The OceanGate Titan submersible in an underwater shot (@balleralert / Twitter)
[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire.]
By Adam Andrzejewski
Real Clear Wire
OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the Titan submersible disaster, was forgiven of its $450,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan, according to the ProPublica PPP Loan Database.
OceanGate builds submersibles for tourism and research, but its inherently risky business model raises questions, and led to the tragic deaths of five people in the ocean in June.
Its liability waiver for sub tourism mentioned the possibility of death three times on the first page alone. Now, some are accusing the company of cutting corners. James Cameron, the renowned Titanic explorer and director of the 1997 movie, said, "I was very suspect of the technology that they were using. I wouldn't have gotten in that sub.”
Despite the questionable safety protocols and business model, OceanGate still received $450,000 from the first round of PPP loans in 2020. The loans were to help keep staff on the payroll as business stalled with lockdowns, with the company reporting it employed 22 staff members at the time. They were subsequently forgiven, giving OceanGate a nearly half-million dollar windfall.
PPP funding was handed out like candy to large and small businesses alike, regardless of business model, need, or the pandemic’s impact on a particular business. Its scope is one reason it has seen such massive fraud, with some estimating up to $64 billion in fraudulent loans, with total Covid aid stolen or wasted adding up to $403 billion.
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This story also underscores an important note on Covid relief programs. While the massive PPP program was pitched as loans, 92 percent were fully or partially forgiven, making it a grant program. That was made clear to applicants upfront, though it was marketed to the American people as a loan.
While the government understandably acted quickly at the outset of the pandemic to get funds out the door, it is important to consider whether companies like OceanGate really deserved half a million dollars from taxpayers.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
IMPORTANT NOTE: It's hard to believe it's really happening, but it is. Male athletes pretend to be females, dominate their sports, and are thereby rapidly destroying women’s competitive sports worldwide. Convicted male criminals suddenly claim to be transgender so they can be confined in a women’s prison and sexually abuse the female inmates there. Men claiming to be female likewise invade women’s locker rooms, bathrooms, schools, dormitories, sororities, shelters, spas and social organizations – and in the process steal women’s scholarships, advancement, honors and myriad other opportunities.
Meanwhile, transgender groomers and recruiters in schools and on social media platforms like TikTok are continually feeding and expanding the current “mass hysteria” craze that has already led countless teen girls to take testosterone and undergo double mastectomies in a pathetic effort to become boys. No wonder the CDC reports 3 in 5 teen girls say they feel “persistently sad or hopeless” and almost 1 in 3 say they have seriously considered committing suicide.
All of this on top of the radical left’s renewed obsession with killing women’s unborn babies via abortion.
The “woke” left’s maniacal attack on women and girls, virtually unreported by the rest of the media, is the entire focus of the sensational June issue of WND’s critically acclaimed WHISTLEBLOWER magazine, titled “THE LEFT’S TOTAL WAR ON WOMEN.” WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
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