It’ll be hard to forget the COVID-19 pandemic that so far has ruined our year. Small businesses are struggling to stay afloat, many everyday people are losing their jobs, and some of these people may lose their homes. Then, to add insult to injury, they may not have health insurance in the event they become ill with the disease.

It’s fair to say the relief effort has exalted some and abandoned others. One of the much talked about relief efforts is the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). I was pleasantly surprised when the SBA and Treasury announced the release of the PPP loan data. You have to appreciate transparency. As you may expect, the major media and news outlets helped themselves to the newly released data to see what businesses received more than a million in loans. I honestly think the loans should have been capped at a million, but what do I know?

Much of the criticism of the program comes from the fact it was sold as designed to help struggling small businesses retain their employees, but some of the businesses receiving loans were valued at over a billion dollars and raking in over hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues.

I’m sure non-partisan analyses of the program will be done. I’ll hold my verdict until such an analysis is complete.

References

SBA and Treasury Announce Release of Paycheck Protection Program Loan Data. https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/sba-and-treasury-announce-release-paycheck-protection-program-loan-data. Last accessed: 7/15/2020.

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