamed China for the coro-
navirus pandemic and the ensu-
ing economic crisis, but as the
White House looks to stabilize
small businesses in the United
States, the rescue effort has had
an unintended beneficiary: Chi-
nese companies.
Millions of dollars of American
taxpayer money have flowed to
China from the $660 billion Pay-
check Protection Program that
was created in March to be a life-
line for struggling small busi-
nesses in the United States. But
because the economic relief legis-
lation allowed American subsid-
iaries of foreign firms to receive
the loans, a substantial chunk of
the money went to America’s big-
gest economic rival, a new analy-
sis shows.
According to a review of pub-
licly available loan data by the
strategy consulting firm Horizon
Advisory, $192 million to $419 mil-
lion has gone to more than 125
companies that Chinese entities
own or invest in. Many loans were
quite sizable; at least 32 Chinese
companies received loans worth
more than $1 million, with those
totaling as much as $180 million.
“The extent and nature of
P.R.C.-owned, -invested and -con-
nected entities among the P.P.P.
loan recipients indicate that with-
out appropriate policy guardrails,
U.S. tax dollars intended for relief,
recovery and growth of the U.S.
economy — and small businesses
in particular — risk supporting
foreign competitors, namely
China,” wrote Emily de LaChina Got
Some Aid
For Firms
In the U.S.
Paycheck Program
Allowed Subsidiaries
In America to Participate
By ALAN RAPPEPORTCONTINUED ON PAGE B5HONG KONG — Like Hong Kong,
HSBC has long sat at the cross-
roads between East and West, a
big global bank based in Britain
that has reveled in and profited
from its deep relationship with
China. And like Hong Kong, it is
now caught in the middle of a new
era of confrontation between Bei-
jing and major Western govern-
ments.
In China, HSBC has been ac-
cused of “setting traps” to ensnare
the Chinese tech giant, Huawei. In
Britain, it has been admonished
for seeming to back Huawei’s am-
bitions in the country.
Straddling neutral ground is no
longer an option. HSBC got called
out in China for not publicly back-
ing the new national security law
in Hong Kong. When the bank
eventually expressed support on
its Chinese social media account,
members of the British Parlia-
ment demanded an explanation
and urged HSBC to rescind the
statement.
Global businesses are increas-
ingly under pressure to pick sides
as the United States and its allies
target the political and economic
agenda of China.
American technology compa-
nies like Facebook, Twitter,
Google and LinkedIn have
pledged to defy data requests in
Hong Kong under China’s new se-
curity law. Manufacturers have
disentangled their supply chains
to cut out Chinese companies that
the American government has
banned over human rights vio-
lations or national security con-
cerns. Big banks are scouring cli-
ent lists to ensure compliance af-
ter the United States pledged to
imposed sanctions on individuals
considered to be eroding Hong
Kong’s autonomy.
Many multinationals also
worry that complying with Ameri-A Showdown
Snags HSBC
In the Middle
By ALEXANDRA STEVENSONCONTINUED ON PAGE B2Picture this Thanksgiving: tur-
key, football (maybe), tenser-
than-usual interactions with
relatives. And perhaps a new
tradition: finding out who actu-
ally won the presidential elec-
tion.
The coronavirus crisis means
that states like Pennsylvania
may be counting mail-in ballots
for weeks, while President
Trump tweets false allegations
about fraud. And the last barriers
between American democracy
and a deep political crisis may be
television news and some ver-
sion of that maddening needle on
The New York Times website.
I spoke last week to execu-
tives, TV hosts and election
analysts across leading Ameri-
can newsrooms, and I was struck
by the blithe confidence among
some top managers and hosts,
who generally said they’ve han-
dled complicated elections before
and can do so again. And I was
alarmed by the near panic
among some of the people pay-
ing the closest attention — the
analysts and producers trying,
and often failing, to get answers
from state election officials about
how and when they will count
the ballots and report results.
“The nerds are freaking out,”
said Brandon Finnigan, the
founder of Decision Desk HQ,
which delivers election results to
media outlets. “I don’t think it’s
penetrated enough in the aver-
age viewer’s mind that there’s
not going to be an election night.
The usual razzmatazz of a panel
sitting around discussing election
results — that’s dead,” he said.Rethinking Election Night
Before the Media Falls Flat
DELCAN & COMPANYBen Smith
THE MEDIA EQUATION
CONTINUED ON PAGE B4The Shawnee neighborhood in Louisville, Ky.,
is a paradox: The houses are affordable, but
they can be difficult to buy. The prices are so
low that most banks and lenders will not both-
er writing mortgages for them.
That was the problem facing Christopher T.
Smith when he moved back to Shawnee, a his-
torically Black neighborhood along the Ohio
River, where his mother still lives in the house
where he grew up.
He and his wife, Gloria, did not expect to
buy in an area where houses are more often
scooped up by speculators who can pay in
cash. “We were just looking to rent,” said Mr.Smith, who works as a hospital housekeeper
and a part-time gardener.
But then the broker who was showing them
rentals mentioned that a local credit union had
begun offering so-called small-dollar mort-
gages — loans of less than $100,000 that are
not lucrative enough for most lenders to make.
The Smiths qualified and closed on their
$86,000 home in October. “There’s nothing like
owning your own home,” Mr. Smith said. “If I
want to paint it, I can.”
Small-dollar mortgages open a path to
homeownership for those who otherwise
would be shut out, particularly Black and His-Christopher T. Smith bought his home for $86,000 — a sum that is usually too small for a bank to lend. “There’s nothing like owning your own home,” Mr. Smith said. “If I want to paint it, I can.”
MICHAEL BLACKSHIRE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESWhere a Little Mortgage
Can Give a Big Boost
By MATTHEW GOLDSTEINCONTINUED ON PAGE B510%
The percentage of mortgages for
$100,000 or less last year in the U.S.4.5%
The interest rate on the MicroMortgage
Marketplace pilot project