By Samuel Strait – Reporter at Large – February 28, 2022 One of the more brilliant ideas that has occurred over the past two years of the Pandemic came in the form of the Paycheck Protection Program from the Small Business Administration of the Federal Government. Billed as a way for small businesses of 500 employees, (yes 500 employees is considered a small business by the Federal Government) or less to make payroll when the business was shut down by local mandate. Businesses who SELF VERIFIED that they required funds due to the epidemic could apply for a PPP loan of up to 2.5 times their average monthly payroll in 2019 (with different windows for seasonal and startup businesses). Yearly salaries were capped at $100,000 for payroll calculation purposes. Companies could receive up to $10 million in FORGIVABLE LOANS. According to the SBA , 11,475,003 loans were approved at $69,087 on average or just short of $800 billion dollars were lent, most to be forgiven. It took several lawsuits from the public to make information available as to who got the loans and for what purpose they were spent. Not all of the money was spent for paycheck protection, as businesses were allowed to spend up to 40% of what for most became a grant on mortgage interest payments, rent, utilities, and leases. Unfortunately due to the nature of the lending practices of the SBA, a great deal of graft and corruption was discovered over the course of the program. Billions of dollars were lent out to those in prison, foreign nationals, and larger corporations with substantial assets who were ineligible. To date very little of that money has been recovered. While the nuts and bolts of the program might be interesting, the purpose of this article is to illuminate the impact that PPP loans had on Del Norte County's 27,000 residents. Granted on the scale of the PPP program most loans to local businesses tended to be relatively modest. Of the 314 loans approved for Del Norte County, 117 were for more than $100,000, 58 for $50,000 or more, leaving 139 of less than $50,000. The big winners in the County in order of appearance were: 1. Elk Valley Casino at $2,000,494, 2. Alexandre Family at $1,395,323, 3. Tolowa Dee-Ni Nation at $1,164,100, 4. Yurok Corporation at $918,538, and 5. Dahlstrom and Watt Bulb Farms at $915,577. The Native American Tribes had the largest jackpot, raking in just over $4,000,000 total during the two year period. While this no doubt benefited many families of employees in the local communities within Del Norte County, since the relaxing of mandates regarding California businesses many employees are reluctant to return to work. This has resulted in many businesses and other employers scrambling for workers. It has also revealed a fair number of abuses by both business and their employees. Payroll using PPP loans while workers were fully employed, workers collecting paycheck money while also claiming unemployment benefits, and sole proprietor business owners paying themselves as employees when there were none. While this article is not meant to expose any local business owner of improper or illegal practices while in the PPP program, there exists the problem that abuse of the loan program was not limited to a few individual loans. Due to the fact that most loans when applied for were SELF VERIFIED and the Federal Government, in particular the SBA, is not always careful with Taxpayer money, it would be unfortunate if malfeasance by either businesses or employees in the County were revealed. Similarly, it would be unfortunate if as a result of the generosity of the Federal Government during these past two years has resulted in the current labor shortage, another failing of government will be exposed. This unfortunately has become an all too familiar story regarding governments at all levels. As the Country's National Debt has exploded over the past several years and inflation is through the roof, corruption by small business is a failing that this Country should not have to endure. The life blood of our local communities flow through our local small businesses, something local residents should appreciate.