Day 93: Why was it given to them?
I keep reading about bigger companies that took stimulus money meant for smaller businesses. Now some of them are asked to give it back and they are saying no, they won’t give it back. How can this be?
Why did the Treasury Dept give them the money in the first place? What was the criteria that allowed them to apply, GET IT, and then someone says “oops”. And how can they just say “no” to giving it back?
I haven’t applied for a small business loan. I have applied for unemployment but after receiving two weeks worth, they have stopped giving me anything even though I am eligible. I was told that there was no one I could call, that once my “pending issues” were settled, I would even get back pay. I was told that by an unemployment judge who I was speaking with for another issue I THOUGHT was the issue. That’s when I found out that it wasn’t the only issue. I even think that issue got cleared but apparently it hasn’t caught up to whomever has the deciding factor over my life, again. I’m back in the queue again, but I have no idea how many are ahead of me — probably millions.
Now, today we hear my industry cannot go back to work for another three weeks. Three weeks. It keeps getting pushed out. First two weeks, then another two weeks, then the first of May, now the 17th of May. I’m on two groups from FB who do similar work as me. Many are going through the same problem trying to get unemployment money. Either the phone line gives a busy signal, or they are on hold for two hours, only to be told that they have to just wait. Some have gotten very part-time work 3–4 hours a week, and their benefits have been cut to $40–$60 a week. As if anyone can live off that. Are they joking? When these same people were making several thousand a month.
And, yet money was given out by the thousands to the wrong people who won’t give it back. Who made that mistake? Did they get fired because now the small businesses who needed it to try and stay alive, won’t be able to?
The chaos within the chaos is really beginning to astound me. There is a saying, “The patients are running the asylum”. I hear that the employees of two major stores around here (since they are national chains, maybe across the nation) are protesting tomorrow because they don’t feel they are being protected, during this time. Truly, I see that some things have been put into place to protect people. Circles on the floor where to stand, carts getting washed down with disinfectant, monitoring how many people can go into a store, and many customers wearing masks. I hear that unless they are the proper kind of masks that they don’t do any good, anyhow.
I don’t really know what the problem is, so I really can’t say much about it. I can say that they could wear their own mask and gloves. I can say that they are lucky they can still work. I haven’t heard any news, in my area, that anyone has contracted COVID from working in a grocery store. I can say that I don’t think they would be happy if they had to wait in these unemployment issues that many are having.
What a mess.
