The Small Business Administration has exhausted $250 billion in funds set aside for the Payment Protection Program, but where did the money go?
We may not know exactly who got the money for some time, but we do have some idea of where the money didn't go: blue states
In Nebraska, for example, nearly 75 percent of businesses that were eligible for loans received them while only 23 percent of those who were eligible in New York did. Only 19 percent of businesses in Washington D.C. were approved for a loan and only 24 percent of eligible businesses in California were approved.
During the first 10 days of the federal government’s small-business rescue program, the spigot was wide open in Nebraska. Firms there got enough money to cover about three-fourths of the state’s eligible payrolls. It was a different picture in New York and California, where companies received less than a quarter of their share.
Those findings, based on Evercore ISI estimates of eligible payrolls in each state, show the uneven distribution of the first $248 billion of Small Business Administration coronavirus-relief loans, through April 13. Under the Paycheck Protection Program, Congress authorized forgivable loans equal to 2 ½ times monthly payroll for businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
Looking at the map above, I'm sure it will immediately stand out to you that states approved for the highest percentage of loans voted for Trump in 2016. The only exception is Minnesota, but Hillary Clinton narrowly won the state by just 1 percent and Trump hopes to flip it this year.
Did someone have their political thumb on the scale when loans were approved? I don't know and that may qualify as a conspiracy theory, but it's not as if this kind of behavior is above that of the Trump regime.
Trump was impeached for extorting a foreign ally for political favors. Trying to secure leverage over his opponents and even his friends has been the story of Trump's entire life. It's kind of his thing and this would be completely in character.
If the loan approval process was politicized, it would also follow the Trump regime's politicization of their entire response to the coronavirus.