Hello Readers,
Wishing all of you Happy Holidays and a prosperous new year. Right now, the biggest threat amongst us is the coronavirus and its impact on our life. The biggest impact is on those who already are hospitalized and/or going through tough treatment including ventilators. The next impact is that we have to wear masks, keep social distancing and wash our hands regularly. The third impact is everything that has closed, including businesses, restaurants, amusement parks, etc. The fourth impact is that the majority of us have not seen our loved once for the past 11 months and we don’t know when we will see them. The fifth impact is that we cannot hug our family and friends. The sixth impact is that we cannot live our lives like we used to, such as going to movie theaters, going to restaurants, traveling to many places in America and the world. And last but not the least, there is the fear of getting the virus at any given moment.
Finally, the second stimulus package of $900 billion has been passed through Congress and the Senate. The nearly 5,600-page bill was sent to the President for his signature. However, the stimulus package awarded money to some countries. Right now, we should think about the USA, not other countries. President Trump rejected the package, stating that $600 per person is not good enough. He said that it should be $2,000 per person or $4,000 per couple. Nancy Pelosi immediately said that she would work on an amendment to pass before the end of the year. President-elect Biden said that he would ask for a third stimulus package once he gets into office. That means he thinks that this round of stimulus is not enough.
Small businesses are struggling right now. Due to large corporations getting most of the money in the first stimulus package of March 2020, this time lawmakers were a little more careful, but there is still a touch of politics in the latest bill. The new eligibility part of the PPP loan is the only thing that has been applauded by most of the media and critics. There are some changes in the eligibility. Instead of 500 employees max, they made it 300 employees at each location (that’s problematic), for use of the full amount of PPP loans (that’s good), companies must demonstrate at least a 25% reduction on gross receipts in the first 3 quarters of 2020 compared to 2019 (that’s good), newspapers and public broadcasting with no more than 500 employees per location (why do they have advantages), the prohibition for publicly-traded news organizations was waived (large news media got the advantage…no good). So. as usual. the stimulus package has been written and decided by both parties to help some larger entities.
I met with one of the bank managers. She said that her bank’s administration is thinking about opting out of the PPP loan processing. She said that the work they are doing is too much to handle. Every other day, there is a rule change. These new PPP loans have more rules in giving out the loans and a lot of work in the forgiveness of the loan system. The way people are calling them, contacting them, and due to the fact that the SBA system is not up to par, the workload is so much more (triple) then they originally thought.
PPP loan and stimulus checks being digitally deposited in accounts is very good to uplift the economy. However, when a few people take advantage of it, it hurts all of us, especially small business owners.
Have a wonderful week. I’ll talk to you next week.
