Report: 22% of small & medium businesses closed in February

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 9:37 AM PT – Monday, April 12, 2021

America’s small businesses are collapsing at the fastest pace since COVID-19 lockdowns first began last year despite stimulus programs.

According to the Small Business Roundtable, 22 percent of all small and medium businesses in the U.S. were closed as of February. This is compared to 23 percent of such businesses that were closed last May.

Unlike last year, however, most of the businesses that are closed today may not be able to reopen due to the expiration of programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Last week, Co-Executive Director, Rhett Buttle joined the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee for the stakeholder listening forum “Pandemic Response: Perspectives from Small Business Borrowers.”

Watch the full video here https://t.co/OT68JZi3V9 #SmallBiz #PPP #EDIL

— Small Business Roundtable (@SmBizRoundtable) February 25, 2021

Experts have said the recent increase of the national debt has failed to relieve American businesses.

“And a considerable part of these loans have to be paid back to Chinese banks and the Chinese government because political decisions that were made by the same people who run America now,” stated Hans Netten, a senior lecturer at Hague University. “The American growth model of stacking one loan on top of the other is long overdue.”

Despite all of this, the Biden administration expects GDP growth to tick up 10 percent in the second quarter compared to an 18 percent increase in national debt for the past year.

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