The Paycheck Protection Program, launched April 3, offered loans up to $10 million to help small businesses maintain payroll, hire back employees and cover rent and other overhead as the nation faced mass layoffs and spiking unemployment. For a program meant to help small businesses preserve jobs amid government-mandated shutdowns and the general economic upheaval caused by COVID-19, those zeros can look alarming. In many cases they are also wrong — raising questions about the reliability of the data showing how billions in taxpayer dollars are being used. The questionable jobs retention data has added to the scrutiny of whether PPP money went to businesses that need it most.
CTBA Executive Director Ralph Martire blames the flawed data on sloppy federal reporting requirements and the highly decentralized application process. Relying on thousands of lenders allowed loans to be processed more quickly during a critical time, but it also meant different banks may have asked applicants different questions.
“The decentralization is not good from an accountability standpoint,” Martire said. “It’s doomed to not be very transparent and not give you much information.”
Still, he thinks the overall program was beneficial and used properly by small businesses that needed it. While the government should clean up the reporting rules, he said, he doesn’t want the program’s flaws to discourage another stimulus package as the economy continues to reel and people continue to lose jobs.
In an interview with Chicago Tribune's Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz, Ralph Martire said, “I would hate to see the critiques of the misuse of this money by a few businesses get in the way of a better shot in the arm that the economy certainly needs,” Martire said. “The program could just be designed better.”
No matter how you perceive the president's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is undeniable: the Trump Administration has turned sending mixed signals into an art form. From the relative severity of the virus, to how best to treat it or when it will be safe to reopen the economy, Trump and his team have made numerous proclamations which are at odds with each other, scientific facts or both. So it's no surprise that it's difficult to pin down exactly where his administration stands on providing federal funds to help states deal with the yawning revenue shortfalls they face due to the pandemic.
Along with watching the presidential contest, the biggest race in Illinois leading up to Nov. 3 is the proposed graduated income tax amendment that could overhaul how our fiscally challenged state raises money.
State and local government budgets across America are reeling from the pandemic’s economic blow. What will it look like in Chicago?
Despite push, some students still lack devices, and some districts aren’t providing data about who’s logging on.
Illinois school leaders spent tens of millions of dollars within weeks as they scrambled to respond to the coronavirus outbreak and the abrupt school closures it triggered.
In a bid to roll out remote learning plans quickly, officials made rapid-fire buys even before the federal government promised $678 million in emergency aid for Illinois schools. In some of the largest school districts across the state, the bulk of the spending went toward thousands of laptops and tablets.
The pros and cons of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature issue — a proposed graduated income tax — were discussed and dissected at length during a panel discussion in Oak Park, Illinois.
During his first year in office, Gov. JB Pritzker was able to attain numerous legislative wins, which included everything from legalizing sports betting and the recreational use of cannabis, to passing a General Fund budget through the Legislature with bi-partisan support.
If the American Dream means anything, it’s this: The circumstances of a person’s birth ought not limit what he or she can become in life. Everyone should have the same opportunities to achieve, irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender or income class. Differentials in life outcomes should be predicated solely on individual choices, drive and luck.
J.B. Pritzker's first year as governor stands in stark contrast to that of his immediate predecessor Bruce Rauner. While the Rauner Administration struggled to find common ground with the General Assembly on a host of issues, Gov. Pritzker worked both sides of the aisle to gain consensus on numerous pieces of significant and in some cases groundbreaking, legislation -- especially on fiscal and tax policy.
This included everything from creating new revenue by authorizing a Chicago casino and legalizing cannabis, to establishing a $45 billion capital program and passing pro-business reforms championed by Republican House Minority Leader Jim Durkin. Pritzker also got a General Fund budget passed on his first try, with bipartisan support to boot. Whether or not you'd favor any one or more of these initiatives, you have to acknowledge it's somewhat remarkable for a rookie governor to have so many legislative successes right out of the box.