341–350 of 354 posts
I'm working on a dashboard to map each of these loans geographically: https://www.quiverquant.com/sources/sbaloans It's a slow process (as I've been respectful of the rate-limit on the reverse geocoding API I'm using), but I finished mapping four states and hope to complete the other 46 by the end of this week.
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I agree with this. Any argument about moral hazard is out the window. Any argument about this being like “too big to fail” is misapplied. Banks in 2008 created the crisis and their risky loan portfolios and balance sheets. No company created Covid or state shutdowns. Let’s come together with a spirit of generosity and cooperation. Not petulance and resentment.
Those things didn't cause covid, but they did cause the companies to be unable to handle the crisis. The outrage is mostly centered around companies who are wildly profitable and/or spend tons of money on stock buybacks and dividends instead of planning for an inevitable disaster. Look at this: in 2019 Delta Airlines spent around $2b buying their own stock [1]. They also spent $300m buying their own stock in March 20…
The thing is, if we don’t want to help companies that conduct stock buy backs during times of plenty, then need help during times of famine, 1. The time of famine or pandemic is not the time to fight that battle. Let’s revise stock but back law later. 2. Honestly, no policy can be designed to handle a global pandemic. This is not a normal time. Let’s leave the blame and moralizing for a few years from now.
Stock buy backs used to be illegal. Maybe they should be again. Or maybe only after a company has passed a financial stress test.
The thing is, the more we design the system for these unexpected edge cases the more complicated it gets. Maybe it just be better to have something like FDIC insurance that all companies buy and kicks in automatically.
This great. This is going to really bring out some interesting facts. Looks like even Adult Entertainment businesses got money through Paycheck Protection Program. Example: https://pppreport.org/company/11000+reeder+l+l+c
They have had to completely shut down in many places. They are legal businesses like any other, so why shouldn't they get PPP funds like any other business?
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/federal-courts-side-str...
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There is money left because people were scared shitless after the SBA threatened criminal prosecution for misleading certifications. The problem is that issued a statement redefined the certification after the fact and made it much more strict and than when they were initially released. All of the sudden a bunch of people thought accepting the PPP funds would land them in Jail. Go to the reddit PPP or small business…
To be fair, this is mostly conjecture on your part. Reddit threads aren't a good way to get a handle on what millions of businesses of all different sizes are doing or why.
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There's a strong case to be made that, given our position as the world's reserve currency (without any clear challenger) and our dirt-cheap borrowing costs, the national debt is pretty close to free money. It's not like we're ever going to roll up our sleeves and pay it off, or even down. We'll just inflate it away. I'm not arguing for unrestricted spending, but a couple trillion to avoid economic collapse, borrowed…
Why do we pay taxes then if the government can just borrow that money?
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Because tax payers, through their elected representatives, implemented social policy shutting down economic activity. Businesses operate with a state issued license to operate. If the government seized that license it will be taking private property without compensation in violation of the constitution. So the tax payers can either pay to help companies survive or they can pay for seizures of private property. Frame…
By that measure tons of people had their private property taken...PPP just picked the winners of the taxpayer bailout. And no, government ordered shutdowns are not taking of private property, it’s done all the time for Natural disasters And taxpayers don’t bail out the businesses. Not to mention business don’t have “licenses” from the state, they may be incorporated and organized, but that wasn’t a requirement of the…
Not a good look for the Ayn Rand Institute lol
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I believe that's why the parent comment had used quotes. It's not a loan, it's a subsidy. Calling it a loan is misleading, because loans are meant to be paid back, and this isn't.
I believe it's a loan that can be forgiven if you fit into certain criteria. So, it's still a loan. If you fuck it up you have to pay back
So, what if a business was successful, not impacted by covid, and wasn’t planning to lay off any employees anyway? Say, technology consulting company with 100 employees. Took out a PPP “loan”, which will be promptly forgiven since they keep the staff, who gets to keep the money? Something tells me 100% goes to business owner and 0% to employees. I think there are quite a few companies like this. Hence “money goes to…
You are exactly right. In fact, I know of a few businesses that actually had MORE business (wholesalers), and the CEO of one told my friend that he was just going to use the money to buy his wife a new Porsche. This is anecdotal for sure, but there is no reason why firms wouldn't rely on free money as long as they are amoral enough. If I had implemented the plan, I would have just created a program where the program…