I know many of you are going to ask me why we are talking about this.  What does this have to do with our veterans?

ALOT!

2.5 million small businesses are owned by American Military Veterans, including our firm, and some of you.  So let’s talk about it.

President Trump is expected to sign the newest PPP bill that will pay out $480 billion in coronavirus relief aimed at small businesses.  What do you need to know? Lawmakers allocated $350 billion to PPP(Paycheck Protection Program) in the March stimulus package, which were quickly depleted.  1.6 million small businesses have received PPP funding.  Hundreds of thousands of applicants are waiting to hear the status of their loans after the funding dried up last week.

Due to a loophole in the bill, public companies were able to apply and receive loans from the SBA.  The Treasury Department is now demanding that those that took advantage of the loophole return the funds.  According to Morgan Stanley, $243.4 million dollars of the PPP plan was allocated to publicly traded companies.  Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, who received $20 million says they will be paying back the loan, as will Shake Shake, who received $10 million.

Many are asking how these companies were able to access the PPP loans since loans were intended to be under $10 million and for small businesses with under 500 employees.  How did they do it?  They used their companies’ subsidiaries.

Even though some of these companies are repaying the loans it does not mean that that money will be reallocated to the hundred of thousands of applicants for the PPP loans.  Even though this amount goes back into the PPP fun, no new loans can be paid until Congress allocates more capital towards the loans.  The real answer here is dependent on if these companies pay back the loans BEFORE the new PPP funds are allocated next week.