When the Congress passes a federally-funded program, before the money is doled out regulations are typically put in place that define the parameters of the program and who is eligible to participate. However due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was little time for safeguards to be formulated and put in place before Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans were doled out.
If companies had the liquidity they were not supposed to take any part of the PPP loans, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. The loans needed to be applied for, and paperwork was supposed to then be reviewed by federal administrators. Those in charge of awarding the loans presumably knew who was getting the money.
Mnuchin responds to the Los Angeles Lakers taking money from the program in this video:
In order to get the improper loan money back, the government must widely publicize the identities of the businesses that wrongly applied for and received money which they were not entitled to. Such publicity is bound to severely hurt those recalcitrant businesses from a public relations standpoint.
There is an enormous number of small-town “Mom and Pop” businesses that are still trying to get through the application process for this help.
The Treasury Department might be forgiven for some negligence in the vetting process for these loans, when both the political left and the press were pushing them to disburse the funds immediately after Democrat tactics caused delays in approving the funds.
It was reminiscent of the rush job the Democrats forced on the Obamacare bill, with frantic deadlines caused first by their own political delays.
This piece was written by Wayne Dupree on April 28, 2020. It originally appeared in WayneDupree.com [1] and is used by permission.