In several informal polls on my Facebook pages I asked the same question: “Do you know of any black owned business that got a COVID-19 stimulus SBA Payroll Protection Program Loan?”
Some expressed optimism that the grim shutoff of the money spigot to black businesses might change with the House passage of an added $3 trillion stimulus package.
There is much finger pointing at the SBA, treasury officials, corporate and bank lobbyists for lax to non-existent oversight, lax rules on who could get the money and for earmarking far too much of the half trillion business in loans to major corporations.
There is equally justified finger-pointing at the banks for tossing up a mountain of paperwork, tax and business filing documents and account requirements that small business owners had little chance of hurdling.
Countless surveys by business groups, federal regulators, and watchdog groups have produced reams of figures to show that despite the lip service lenders pay to wanting to loan to small businesses, the paltry number of loans they make annually to small, and especially minority businesses have remained frozen over the past decade.
