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United States Businesses Politics

Paycheck Protection Program Out of Money: Thousands of Small Businesses Shut Out (cbsnews.com) 277

A key piece of the federal government's stimulus efforts to help small businesses and their employees has run out of money, shutting out thousands of potential borrowers who were seeking aid amidst the coronavirus-driven economic plunge. From a report: The U.S. Small Business Administration said Thursday morning the Paycheck Protection Program wouldn't be accepting any more applications for the $349 billion program. The agency reported approving more than 1.6 million Paycheck Protection Program loan applications totaling more than $339 billion from over 4,900 lending institutions. While that money has been approved, most borrowers are still waiting for those loans to be funded -- and for money to even show up in their accounts. "America's small businesses are on the brink, trying desperately to keep their doors open and support their employees," said Brad Close, president of the National Federation of Independent Business, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "We've been hearing from our members, every day, worried the $349 billion lending program would run dry before help gets to them. Today, their worries became a reality."
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Paycheck Protection Program Out of Money: Thousands of Small Businesses Shut Out

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  • by AmazingRuss ( 555076 ) on Thursday April 16, 2020 @11:19AM (#59955126)
    ..to buy a few congressmen.
    • Didn't you mean "foresight"? However, I think your comment is based on an incorrect premise. All of the congress-critters are already bought and paid for. Maybe one or two idealist jokers in the entire pack. Half a dozen, tops.

      (I do have a really radical solution approach for more democratic government. It doesn't even require irrational numbers, though the fractions would get pretty hairy. Or maybe it would benefit from using irrational numbers? I see a way to mix logarithms into it...)

      On the actual story,

      • As a small business guy, I'd say the FIRST thing they could have done - instantly, for EVERYONE - is halt all State and Federal taxes/fees for small businesses. No matching SSI/FICA, no UI/DI, etc. Most people don't realize that for every $1 spent on salary, another $0.25 is typically spent on the other parts of taxes/fees on that labor. Cut that immediately and you've just cut payroll by 20%. That alone is a big benefit - and could have been enacted immediately, with zero "paperwork" to fill out or rus
        • Suspending payroll taxes was one of the first options considered. It could have been enacted with immediate effect.

          Keeping people employed would have made far more sense than spending even more on unemployment checks. It also would have meant that people could immediately go back to work when the lockdown ends.

          I have no idea why they decided not to do it.

          • by shanen ( 462549 )

            I think you're just feeding a Libertarian delusion. Remember that their fundamental endgame is to abolish government, though most of them are sane enough to understand that is not possible and they start waffling exactly how much government they still need to protect their precious property. In deeper reality their precious property is only created and defined by the "terrible, tyrannous", government.

            If they actually understood freedom, then they would understand the freedom to act better than mindless Darw

  • Remember. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by LenKagetsu ( 6196102 ) on Thursday April 16, 2020 @11:31AM (#59955192)

    Most Americans don't have the savings to cover a $1000 bill: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/2... [cnbc.com]

    Within a month there could very well be two entire generations of fighting-age men who feel they have nothing to lose. A sizable amount of them own guns, and MRA groups have shouted about issues for decades.

    Then we get extremists.

    • Re: Remember. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Thursday April 16, 2020 @11:48AM (#59955278) Homepage

      Most Americans also pay $75/month or more for cable TV. So, I'm not sure if the blame doesn't fall squarely on the American household. We've decided as a nation that being a good consumer and funneling money into the hands of oligarchs is some form of patriotism. So, we keep earning less and less, and no one will do anything about it because it doesn't hurt the bottom line of the capitalists, who are the decision makers because of system is capitalist.

      When people stop consuming and start capitalizing, they not only put themselves in a better position than their neighbors, but they also send a price signal to the other capitalists so that the decision makers take into account the declining wealth of the consumer class.

      • 30 years ago, with savings, and she bought a house.

        Inflation is around 4%. Real inflation, not the fake #s you see from the Fed, but the increased cost of food, shelter, healthcare & transportation.

        Raises, if you get one, are usually 2%. 3% if you're real good and real lucky.

        My kid just graduated. She's a Nurse (or will be when she can take her final cert test to be an RN). She will make less money as an RN with a 4 year degree from a major university than an LPN with a 6 month community col
    • Why does it seem that no matter the story, there's always this group of folks that come out and let us all know that "this" will be the straw to break the camel's back and send us into a Civil War? The odds of any serious uprising is massively small in the United States.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Thursday April 16, 2020 @12:34PM (#59955518) Journal

    amidst the coronavirus-driven economic plunge.

    Let's be accurate. It's not "a coronavirus-driven economic plunge"; it's "coronavirus-reactiondriven economic plunge".

    Is it worth it? Who knows? Even on its own terms (preserving life) it is hard to know.

    It's hard to stay home when you are homeless. Being poor isn't healthy. And you can't get preventative medical care now even if you are not poor.

    The massive government reaction isn't free, not even in cost of lives, it's just harder to count the cost of the reaction.

"The vast majority of successful major crimes against property are perpetrated by individuals abusing positions of trust." -- Lawrence Dalzell

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