When the $2200bn Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (Cares Act) – the US rescue package targeting people and companies harmed most by lockdown measures – was enacted in March, it was understood there would be some imperfections because of the challenge of having to devise it so quickly.
But then a central initiative in the act, the Paycheque Protection Programme (PPP) created for small businesses, caused a public outcry, suffered umpteen technical glitches, frustrated those small business owners and led to lawsuits against some of the country’s biggest banks. The US government’s crisis response appeared to be even more widely challenged. So what went wrong?