Trump's Rural Base Fared Better Than Coastal Cities in SBA Loans
The first round of coronavirus aid to small businesses was a boon to rural states that backed President Donald Trump but haven’t been hit as hard by the pandemic as Democratic strongholds on the coasts, contributing to rising political tensions over a multi-trillion-dollar relief effort.
The skewed distribution doesn’t necessarily point to regional or political bias in the Paycheck Protection Program’s administration or design, which is first-come, first-served. In many cases, smaller lenders who have close relationships with small-town business owners played a outsized role in issuing loans by moving quickly to tap the program.
Yet the disparity adds to a litany of complaints about the Small Business Administration program, which is already on a second round of funding, and to the partisan rancor as Congress begins considering still more pandemic relief.
“It is incongruous that these rural states are benefiting most as they have been for the most part least hurt by the virus,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. The loan program “has fallen well short of helping small businesses in the states that have been hardest hit by the virus.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/trumps-rural-base-fared-better-than-coastal-cities-in-sba-loans/ar-BB13mt4r?li=BBnb7Kz
