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The Appalling Behavior and Greed of Harvard and Other Big Bussinesses who Took the PPP Money Away from Small Businesses!

Editorial: Greedy, Hypocritical Harvard and other large schools and big business take money intended for small businesses!

The federal government's CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $349 billion fund, was intended to help small businesses stay alive during the pandemic. The loans were intended to help otherwise successful small-and-medium-sized (SMBs) with less than 500 employees survive the economic consequences of the pandemic. The U.S. Small Business Administration sayst 4,400 of the approved loans were above $5 million. The average loan nationally was $206,000,

And in a time of pandemic, with businesses shutdown, we are seeing heroic actions by individuals, such as nurses, doctors, grocery store employees, delivery drivers, to help their community. But we are also seeing appalling, disgusting behavior by some large institutions and universities. A complete list of PPP loan recipients has not been made available yet, but word is leaking out. Let's name them:

Harvard:

The school's endowment (meaning their assets, is over $40 billion (see Google). Yet Harvard took money from the PPP. They CLAIM, in a series of tweets:

"Harvard did not apply for, nor has it received any funds through the U.S. Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses. Reports saying otherwise are inaccurate."

But Harvard's own student newspaper, The Crimson, reports:

Harvard University will receive nearly $9 million in aid from the federal government through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the Department of Education announced last week.
The CARES Act - the largest economic stimulus package in American history - was signed into law on March 27. It allocates nearly $14 billion to support higher education institutions during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Of the $8,655,748 Harvard is slated to receive, the government has mandated that at least half - $4,327,874 - be reserved for emergency financial aid grants to students.
The Department of Education will distribute the first $6.28 billion to colleges and universities to cover expenses such as course materials, technology, food, and housing students have incurred "related to disruptions in their education due to the COVID-19 outbreak," according to a April 9 press release.

Oh, student aid. That's ok then. Wait a minute... these students were already unemployed. Why do they need money intended for small businesses to keep people from losing their jobs? And is anyone going to seriously try to make the absurd argument that Harvard students come from poor families (and those few that do, get plenty of aid already!)

Harvard says (on Harvard's own website) that about 70% of Harvard students receive some form of financial aid, and even that students whose parents make less than $65,000 are not expected to contribute any funds/ Harvard even brags that "90% of American families would pay the same or less to send their children to Harvard as they would a state school."

Harvard even brags that families with students who receive scholarship funds pay an average of $12,000 towards their education per year. I know families with children at small state schools who pay more than this! Many students pay close to nothing to go to Harvard. Families that earn between $65,000 and $150,000 typically contribute between 0% to 10% of their income towards the annual cost of attending Harvard. It sure does not sound to me like these students were struggling before or after Coronavirus. What, exactly, is the justification or need that these students have for taxpayer money to go to a wealthy elitist ciollege?

Other wealthy Ivy League universities stealing this money from truly needy people and businesses

  • Columbia University - $12.8 million
  • Cornell University - $12.8 million
  • Yale University - $7 million,
  • Princeton University - $2.5 million.
  • Many, many other large Universities, like Michigan also took the money. According to the Wall Street Journal , page 4, 4/23/2020, THERE WERE 2,960 INSTITUTIONS THAT APPLIED FOR THE MONEY! The Department of educations said it had made grants to 318 schools, totaling $751 million dollars. This is appalling! Schools are NOT small businesses, and they have public funding ALREADY!

These large, arrogant, wealthy snotty schools do not deserve one cent from taxpayers, when they are sitting on massive piles of cash and assets. Harvard has $40 billion. Do you have a pile of cash?

UPDATE: April 23, 2020: The Public Shaming Worked!

Harvard, Stanford and Princeton announced that they will return the money! The others have not! Keep the pressure on them!!!

Business that are taking the money from small businesses:Big Busineses taking PPP money

Forbes magazine says:

The government hasn't released the names of successful applicants, but a review of data from the Treasury department shows that construction businesses got $45 billion, more money than any other sector, despite the fact that building projects weren't halted in most states. Professional scientific and technical was second, there was nothing to keep lawyers, accountants or financial planners from applying, even if they were working from home.
Another surprising group of recipients: publicly traded companies including ones already performing poorly. Altogether we found 71 publicly traded companies that got money. Of that, $75 million went to restaurant chains like Potbelly, Jura Sushi and Texas Taco Cabana as well as Ruth's Chris, Shake Shack and Wendy's franchisee Meritage Hospitality.

Big businesses receive money meant for small businesses:

We will update this list as more are reported. There are reportedly 200 large companies that have taken $200 million of the PPP fund! We need to shame them into returning the money so it will be available to small businesses!

  • Biolase (dental-equipment maker ) with $232 million in losses - $3 million i
  • Jura Sushi
  • Lindblad Expedition Holdings, (cruise ship and travel company, 650 employees) $6.6 million
  • Nikola Motor Company, - $4.1 million
  • Potbelly
  • REIT Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc.
  • Ruth's Chris,
  • Shake Shack
  • Stoney River, $5.1 million
  • Texas Taco Cabana
  • Veritone Inc (an artificial intelligence software maker with $182 million in losses over the past three years - $6.5 million
  • Wendy's franchisee Meritage Hospitality
  • Morgan Stanley is but one of many banks and lenders - see their own list of big clients they got PPP funds for at right:

A very few good guys...

A small number of the big businesses are voluntarily returning the money they took, and that is to be applauded. These include:

  • Shake Shack - posted on LinkedIn that the chain would return "the entire $10 million PPP loan we received last week to the SBA so that those restaurants who need it most can get it now."

Other References:

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Interesting Reads:

THE PREPPER'S CANNING & PRESERVING BIBLE: [13 in 1] Your Path to Food Self-Sufficiency. Canning, Dehydrating, Fermenting, Pickling & More, Plus The Food Preservation Calendar for a Sustainable Pantry

The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre! Paperback

The Citizens' Guide to Geologic Hazards: A Guide to Understanding Geologic Hazards Including Asbestos, Radon, Swelling Soils, Earthquakes, Volcanoes

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

Book: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Paperback




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