$1m+ Forgiven PPP Loan

(1) Something remarkable about the stimulus program in general is that there was very little means-testing.

My family got stimulus check despite the Coronavirus having positive effects on our finances as opposed to negative effects (Quit spending money on certain things, my job wasn't affected, my wife teaches people to ride horses which is a great socially distanced activity.)

On one hand we know means-testing denies benefits to many people who deserve them because they cannot or will not do the paperwork. One might make the case that if I get a stimulus check and spend it that demand will help people who would otherwise be unemployed. However, extra money kicking around might feed the shortages-and-inflation phenomenon... I have been looking for ways to spend money on my photography hobby but whenever I find a printer I want or a lens I want it is out of stock.

(2) The "public private partnership" approach which is typified by Obamacare and PPP erodes the legitimacy of the government even when it is effective policy. One could say it is the role of banks to make loans to make a profit, not to make loans to bail out the economy. If the government wants to bail people out they should do it directly.

These programs were designed to get money to people quickly, not to get it right / minimize fraud. This is an unintended, but very real consequence of doing something big, necessary and fast.

Ughhh the loans were meant to be forgiven if used for payroll and to help the business keep people employed. It was a stop gap measure to prevent further layoffs. My company hired employees with the PPP loan and had to submit a lot of paperwork to get the loans forgiven. As long as the loans were used for payroll, they can be forgiven. We had to get our employee count back up to pre covid layoffs and show proof of hours worked, еtc.

Rather, it should be an encouragement to start your own corp. COVID relief funds were given even to 1-person consultancies. You don't need to be rich.

PPP was not just about restaurants and entertainment. It was about putting financial pressure on businesses to retain employees. You could not get the loan forgiven if you fired anyone. At the time, there was massive uncertainty and the program was meant to shore up both business and consumer confidence. This objective was good for businesses.

Did everyone actually need it? Certainly not, but was already enough chaos and bureaucracy around getting the aid flowing that any additional tests would have been just more gum in the works. Additionally, there was political pressure from the Republicans to forbid any kind of accounting for the aid.

Government stimulus/welfare/aid is nothing new and PPP is certainly not the end of capitalism.

That is just my view of it though and I would be happy to know more about others'