More than 100,000 Virginia entities get PPP loans

The government this week released the names of the businesses that got loans of at least $150,000.

US President Donald Trump's administration touted its US$660 billion (RM2.8 trillion) small business pandemic aid programme this week as a "wild success", unveiling data that showed the initiative saved 51 million jobs.

Nationally, more than $521 billion has been loaned to almost 4.9 million applicants as of Monday, according to the SBA.

"As you search the federal PPP loan portfolio, keep in mind that taxpayers will pay for most of these "loans", Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of OpenTheBooks.com, said in Forbes, which first published the organization's mapping tool. According to self-reported numbers, Clark County businesses preserved more than 66,000 jobs with help from the program - about one-third of the region's workforce. And firms like Shake Shack and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse revealed they had received millions of dollars intended for small businesses.

Kildee said businesses owned by people of color, women, as well as newer businesses and smaller businesses are the most likely to lack access to capital in the form of credit or cash reserves, leaving those businesses more vulnerable to an economic recession.

"The obvious objective (of the PPP) was to make sure that those businesses that are the least capable of getting through a few months of stress would get the resources", Kildee said. "Yet, revenues for many small businesses are still at unsustainable lows and a second loan is needed as soon as possible".

The Oswego Inn also received a portion of PPP loans, under the Lisle-based 312 Corporation DBA Rayme's Restaurant or Oswego Inn. So, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Little Caesars franchisees around the country have received funds from the program. The 173 such loans to manufacturing went to everything from sawmills and circuit makers to wineries (including Domaine Serene and Stoller Family Estate, which each received a loan of between $1 million and $2 million) to large breweries like Deschutes (in the $5-10 million range), Rogue ($2-5 million), and Full Sail, Fort George, and Ninkasi ($1-2 million). He says focusing on zip codes could allow researchers to understand allocations to businesses located in underserved communities.

What's next: Soon we could get a better picture about how many payrolls were actually protected, as loan forgiveness applications are submitted and processed.

The money from these loans can only be used for paying employee salaries, paying mortgage or rent, and for utilities.

The publicly released data on demographics is scarce, but seems broadly reflective of that criticism. Just 65 business owners who identified themselves as female received loans, compared with 221 who identified as male. "If a lender did not cancel the loan in the ETran system, the loan is listed", a senior administration official said.

Jacob Wallace is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C.