Tag Archives: Coronavirus Relief Bill

Books, Business, Coronavirus, Economics

SBA Releases Paycheck Protection Program Forgiveness Application for Coronavirus Aid

Banks make final approval, official form, with schedule for documentation, lays out detailed requirements

The US treasury department, along with the SBA made the highly anticipated document and details available on Friday. The application, which can be downloaded from this link and printed, or filled out online, contains the requirements needed in order for the so called Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, recipients to apply for forgiveness under the program. 

Read more: Lynxotic coronavirus coverage

This release also clarifies the process whereby the borrower must fill out the form and provide any additional accompanying documentation. Once completed the borrower must submit the form and accompanying documents to the lending institution where they received the PPP funds. The lending bank will make the final decision to approve any forgiveness. 

The 11 pages included in the file consist of the forgiveness application itself and instructions on how to fill it out. The application itself has two important schedules: Schedule A and the worksheet for Schedule A. 

Key is the 60-day period which has been designated as the period within which the funds must be used, in order for the expenses to be forgivable. In some cases there can be, apparently, some flexibility regarding the date an expense was incurred, such as hours worked by employees, vs. the date those incurred expenses were paid, such as the scheduled payroll payment date or pay period closing date. The applicable dates, can in some cases, be the date the expenses were incurred, not paid, in case of discrepancies. 

Read more: Read “Deadliest Enemy” for Deep Background on Pandemics and the Danger of a Second Wave

While some may find this application and the accompanying instructions more than sufficient, such as ongoing businesses that maintained employment and lease / mortgage payments, and already have a ratio to costs between them at 75% / 25% as prescribed in the original guidelines. Others, however, may have a more difficult time deciphering what exactly they can or can’t expect forgiveness for. 

Though the release is a major step toward clarification, confusion still abounds in the details of the program and forgiveness eligibility

Articles are appearing online picking apart the confusion that may be caused by this initial attempt to clarify the process and set it into motion. The SBA has indicated that more guidance will be forthcoming. 

One gripe being mentioned is the lack of narrative-based guidance, basically a verbal explanation for the various cases that could potentially arise and how they should be handled. 

Many businesses had to furlough or fire employees due to lack of funds and then re-hire or re-activate them to comply with the SBA program, in particular wanting to be sure to qualify for forgiveness. This was an acute need in some situations, such as restaurants or other businesses that were required to close and deemed non-essential. In many of those cases the employees were paid not to work or to do minimal work while receiving a full paycheck.

Read more: “Wuhan Diary” reveals inside accounts of Coronavirus Lockdown During the Peak

Companies in that situation, even with full forgiveness granted, face a daunting, uphill battle to regain profitability or viable revenue streams to keep them running after the 60 days of funds has run out. The lingering effects of the pandemic and the lock-down and stay-at-home orders along with the general state of fear (well founded in many cases, it appears) create a situation where former levels of business revenue and activity may take a long time to regain. 

This is not taking into account the economic after-effects and general depressed state of consumption being seen in current national published data.

While the SBA has taken a large and positive step forward with the release of this application and achieved some clarification of the process, much more help for struggling businesses will be needed as we emerge, slowly, from the coronavirus / covid-19 crisis. 

Find books on Pandemics, Sustainable Energy, Esoteric Spirituality and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac or subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Business, Coronavirus, Stock Market

The Dow Drops more than 6% as “Trump Bump” Vanishes into Thin Air

Photo Collage / Lynxotic

End of Day Bounce-back perhaps triggered by Passage of Aid Package

In spite of unprecedented intervention from the Federal Reserve and Congress the markets continue to plunge, generally every other day, in what has become a volatile and, for many, alarming pattern.

Intraday, the Dow dropped to more than 2000 points lower, for the second time this week. At moment in time the level was below where the Dow sat on January 20th, 2017 when Trump was inaugurated.

Neither the two rate cuts, the second one being a massive 1% “surprise” (which sent rates to zero for the first time in history) intervention on Sunday, nor the trillion dollar stimulus package pushed forward by the White House, appears to have had any significant effect on the consistently declining share prices.

Click to Buy “Elliott Wave Trading” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon

The Senate today passed the congress approved relief package, which provides for free coronavirus testing and paid emergency leave, and is expected to be signed into law by the President.

As we have pointed out in previous posts, while the novel coronavirus is getting 100% of the credit for the unwelcome bear market and the attendant fears, the market swoon and the pandemic could also be parallel events without any direct causal connection.

Naturally the companies and sectors such as travel which are directly and negatively affected have had large hits to their stock prices based on the catastrophic business outlook.

On the other hand there are companies and business that could even benefit from the shift of economic activity necessitated by the preventive measures that are being universally implemented. For those companies it is the underlying bear market sentiment that can and will, in all likelihood, drag them down along with the rest.

Oil Continues to Plummet as Likely Halt to the Travel Industry Looms Large

The oil shock as mirrored in Exon (XOM) and U.S. Oil (USO) shares continues in spectacular fashion falling over 10% and 16% respectively. This can be seen as a secondary shock in the cascading price depressions influences initially by the production increases used by Saudi Arabia and Russia to start an all out price war, and now being hit by the virtual shutdown of the travel industry. The initial shockwaves reverberated sending the crude prices down 30% while the losses in the socks (and ETF) above are adding to the depressed levels.

Delta Airlines (DAL) was down even more on the outlook for the travel industry dropping an incredible 26.73% today alone. At $23.02 it is hard to believe that the stock was over $63 two days ago. Pending bailout aside, this is indicating that airline bankruptcies are now beyond probable and verging on a strong likelihood. Presumably a bailout would turn the stock price around, but potentially not shield it completely from the bear market across-the-board progression.

Naturally, after crowing and bragging at every uptick and new all-time high in the markets for more than three years, Trump is placing the “blame” for current intensely downward trajectory squarely on the “chinese” coronavirus and attempting to avoid any responsibility for the state of the markets, economy or anything at all on planet earth for that matter.

Naturally, in an election year this is to be expected. At the same time the reality that this bear market has only just begun, the all time high was little more than a month ago on February 12th, does not bode well for his chances, likely against Joe Biden, in the general election this November.

You can also find books on Stock Trading, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.