I'm sure many of you have seen/heard of several corporations/institutions that not only applied for, but were granted, financial relief due to the CARES act. I think most people thought that money was ear-marked specifically for "small business". Which is why, once the news got out of these mega-rich companies/organizations receiving these funds, many of them have decided to return the money for someone else to use. Basically, they've been shamed into it.

 

The question is...should a company that employees perhaps a hundred, or several hundred people, receive relief over a smaller "mom & pop" type of organization that employees maybe a dozen or so?

 

To me, it's difficult to make a hard and fast ruling, without taking into consideration some other factors. However, I will say, the optics of it...are horrendous.

I didn't love seeing that companies like Ruth Chris Steakhouses received funding from the small business relief fund.

 

Saw last night that the Los Angeles Lakers received $4.6 million in funding too.

 

I guess both of them gave it back but that ticked me off a little, when you hear a lot of small mom & pop shops had real trouble navigating everything to try to get the funding, only to find out it was depleted.

 

Makes you wonder if anyone was denied the funding that applied for it, if an organization like the Lakers got it.

 

I also get the argument on the other side of it. I don't know the right answer, but I really don't like seeing organizations worth billions getting money from that fund while much smaller business are told it's all dried up.

Were people surprised this happened?

Were people surprised this happened?

 

If you're the CEO/CFO of a company and you're losing money right now because of the current COVID situation, and may have to lay off workers because of it...would you say no to government money to keep/aid those workers?

If they are eligible to receive what they were given then they should receive their money promised to them.

Makes you wonder if anyone was denied the funding that applied for it, if an organization like the Lakers got it.

 

It almost sounds like, to me, it was a first come, first served type of situation. And, once the money was "gone", all other applicants were denied. So, it somewhat makes sense that these corporations/institutions got in line first...they probably have a staff of lawyers on retainer specifically for their financial stuff. Ma and Pa probably don't. And the day or two it took them to either figure things out themselves, or find someone to do it for them...ultimately cost them.

Were people surprised this happened?

 

Dawg...............

 

People truly don’t pay attention to crap until it affects them.

It almost sounds like, to me, it was a first come, first served type of situation. And, once the money was "gone", all other applicants were denied. So, it somewhat makes sense that these corporations/institutions got in line first...they probably have a staff of lawyers on retainer specifically for their financial stuff. Ma and Pa probably don't. And the day or two it took them to either figure things out themselves, or find someone to do it for them...ultimately cost them.

 

It’s part of the game. It is what it is.

It almost sounds like, to me, it was a first come, first served type of situation. And, once the money was "gone", all other applicants were denied. So, it somewhat makes sense that these corporations/institutions got in line first...they probably have a staff of lawyers on retainer specifically for their financial stuff. Ma and Pa probably don't. And the day or two it took them to either figure things out themselves, or find someone to do it for them...ultimately cost them.

 

Yeah seems that way. It sounded like it definitely wasn't an easy process.

If they are eligible to receive what they were given then they should receive their money promised to them.

 

I agree. And they did receive, just decided to return it once they got called out for it.

 

I don't fault these companies, it is just those that crafted this didn't think of the unintended consequences and I suppose should have set some kind of company size or revenue cap for applicants. Even at that, these companies have the resources to massage their numbers to their liking.

As a banker, it’s been a fight to get every penny for our customers. The SBA site has been awful... I worked 14 hours yesterday to get 21 businesses money. The process should normally take about 5 minutes per customer.

It almost sounds like, to me, it was a first come, first served type of situation. And, once the money was "gone", all other applicants were denied. So, it somewhat makes sense that these corporations/institutions got in line first...they probably have a staff of lawyers on retainer specifically for their financial stuff. Ma and Pa probably don't. And the day or two it took them to either figure things out themselves, or find someone to do it for them...ultimately cost them.

 

This is dead on. I am responsible for the PPP activity for my company. The rules kept changing and I spent approx. 100 hours on data analysis before we got our approval (which was on the day before the fund was exhausted).

If you're the CEO/CFO of a company and you're losing money right now because of the current COVID situation, and may have to lay off workers because of it...would you say no to government money to keep/aid those workers?

 

My beef isn't with the companies necessarily. Unless they had some info the little guys didn't.

 

But my initial reaction to a multi-million (or billion) dollar company asking for more millions is that they should have been better prepared.

Optically it is bad. However, who's to say the servers at Ruth's Chris are less entitled to help than the servers at the local diner? At the granular, employee level, I don't see how you can value one over the other. Ultimately, that's where most of the PPP is going.

 

But my initial reaction to a multi-million (or billion) dollar company asking for more millions is that they should have been better prepared.

They probably are, hence why they have the resources to take advantage of these type programs