[HN Gopher] My experience with the CARES Act
___________________________________________________________________
My experience with the CARES Act
Author : MLEnthusiast
Score : 39 points
Date : 2020-04-25 19:00 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (techcrunch.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (techcrunch.com)
| ta1234567890 wrote:
| I personally also had a very frustrating experience with the
| CARES act, specifically PPP loans. Applied as soon as they came
| out, directly with the SBA first, then with 3 different banks.
| Still waiting :(
|
| However, at the end of the day, businesses are not what's
| essential, people are.
|
| And that's why it's so infuriating that the government has acted
| pretty much exactly on the opposite view. It has prioritized
| saving huge businesses and propping up the public markets
| (stock/bonds/futures/etc).
|
| In my opinion, it would have been a lot more effective to give
| money directly to people, then let them figure out where and how
| they need to spend it to get through the crisis. Businesses would
| then adapt accordingly to survive, or fail if they couldn't. But
| at least then most people would be ok.
|
| Now inequality is going to be worse than ever. People that
| already had a lot of money got saved and now they can keep making
| loads of money, while the people that really needed saving,
| pretty much got abandoned instead.
| cheez wrote:
| The reason they prop up markets is there is some belief that
| the Great Depression was made worse by a market crash.
| howmayiannoyyou wrote:
| Applied for EIDL 3/18 w/ application number 20001.... was in the
| first group.
|
| Applied again, twice, as two successive systems had to be
| deployed after the first crashed.
|
| I've received $15,000 as an advance. The EIDL loan is critical to
| our survival, but my guess is the program will be void of funds
| soon, and well before I see any money.
|
| I did get PPP funds. This will keep my people on the payroll
| another two months though its my sense - and I want to be wrong -
| that the economic crisis will continue for much longer.
|
| Congress (namely Sen. Rubio who managed the Cares legislation)
| was a Miami lawyer for an influential law firm there who soon
| after starting practice entered politics having been groomed for
| the role (as I understand it). He has next to zero business
| experience.
|
| The administration had the right priorities, but Congress is
| incompetent. The administration will get all the blame. Nobody
| will hold Congress accountable, and even fewer will hold China
| accountable.
|
| The whole chain of responsibility is hopelessly broken.
| crooked-v wrote:
| > and even fewer will hold China accountable
|
| Accountable for what?
| jmknoll wrote:
| Refusing to regulate a trade in live, rare, and endangered
| wildlife which has devastated ecosystems worldwide and
| resulted in multiple global epidemics over the past 30 years?
| foo8902 wrote:
| Seemingly covering up the early spread of covid and willingly
| exporting it to the rest of the globe?
| TomMckenny wrote:
| I thought we were supposed to blame the World Health
| Organization now.
| throw_m239339 wrote:
| The bill was rushed and people who needed it the least ended up
| profiting more than people who needed it the most and weren't
| successful in applying. The fault is on the people who designed
| that bill. The whole "please give back the money" political
| posturing, is just that, political posturing.
|
| The whole small business == 500 employees PER location is a farce
| for instance.
| balls187 wrote:
| > people who needed it the least
|
| The fee's that banks collected for processing the applications.
| jacobolus wrote:
| > _small business == 500 employees per location is a farce_
|
| This particular definition was inserted by the Senate Committee
| on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, led by Marco Rubio
| (FL). You can also blame the other GOP Senators on that
| committee: Risch (ID), Paul (KY), Scott (SC), Ernst (IA),
| Inhofe (OK), Young (IN), Kennedy (LA), Romney (UT), Hawley
| (MO).
| garmaine wrote:
| Why not blame the democrats on that committee too?
| delecti wrote:
| Because minority members of a congressional committee can't
| stop the majority members from getting things through. The
| Senate is R majority, thus so are the Senate committees,
| thus the Dems on that committee couldn't have stopped it.
| caseysoftware wrote:
| Because only Republicans can do bad things, obviously.
| dantheman wrote:
| The bill was passed, everyone that voted for it is
| responsible.
| bradleyjg wrote:
| Yes, exactly. Every last one of the fire breathing _soi
| disant_ small government conservatives and anti-big
| business progressives proved their mettle that day.
| raz32dust wrote:
| This is reductionist. There is a crowd dynamic here.
| Something needed to be done quickly. A minority of senators
| cannot keep waiting until they get what they want.
| Republicans would then blame the democrats for stalling the
| bill. GOP has become either stupid or plain evil. I have no
| doubt any more after events of the last one year.
| FridgeSeal wrote:
| Off topic:
|
| What persuades front-end developers to make their site capture
| backwards navigation. No TechCrunch, when I press back I should
| go to the previous page, not yours again.
| xyst wrote:
| Individuals and small business have both been shafted.
|
| There's a provision in the CARES Act which allows employers of
| any size to give a one time donation to employees towards their
| student loans in exchange for decreased tax liability. I am
| currently talking with my employer, but thus far they do not want
| to participate in this program.
|
| They initially cited the company does not apply for the program
| due to their company size, but I literally handed them the
| sections of the bill and it's eligibility criteria which states
| otherwise. Haven't received a response since last week, but I
| suspect it's going to fall to deaf ears.
| icelancer wrote:
| Can you upload / send me those pages and any research you did
| on it? I'd like to see if I can offer it to my employees. I've
| never heard of giving money to employees for student loans that
| also reduces the employer's tax burden.
|
| EDIT: Everything I can find just says the student loan payments
| from employers are now _tax-free for the employee_. I would
| love to know if there are other areas of the bill that give the
| business tax deductions / tax credits for paying employees'
| student loans down, because I'll do that in a heartbeat.
|
| Example: https://www.benefitnews.com/news/what-the-cares-act-
| means-fo...
| xyst wrote:
| SEC. 2301. EMPLOYEE RETENTION CREDIT FOR EMPLOYERS SUBJECT TO
| CLOSURE DUE TO COVID-19.
|
| see "(2) eligible employers" section"
|
| https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-
| bill/748/...
|
| good luck
| icelancer wrote:
| I see nothing here that talks about employer tax benefits
| for paying for employee student loans - just a discussion
| of payroll tax credits and some stuff about healthcare
| benefits. Do you have any layperson articles or guidelines
| from a company like Gusto or other HR companies that give
| guidance on how to pay employees' student loans down and
| get tax deductions/credits?
| jefflombardjr wrote:
| My experience with crony capitalism was frustrating, confusing
| and unfair
|
| There, I fixed the title for you.
| qqssccfftt wrote:
| > crony capitalism
|
| No true capitalism.
| CamperBob2 wrote:
| I don't see how this is "capitalism" in any sense of the word,
| crony or otherwise... but yes, your point stands.
|
| Any one who expects a square deal from the present
| administration is either naive, or in on the grift.
| howmayiannoyyou wrote:
| Congress CamperBob... it was the Senate the messed up the
| cares legislation.
| CamperBob2 wrote:
| (Shrug) McConnell and McCarthy don't make a distinction,
| and neither do I. In the absence of checks and balances,
| they are all complicit.
|
| Trump didn't have to sign it, did he? The bucks stops
| where, again?
| Arubis wrote:
| This is a deliciously ironic place for a paywall.
| allan_golds wrote:
| Paywall
| edoceo wrote:
| Did anyone else here apply for EDIL from SBA? I did on March 30.
| I've heard nothing. Anyone wanna compare application numbers? I'm
| 3600058### (masked last three)
| servercobra wrote:
| I did. 3600001xxx (first 2000 applicants, I believe), basically
| as soon as it opened up. I've had a hard credit check from the
| SBA and an email from them on the 4/13 letting me know it would
| only be a $1k/employee advance, nothing else. So I somewhat
| doubt their line about handling it first-come first-serve. I
| only have one employee.
| kxyvr wrote:
| I applied as well and have yet to receive funds. I also
| received the email about the $1k/employee change and that was
| last that I've heard from the SBA. As such, it sounds like
| many of us are in the same boat.
| Bradlinc wrote:
| I am 3300137xxx. I also was on March 30 at 10:31 AM. I have
| heard nothing.
|
| My girlfriend received hers this week but I know she applied
| after me. Though she is in medical services.
| protomyth wrote:
| I actually have a lot of pity for the auditors who are going to
| be going over the books for this years. Some of the direction to
| organizations has been vague and a bit odd (e.g. use existing
| money and we will send a check to refill those funds). This is
| another case of the government moving faster than proper rule
| making can handle.
| icelancer wrote:
| Government just released notification with no clear guidelines
| that companies who took money but didn't need it (language is
| heavily biased against VC-backed startups) will need to repay by
| May 6th for forgiveness, or be investigated and potentially
| fined/penalized for taking money they didn't need.
|
| This is a good idea in theory but of course the language is
| hopelessly vague and there are no guidelines, because that would
| mean we could hold the government accountable. What does "take
| money you didn't need" mean? My business (non-VC backed, just an
| SMB) took PPP funds so we could continue to employ our workstaff
| (the intent of the program), but we were not facing immediate
| bankruptcy. Is that OK?
|
| Classic regulatory frameworks that don't define anything.
| mehrdadn wrote:
| Not a lawyer but "need this money" seems reasonable to
| interpret as "you could not pay your employees if you didn't
| get this money". Which suggests VC-backed startups probably
| shouldn't have taken it and should return it.
| icelancer wrote:
| My company technically could have paid our employees if we
| didn't take the money, but we'd have to cancel 90% of our R&D
| projects, slash operations, etc etc. So that still doesn't
| really mean anything, unless the intent was "if you literally
| could not make payroll after liquidating equipment /
| canceling all operational expenses," which I hope was not the
| case.
| mehrdadn wrote:
| I hope you're fine in that case... I'd assume they meant
| without slashing existing work. But yeah I agree, clarity
| would've been nice :\
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2020-04-25 23:00 UTC)