Kanye West made $170 million this year, but took a $2-5 million PPP loan from the federal government that could have gone to a small business whose owner didn’t have it sitting in his personal bank account.
It was 2% of Kanye’s income. This is
PPP program was a finite amount of funds meant to help keep people employed.
But because funds went to people like Kanye, who has the means to pitch in and save his own employees’ jobs and not beg the federal government to pay, many smaller businesses went without.
He can say it saved 100 jobs at his company but he ignores the fact that
*he* could have saved 100 jobs at his company.
I focus on Kanye because Forbes just released its highest paid celebrities list and he was #2 (behind sister in law Kylie Jenner). But hedge funds and other celebs also got PPP loans. The program did not favor small businesses in real trouble, restaurants in particular.
Kanye, Khloe Kardashian, Tom Brady, Jared Kushner’s family, billionaire developers—all snapped up these loans. Their access to banks—and no doubt in some cases the Trump Admin—helped them get to the front of the queue.
