Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
I'd love to hear the justification for spending a PPP loan on a 52 Mantle. I am not remembering a prior discussion.
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Technically, no one receiving and having a PPP loan forgiven spent the loan money on anything other than their payroll and certain other qualified expenses, incurred during a very specific time period. Paying out such payroll/qualified expense amounts in excess of the PPP loans received was what qualified them to be forgiven. The plan/idea behind the PPP loans was as sort of a pre-emptive way to make sure businesses (and the overall economy) potentially being affected by Covid would be able to continue on, and keep employing and paying their workers who were coming down with Covid and/or facing the restrictions, shutdowns, closings, and other problems everyone was facing during the initial onslaught of the pandemic. At the time, no one really knew how devastating and prolonged the pandemic crisis would be, and the loan program and forgiveness aspect was sort of an insurance policy to help keep businesses from failing, and workers from potentially losing jobs and paychecks. Had the program not been in effect, it is likely that many businesses would have ceased operations and/or terminated employees, placing a much greater cost and burden on the nation's and states' unemployment programs and systems. Also, potential employment terminations would have likely led to losses of hospitalization and health insurance for many workers, greatly increasing issues and risks to them and their families' health and welfare. It likely would also have vastly increased the number of people then seeking coverage and assistance under the government subsidized health programs available, and greatly increased the workload and expense borne by that system as well.
At least our government did something to try and help keep businesses open, workers employed and still getting paid, and the U.S. economy from possibly being upended. There clearly are many people and businesses who lucked out when they weren't affected as badly by Covid as many in our government initially feared. There are also clearly people and businesses who did NOT follow the rules or meet the specific conditions necessary to obtain these PPP loans, and forgiveness of them. And those in this latter group should be investigated and prosecuted where deserving.
But to question, put down, chastise, and/or denigrate those people whose businesses ended up not being as badly affected by the pandemic as may have initially been thought, and/or who maybe earned that extra profit by working harder and being more flexible and resilient in how they were able to keep their businesses going and their workers employed during the pandemic, is simply ludicrous and ignorant. Just like questioning what someone decides to spend money they honestly and legally earned on. That is their business, not really anyone else's. Would people make the same comments/questions about say someone talking/bragging about how they went and bought a T206 red Cobb with the money they got from their EV (electric vehicle) credit on their tax return, or would they normally just simply congratulate them on their good fortune and their pickup? Because in the end, it is basically just the same thing as the PPP loans, a government program/policy set up to benefit people/businesses so as to influence them to act in a certain way.