It’s a disaster, and one of the major reasons for the rush to open things back up too early. I talk with small business owners frequently. I’ve helped two businesses (a friend and family member) fill out their PPP applications (very simple actually for Federal paperwork and since it requires a Schedule C, 1120 or 1065 attached, it would not have been difficult at all to administer some sort of a needs test). One of those applications is still sitting on a loan officer’s desk because the credit union who my friend does business with is not SBA approved. We had to scramble to find a bank that would even take his application, but that bank is sitting on it until all their customer’s apps have been filed. I call BS on making sure “terrorists” didn’t get the money. At the very least, they should have allowed financial institutions who are legally chartered to participate and not just SBA banks. Btw, you know who got their applications in first don’t you? The ones big and wealthy enough to have lawyers and accountants at their beck and call. Anyone with a lick of sense should have foreseen that the fat hogs who already knew their way to the trough would be the first ones there when the slop was put out.
And, If speed was a priority, I would hate to see how long it would have taken to roll it out if it wasn’t. It was two weeks after Congress passed the Cares Act before the first applications were taken. The rules and application probably took a half hour to write (I’m being generous. It really is that simple of an application , but even the simplest of government forms will scare the hell out of most people). I know in Federal bureaucrat time that’s like warp speed, but for people struggling to buy groceries, medications and pay the rent or mortgage, it was too darn long.