Governor Burgum Got Free Money For His Business, And We Commoners Barely Get Any Student Loan Relief
I am going to try to write this as eloquently as I possibly can. I am not pretending that I fully grasp the concept of the CARES Act, PPP loans, HEROES Act, HEALS Act, or really anything going on since the pandemic overturned our lives. But from what I have read, watched, heard, and conversed about, I am one of the people who realizes that many of us are getting screwed over by these pandemic-related government bailouts while others are immensely benefiting from them.
Ever since the pandemic hit, the government has been shelling out money left-and-right. Because of the CARES Act, some of us got the $1,200 stimulus check (I'm still waiting on mine, BTW) and some businesses took advantage of the forgivable PPP loan. Now that the CARES Act benefits are basically done, we're talking about implementing the HEROES (Democrats) or the HEALS Act (Republicans), as we still see really no end in sight for the pandemic.
The HEROES Act passed in May 2020. With the HEROES Act, there would be another round of $1,200 stimulus checks, the $600-a-week in federal unemployment would continue through January 2021, and (my personal favorite) student loan payments would remain suspended and interest-free until September 2021. Not only that, borrowers in "economic distress" would get $10,000 of their student loans forgiven. Read more here.
The HEALS Act was proposed on Monday (July 29, 2020). With the HEALS Act, another $1,200 stimulus check would go out. However, federal unemployment payments would drop from $600-a-week to $200-a-week. Also, student loans would no longer be in forbearance past September 30, 2020. Read more here.
Now, I have been fortunate enough to be able to keep my job and maintain my bills, but it's not easy to pay all the bills all the time. Especially with the mountain of student loan debt I have. And I am good with money and live pretty humbly. So, I am totally looking for some relief in the student loan area of my life. Since our government is handing us our own taxpayer money like they're Oprah or something, I think people with student loan debt should get relief from whichever of these bills ends up going through.
And why shouldn't we? There are many people who are burdened by student loan debt. Yes, those of us who have those debts chose to go to college, but there's no reason we should get "the short end of the stick" in all of this. Especially when people like Governor Doug Burgum and other elites get relief money. Not only that, the relief money for businesses is potentially forgivable. Why can businesses with incredibly wealthy owners get free money for relief, but all of us with student debt are having to speak up for it? We aren't getting anywhere near $350,000 to $1 million dollars to pay-off anything.
Our governor is filthy rich. According to networthfacts.com, Governor Burgum won't disclose his net worth, but we all know he made a pretty penny when he sold Great Plains Software to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001, he also has the Kilbourne Group real estate development company based in Fargo (***his company that received $350,000 - $1 million in potentially forgivable PPP money. Read about that here.), AND he makes $100,000 per year as governor. Get the details here.
I am not faulting the governor or anyone else for being wealthy. I just can't believe that people of his stature are included in the relief fund process, while individuals just trying to survive are losing everything because of forced shutdowns. Even celebrities like Khloe Kardashian, Jay-Z, and Reese Witherspoon used PPP money for their businesses (Seriously. Read about that here). It's not like these millionaires and billionaires couldn't afford to take a pay cut to support their employees. People with that kind of money are absolutely not suffering.
But back to the governor - does it seem at least unethical for a government official to dip into government funding for a personal business? Just sayin'.
Good Advice for Moving to Bismarck Mandan