There absolutely was not means testing for PPP loans, go search your largest local car dealer, real estate developer, construction company and law firm, I’ll guarantee they pocketed $10 million each.
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That’s not what means testing is.
It’s American means testing - if you have the means to lobby Congress and donate to their political campaigns then you get the money.
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Only coverd 10 weeks of payroll of salaries up to $100k annually. So yes, means tested. The rampant fraud is a different issue.
This is also not what means testing is.
In case there’s genuine confusion: means testing is limiting benefits to recipients who are below an income (or wealth, revenue, etc) threshold. It’s (allegedly) testing whether you have the means to get by without the proposed benefit.
Lowering the benefit (like saying you only get ten weeks of 100k/week instead of twenty weeks) is not means testing. Limiting the benefit to small businesses regardless of their revenues is not means testing.
FWIW, there’s an element of means testing for second-draw PPP loans: your business must have experienced a revenue drop of 25% or more in any quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019.
Also, for the PPP loan to be forgivable, it must be spent on salaries, benefits, rent/mortgage, or utilities. Or in the new round also damage to your business done by protests or something lol.
With all that said, while I think the specific details of the PPP program are debatable (and it is incredibly vulnerable to fraud and angle shooting, and even without that sends a shitload of money to a lot of people who don’t “need” it), I think the point is/should be that there wasn’t really any debate at all! Their priority was speed so they just rushed the money out the door. There wasn’t anything close to this scrutiny over $1400 vs. $2000 or whatever, or who really “deserves” what.
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Grandparents on my dads side are 82ish (can’t remember for sure), have been retired for 15 years and are still super sharp but they don’t sit around the house all day they have a lot going on. My grandpa chops wood, takes care of their large country property, hauls goods for farmers during harvest, operates heavy equipment, works on cars and other vehicles. Most of the time I’m around them I can’t believe they’re that old, hope I got those good genes.
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Well not for nothing but my company is about to get a second PPP loan based on the fact that one of our 2020 quarters was more than 25% below the same quarter in 2019 revenue-wise…despite the fact that our 2020 was a significantly more profitable year than our 2019 overall. So in that sense, yes, we were “means-tested” but we are still getting a PPP loan intended to help struggling businesses when in fact we are demonstrably the opposite of struggling. And it’s perfectly legal. But definitely let’s lower the threshold for those $1400 checks. These fuckin guys man.
Yeah they added some minimal testing for round 2, which is actually based off of losses from the pandemic rather than how well you did in the year before the pandemic hit. Round 1 didn’t have anything like that as far as I can tell, and there was no push from the Dems to include it.
The latest Journal of Economic Perspectives has a symposium on minimum wage research.
This article gives a good summary of research on how minimum wages effect employment. The bottom line is that there isn’t good evidence that increasing the minimum wage results in lower employment.
I also learned form this article that in France the minimum wages is called the salaire minimum de croissant because it’s just enough to allow workers to buy the national pastry. OK not really but close enough.
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FWIW obv I agree with monthly checks and no means testing, but in terms of this argument aren’t other countries only doing this if you lost your job from the pandemic? At least thats what I saw back when this was posted for Canada and Aus. Which is about equal to our unemployment add ons off +400.
If they want to do some popular shit, how about regulating credit card companies? I just got this from Chase, I usually just delete them, but they can apparently just increase their credit card interest rate to 30%!? Absurd. Ban overdraft fees too. Do your fucking job.
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I have a few more to add to this list:
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Get rid of this bullshit 401k system where every plan has different rules, investment options, and expense structures. Furthermore, many people aren’t even covered by a plan at work because their employers are too cheap. Teachers and non-profit workers have an even shittier 403b that is managed by an insurance company. The best (and lowest cost) retirement plan in the country is the TSP for Federal employees. Why can’t this just be expanded to cover everyone in the US?
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Regulate the creep of non-compete agreements under the Commerce Clause. These are a scourge on the professional class and holds down wages.
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The totally LOL and indefensible fact that we pay more money for the same pharmaceuticals than any other country in the world.
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It only covers income <100k pa. How is that not means testing?
A free lunch with a max 40$ bottle of wine is still a free lunch even if you’re accustomed to a 90$ bottle.
Because any small business can get it up to that amount (in round 1 at least).
It wouldn’t be means testing if we told a millionaire they only get the $2000 check everyone else gets, even if that millionaire can argue that $2000 isn’t enough to meet their expenses.
They used to do it to me all the time - increase my credit line, then when I actually use the increased credit line, jack my rates up as a bad credit risk.
They usually give you the option of cancelling the card and paying it off under the old terms. But they don’t have to - and one didn’t.
Meanwhile other credit cards are sending me blank checks to pay off the balance of the ones that just jacked up my rates. Madness.
My absolute favorite is when they send you some new terms but then always add “and we can change these any time we want for any reason”. What’s the point of even having terms?
Agreed. Its a reason this place is dying out.