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The US lacks the state capacity to tell who was going to have trouble with COVID-19 closures, and who wouldn't, so a whole lot of money just had to go to people

The US lacks the state capacity to tell who was going to have trouble with COVID-19 closures, and who wouldn't, so a whole lot of money just had to go to people that had no need for it whatsoever. Regarding PPP, every local tech staff augmentation company got a few months worth of payroll out of it. For those of you not in the know, their model involves hiring developers at $x an hour, and then placing them at large enterprises for $x+y, often for years at a time, as those companies would rather have contractors than employees. So where does the money go? Straight to the owner's pockets, as lockdowns only changed staffing needs in a very small number of companies. So if your sole proprietorship staffing company employs 25 of those developer-contractors for, say, 180k and a couple of HR staff, you could get million dollar "loan", that would be forgiven in a few months, as you didn't fire any of them. Needless to say, the people in charge of that kind of company were very happy about the PPP program.

ryandrake 5y ago
> The US lacks the state capacity to tell who was going to have trouble with COVID-19 closures, and who wouldn't, so a whole lot of money just had to go to people that had no need for it whatsoever. I love how it’s so critical that we means-test individual welfare so that no dollar can possibly go to someone who doesn’t need it, but when it comes to means-testing corporations for handouts, all of a sudden it’s impossible to determine which corporations need the help and which ones don’t. So just dump money on anyone who fills out the paperwork. If welfare and food stamps just went to anyone who applied, politicians would be up in arms.
- pjc50 5y ago
  Those are the political conditions imposed by the ruling party at the time; the measures did get actual money to the public, but to do so it was necessary to pay off everyone who might have objected.
  - ThunderSizzle 5y ago
    There wasn't "ruling party". You had Trump as president, you had Democrats in firm control of the house, and Uniparty RINOs in charge of the Senate. All three "worked together" to get their goals done, which for Congress, means ensuring kickbacks get paid.
- pempem 5y ago
  That would be because they and their friends are on only one of the two (welfare/corporate welfare) lists you mentioned.

ryandrake 5y ago

> The US lacks the state capacity to tell who was going to have trouble with COVID-19 closures, and who wouldn't, so a whole lot of money just had to go to people that had no need for it whatsoever. I love how it’s so critical that we means-test individual welfare so that no dollar can possibly go to someone who doesn’t need it, but when it comes to means-testing corporations for handouts, all of a sudden it’s impossible to determine which corporations need the help and which ones don’t. So just dump money on anyone who fills out the paperwork. If welfare and food stamps just went to anyone who applied, politicians would be up in arms.

pjc50 5y ago
Those are the political conditions imposed by the ruling party at the time; the measures did get actual money to the public, but to do so it was necessary to pay off everyone who might have objected.
- ThunderSizzle 5y ago
  There wasn't "ruling party". You had Trump as president, you had Democrats in firm control of the house, and Uniparty RINOs in charge of the Senate. All three "worked together" to get their goals done, which for Congress, means ensuring kickbacks get paid.
pempem 5y ago
That would be because they and their friends are on only one of the two (welfare/corporate welfare) lists you mentioned.