Governor Kristi Noem is finally promising to shake loose a much larger chunk of the coronavirus relief funds that she has mostly sat on all summer. In a press release yesterday, the Governor says she wants to give up to $400 million to business that have suffered losses due to coronavirus.
Wait a minute: I thought the Governor said that, thanks to her great leadership (translation: inaction and image-puffing), South Dakota businesses had barely suffered due to coronavirus or overreaching government and that darn near everybody in South Dakota was back to work. Why do businesses need any coronavirus relief?
“South Dakota is in a good spot as we rebound from COVID-19, but some of our small businesses were still hurt by this pandemic,” said Governor Noem. “These folks are the lifeblood of our communities and economy. When I asked folks to adjust their way of life to help us flatten the curve, South Dakotans exercised their personal responsibility and responded. That adjustment significantly impacted the day-to-day operations, customer traffic, and supply chains of a number of small business owners across our state. It’s my hope that this proposal will help folks stay open and overcome the unprecedented times we’ve faced these last several months. I’m looking forward to discussing it with the legislature.”
Under Governor Noem’s proposal, businesses would qualify for this grant if they are located in South Dakota, have at least $50,000 in gross revenue in 2019, and have had a reduction in business of at least 25% between March and May as a result of COVID-19. The calculation for “reduction in business” can be found here [Office of the Governor, press release, 2020.09.09].
Wow—so she acknowledges that some businesses may have taken a serious hit from coronavirus back in the spring. The feds allocated $1.25 billion in CARES Act relief to South Dakota back in April. But Governor Noem needed until September 9 to sketch a pretty thin set of criteria for helping some businesses get some relief funds?
Well, Kristi Noem is a busy woman.
Note that businesses, who need some certainty to plan paychecks and investments, aren’t getting any hard numbers or dates from the Governor’s framework. They get fro October 12 to October 23 to apply, but the money might come this year or it might come next if Congress extends the CARES Act expenditure period. Noem says the grants will equal some percentage of each applicant’s business loss from this spring compared to spring 2019, but the actual rate and amount will depend on how many businesses apply and qualify and how much of the CARES Act money she burns up on her national TV campaign ads and other expenses.
Noem calls this coronavirus relief aid “Small Business Grants.” However, her framework does not appear to restrict large businesses from applying. Quite the contrary: the framework explicitly excludes the smallest businesses:
Eligible businesses must:
- Be located in South Dakota
- Have had at least $50,000 in gross revenue in 2019
- Have had a reduction in business (as defined below) of at least 25% [Office of the Governor, “Framework for Small Business Grants in South Dakota,” 2020.09.09].
The Governor’s framework sets a lower bound on revenue, but not an upper bound. So sole proprietors who do freelance graphic design or writing or blogging and do less than $50K of business aren’t eligible, but South Dakota’s largest corporations can.
The framework does cap handouts to $100K per business, and they have to subtract any other federal aid, like the Paycheck Protection Plan checks the feds disbursed in the spring (spring! when businesses needed the help!), from their loss calculations. 22,507 South Dakota organizations received PPP loans; if half of them suffered losses beyond those amounts, and if Noem deigns to disburse the maximum $400M she’s promising, she could dole out an average of $36K per suffering business.
But who knows how much Noem will actually pay out—after four months, she can only come up with a one-sheet framework, not an actual plan with actual dollar figures for actual payments with actual oversight.
Related Reading: On the good side, the coronavirus recession is inspiring some good capitalists to acknowledge that practical policy is more important than ideology:
David Owen is with the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said the aid numbers are staggering, but South Dakota businesses need the help.
“I don’t think this is a time for philosophical purity,” Owen said. “This is a practical time to roll up our sleeves and do whatever we think is going to help” [Seth Tupper, “Noem Rolls Out $400 Million Business Grant Plan,” SPDB, 2020.09.09].
Indeed: a pandemic is no time to cry about big government.
Keep yer journalistic eyes and ears open….
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/09/small-business-loan-fraud-crackdown-410406
Bill Clinton stained a blue dress and 100 newspapers and news organizations demanded that he resign. trump/Stinker Belle GNOem kill 200,000 Americans and destroy the economy and what, crickets. We don’t seem to mind the screwing we are taking and the death and destruction that goes with it, but man oh man, that oral stuff will bring you down.
Just 1.7 million Americans filed for unemployment this week. Yep, just 1.7 million of our fellow Americans, that will be added to the current total of about 30 million Americans out of work. Of course, there are no unemployed here in South Dakota, and of course the flowers of economic growth of the Stinker Belle regime, smell as lovely as any CAFO. But she has 400 million to BRIBE with, so there’s that.
So, why would you throw 400 million to successful business? Are those business people just jealous because of the hundreds of millions that have been passed out to farmers in one of the biggest systems of BRIBES ever imagined? Why not send every South Dakotan $400.00, as that BRIBE would stimulate the economy very well. Many would drink to the good health of the regime too.
Has Governor Noem thought about giving the teachers in this state some additional money? It’s my understanding, that currently, many teachers in this state are buying plexiglass and plastic out of their own pockets.
Noem’s current priorities are definitely very transparent, are they not, but they don’t look good.
Did not the schools get piles and piles of covid-bug money, Mr. Claussen, Sr? Millions upon millions of green American cash? They should be buying the glass dividers, not the teachers. Maybe even kick the top level teachers a few extra bucks, too.
What about the hospitals and the thousands of South Dakotans that will need treatment for Covid after their release. This trump virus is not just a one shot deal, the trump virus stays with you for your lifetime.
“Shelby Hedgecock contracted the coronavirus in April and thought she had fought through the worst of it — the intense headaches, severe gastrointestinal distress, and debilitating fatigue — but early last month she started experiencing intense chest pain and a pounding heartbeat. Her doctor put her on a cardiac monitor and ordered blood tests, which indicate the previously healthy 29-year-old had sustained heart damage, likely from her bout with COVID-19.
“I never thought I would have to worry about a heart attack at 29 years old,” Hedgecock told Yahoo News in an interview. “I didn’t have any complications before COVID-19 — no pre-existing conditions, no heart issues. I can deal with my taste and smell being dull; I can fight through the debilitating fatigue, but your heart has to last you a really long time.”
That is what you call a medical black hole that republicans like EB5 Short Rounds want to stick to South Dakotans by eliminating the Affordable Care Act. Ask him, he will tell you exactly that. So where is the money going to come from when there is no health insurance for preexisting conditions?
Better keep the 400 million and put it towards medical treatments of those that you infected Stinker Belle GNOem. This all happened on your watch.
grudz-you exhibit the timeless fallacy of your type of feeding the top (corporations, larger companies, larger farmers and ranchers etc. etc.)–those with their hands out for gov’t aid– instead of throwing some bucks at the bottom of the pile; teachers, jobless, low-paid labor and starting up entrepreneurs who will IMMEDIATELY spend into the economy whatever gov’t puts in their hands. You want an economy to work-feed the bottom when needed.
grudznick, your point is WELL taken about schools having some money. Unfortunately the whole atmosphere with school funding is so unstable, I believe our schools are forced to think twice before spending ANY money – COVID or not. Remember, this Governor would not commit to giving the legislatively mandated/budgeted 2% and kept open the possibility of pulling funding during the school year (after schools had budgeted and spent those funds).
I we truly want schools to be conservative and responsible in their spending, they must have a higher level of year-to-year surety of funds to allow budgeting that close to the bone.
John, rather than loose money, the Governor/DOE should take a stand of what school must have to preserve the safety of students and staff and provide that directly to all schools (rather than have individual schools fighting each other in the market place the way the President had the states bidding each other up). Unfortunately that would fly in the face of the “SD doesn’t get COVID” rhetoric from the Governor.
Education is being reformed quickly.
Computers cannot school children, even if there are real people on the other end.
Children thrive with personal interaction. Not the “cuties” kind of interaction, but hugs and caring and lots of communication and interaction with other people in the same room.
It’s a biological imperative.
Also, I have some breaking news. I had to pee in the back yard today. Hey, don’t judge, I live with 5 ladies (I am head of household) and our place is only a two-holer. But if you’re interested, I think jerry might have the video.
Mr. Dale, grudznick, too, has peed in your back yard, and that 5G transmitter there on the corner makes it a bit of ticklish experience.
Money is power, John KC. Under no circumstances are teachers to have power. SDGOP rule.
John Dale, your “cuties” reference from Qanon is a blatant misrepresentation of facts in California legislation, so give it a rest.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/03/fact-check-california-law-does-not-decriminalize-sex-minors/3456171001/
U R A nasty dude, dude!
Noem’s back to normal plan (I believe that is what it was called) did not have a lot of thought put in it. That was back when she went from being our governor, to starting down the path of Trump’s puppet.
This so call business grant plan is even worse. Looks like it was put together waiting for a ride to the airport. Obviously Noem is too busy these days to worry about us south dakotans.
Today read about a major Republican who’s voting for Biden. I wish I could remember his name, but nope, so just consider this anecdotal.
He said that he and his pals plan to do all they can to completely implode the GOP after they’re swamped in November, then imprisoned for all their crimes.
Next this group of Republican leaders will form a new conservative party and GOP scuzzballs who managed to avoid prison will not be welcomed.
I imagine Kruel Kristi and Marion will be among those exiled. Pootie’s boy thune may share a cell with Moscow Mitch. Don’t know about Dirty.
Debbo, didn’t the Tea Party try that — before they were assimilated by the GOP proper? Although sentiments like this warm my heart, politics is about winning elections, so the “big tent” won’t take long to let scuzzballs back to attempt to again grab majorities through the coalition of the deplorable.
I don’t see the current GOP charting the path that Southern Democrats did when they took the principled stance on segregation and showed those who did not agree the door (to the welcoming GOP).
You lie with dogs . . .