More than $200 billion may have been stolen from two large COVID-19 relief initiatives. That's according to new estimates from a federal watchdog investigating federally funded programs designed to help small businesses survive the worst public health crisis in more than a hundred years.

More than $200 billion may have been stolen from two large COVID-19 relief initiatives. That’s according to new estimates from a federal watchdog investigating federally funded programs designed to help small businesses survive the worst public health crisis in more than a hundred years.

  • thann@kbin.social
    28·
    1 year ago

    That and that fact that they wrote the bill in such a way that McDonalds was considered a small buisness means actual small businesses got very little

    • dismalnow@kbin.social
      4·
      1 year ago

      To be fair, McDucks is mostly franchises with fewer than 20 employees. Corporate is mostly just the supply infrastructure and licensing.

      • ThunderingJerboa@kbin.social
        5·
        1 year ago

        I mean but it isn’t. Its weird but if you are at least semi familiar with the concept of a feudalism its a closeish example. Every franchise owner who basically pay MickyDs to use the branding as long as they pay a cut to the corporate (the King/emperor of the MickyD’s kingdom) and all these franchisee are just their own counts/countesses of their own demesne with orders coming from the king and them paying a tax to the king, meaning they all are just small businesses (as weird as that sounds) using the branding of Mcdonalds and popularity of it to drag in customers. This is also ignoring the fact that many of these fast food shops were able to stay open with very minor interruption with their workflow besides closing down their main dining rooms and that is the far larger problem at hand. Why should a company who may be slightly affected by these lockdowns be paid for still being able to operate if not making even more money than prior.