BILLION $$ COVID SCAM: BIG BUSINESS WINS

This past April, the U.S. Congress, with much fanfare from the mainstream media, passed a $669 billion business loan initiative called the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). It was described as intending to help small business owners, self-employed workers, sole proprietors, and non-profit organizations stay open during the COVID-19 lockdowns. 
The low-interest loans were to help small businesses make payroll, pay rent, etc., to keep millions of employees from losing their jobs. The program was administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Note: According to the U.S Chamber of Commerce, as of 2018, there were 30.2 million small businesses operating in the U.S. Most significantly, 99.9 percent of businesses in the U.S. are small businesses.
Who Got The Money?
After the SBA was forced to release the trail of disbursements due to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Washington Post and ten other news organizations, it is now known that most of the money promoted as going to small businesses actually went to large corporations, including national chains.
Some Freedom of Information data obtained included: 

• “More than half of the money from the Treasury Department’s coronavirus emergency fund for small businesses went to just 5% of the recipients.”
• “About 600 mostly larger companies, including dozens of national chains, received the maximum amount allowed under the program of $10 million.”
• “Officials from the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration have argued that the program primarily benefits smaller businesses because a vast majority of the loans – more than 87% – were for less than $150,000, as of August. But the new data show that more than half of the $522 billion in the same time frame had gone to bigger businesses, and only 28% of the money was distributed in amounts of under $150,000.”
• “The Treasury Department later asked large well-capitalized borrowers to return their funding, though the agency has not disclosed which borrowers have done so.”
• “A Washington Post analysis of 4.9 million loans initially released by the SBA contained numerous errors, casting doubt on the administration’s claim that the $517 billion in lending had supported 51 million jobs.”

In addition to large companies with huge reserves receiving financial aid said to be going to support small businesses devastated by the extended lockdowns, some members of Congress personally profited. Forbes reported on 16 July, “Businesses owned by Rep. Roger Williams (R-Tex.) and Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), as well as businesses connected to the husbands of Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) and Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell (D-Fla.), all received loans from the program.”
According to Forbes, Congress added language into the PPP legislation that allowed large hotel chains, including the Trump Organization, to qualify for the small business loans, even though they had much more than the maximum 500 employees allowed. Among the added language, for example:
“During the covered period, any business concern that employs not more than 500 employees per physical location of the business concern… at the time of disbursal shall be eligible to receive a covered loan.”
Notice the sneaky phrase “500 employees per physical location.” In fact, the Trump Organization, like many of the large companies sucking billions from the small business fund, employs thousands overall, but not more than 500 at any one site.
Among the dozens of large, well-financed companies which received SBA loans intended for struggling small businesses:

• Auto Nation (market cap $3 billion), received $80 million
• Shake Shack (market cap 1.7 billion), received $10 million
• LA Lakers (not publicly traded), received $4.6 million

And, according to CNBC, the luxury sushi restaurant and hotel chain Nobu, financially backed by Robert De Niro, “took 14 loans from the U.S. small business relief program for as much as $28 million, according to government filings.”
As for the argument that money going to large companies like Auto Nation kept people employed, Freedom of Information data showed that “for more than 875,000 borrowers, the data shows zero jobs were supported or no information is listed at all.”
TRENDPOST: Fortune magazine reported that as of 28 September, nearly 100,000 American small businesses that temporarily shut down due to the lockdowns are now permanently out of business. 
Metroplex Social reports that since March, when the lockdowns started, 26.5 million U.S. jobs were lost. Yet, of the $349 billion earmarked for truly small businesses and sole proprietors, the SBA only approved 4 percent of the loans, with most of the money going to larger companies.