President Donald Trump smiles holding up his signed H.R.266, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement bill, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC on April 24th, 2020. - Pool/ABACA/TNS/TNS
As the pandemic forced widespread closures in 2020, federal policymakers were staring down a torrent of job losses. Millions of workers were being laid off from businesses large and small, and millions more would lose their jobs with every passing week, causing indelible long-term damage to their financial picture and the whole economy unless the government acted. So, in addition to direct cash relief, the government correctly set up the Paycheck Protection Program, a system created to provide employers low-interest and easily forgivable loans that could be used to retain workers. It was large...
