Welcome to Axisprorata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the conclusion of tech, business, and politics.

I'm Danper Mack. On today's show, Big Tech fills the testing vacuum and Liz Warren's Bill of Rights for Essential Workers.

But first, the next economic crisis. So there has obviously been an enormous amount of attention

paid to the economic toll that coronavirus lockdowns have caused individuals and businesses.

But the next big trouble spot could be state, county, and local governments. In short, none of them

are generating the tax revenue they expected to generate, particularly in areas heavily

reliant on sales

and tourism taxes. And obviously, income taxes have taken a huge hit and even property

taxes could be affected in terms of commercial and industrial landlords seeking deferrals

because they aren't collecting rents from shuttered tenants. All of this is a possible nightmare

scenario in which government services, everything from

education to sanitation to safety, could be negatively impacted, with governments literally

running out of money. Remember, local and state governments still have almost all the same

expenses they had before the crisis, but plus extra ones now in terms of added unemployment benefits and areas like health care.

And most of them are legally required to balance their budgets, unlike the federal government.

One solution here could be issuing new general obligation bonds. Now, that's something that's usually difficult to do.

Bonds usually you do to build a new school or build a new highway, although it might be made a bit easier via a new Federal Reserve backstop program.

The downside here, higher rates, and eventually states and cities would have to pay those.

The other more viable solution probably is increased federal bailout money, on top of the

$150 billion included in the initial CARES Act.

But that, putting more money to state and local governments,

it's currently in congressional limbo

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