Michael R. Strain, Columnist

Stop Trashing the Programs That Help Small Business

Yes, the Paycheck Protection Program and the Fed’s “Main Street” lending plan have flaws. So let’s fix them.

April 21, 2020 at 12:00 PM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

Small business needs more help.
Photographer: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

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The challenge facing U.S. economic policy right now is that the government is building a new car while driving it at the same time. There are bound to be expensive repairs and some collisions along the way. The good news is that the car is headed in the right direction.

Take the performance so far of one of this vehicle’s most critical parts: the programs supporting small business. They are flawed but they can be improved.