President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin participate in a video conference with representatives of large banks and credit card companies about more financial assistance for small businesses in the Roosevelt Room at the White House April 7, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
by Jake Johnson, staff writer
Common Dreams
Some hedge funds “insist they are small businesses—just like hair salons, restaurants, and dry cleaners—that could use a helping hand,” Bloomberg reports.
As small business owners struggle to obtain desperately needed money from a first-come-first-served federal coronavirus relief program, some wealthy hedge fund managers are attempting snag a share of the $350 billion taxpayer fund with the help of high-powered legal firms that know how to quickly navigate the confusing application process.
“Some hedge funds already have applied” for a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Bloomberg reported Tuesday. PPP is a relief fund for small businesses established by the CARES Act, the sweeping coronavirus stimulus legislation that President Donald Trump signed into law last month.
“Without oversight, this is what’s happening with the $2 trillion coronavirus bailout: hedge fund managers are claiming relief funds as ‘small businesses.'”
—American Oversight
“Since early April, law firms have hosted Webinars and sent out alerts, and accounting firms have reached out to clients, all with the goal of explaining how they might be able to tap into the Paycheck Protection Program,” Bloomberg reported. “The loans can convert to grants if recipients retain or rehire their workers.”
Companies are eligible for PPP funds if they have fewer than 500 employees and the “current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations.”
Hedge funds “are designed to employ as few people as possible so star traders don’t have to share millions of dollars in fees,” Bloomberg noted, meaning they often have a low enough number of employees to qualify for PPP loans. But whether a taxpayer-backed loan is “necessary” for them to maintain operations is another matter entirely.
“The question of whether to partake in the program is dividing members of the money management community,” Bloomberg reported. “Some traders have called it morally corrupt, while others insist they are small businesses—just like hair salons, restaurants, and dry cleaners—that could use a helping hand after global markets tumbled and cost them money” […]
The Most Revolutionary Act 
Where is karma when you need it?
Best from hibernation Doc!
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I feel twinges of the karma coming, toritto, when the food supply infrastructure breaks down. All the money the private banks create out of thin air will be useless at that point. All that will matter be pulses and dry firewood and good neighbors committed to looking after one another.
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Greed is one of those lusts that can never be sated. It is a bottomless pit.
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That’s been my experience, Sha’Tara, in an economy that values above all the ability to accrue wealth without working for it.
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The Christian Bible at 1 Timothy 6:10 says that money is a root of a lot of (not all) injurious things. It’s hard to argue. There’s what’s looked at in Jake’s article, above. There’s what’s looked at in Jon Rappoport’s blog post titled “My conversation with State Senator and doctor who exposes Medicare payouts for COVID-19 patients.” Then there’s the simple fact that all of those brain-dead, power-tripping fascist cops unleashed on the people in so many countries probably wouldn’t bother if their paycheques didn’t depend on their obedience to their bosses.
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Arrby, my favorite Bible verse is where Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple. To the best I’ve my knowledge, that was the only occasion where he displayed violence.
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