Lisa Conyers (Pacific Time) available by Zoom, Skype or Phone
125 Chinese companies or entities invested in by China received between $200 million and $400 million in U.S. government-backed subsidies.
But some U.S. companies receiving PPP money also are raising eyebrows as SBA documents show that defense contractor, The Atlantic Diving Supply, with Billions in sales, received PPP money that was supposed to be reserved for smaller companies.
Authors Lisa Conyers and Phil Harvey call it crony capitalism. They wrote about it in their new book, “Welfare for the Rich—How Your Tax Dollars End Up in Millionaires’ Pockets—and What You can Do about it.”
Their publisher bills it “the first book to describe and analyze the many ways that federal and state governments provide handouts—subsidies, grants, tax credits, loan guarantees, price supports, and many other payouts—to millionaires, billionaires, and the companies they own and run.”
Welcome, Lisa.
Q&A:
- How is it that so many Chinese companies got PPP money?
- Tell us how a Defense Contractor like the Atlantic Diving Company could get away with receiving $2 million in PPP funds that were supposed to be limited to small businesses under $500 million.
- This could be classified as crony capitalism. What exactly is crony capitalism?
Answer: Wikipedia defines crony capitalism as “an economic system in which businesses thrive not as a result of risk, but rather as a return on money amassed through a nexus between a business class and the political class.” It’s that nexus that should concern us all. It often leads to the killing of true capitalism, in favor of ‘connected capitalism’ or crony capitalism.
- When we hear the term ‘farmers,’ what comes to mind are hard-working families working the land, eking out a living, but you have a different perspective on the word. Tell us about that.
Answer: Welfare for millionaire farmers comes to more than $50 billion annually.
- Subsidies to giant corporations exceeds $100 billion. Do you cover that in your book also?
Answer: This shocking waste of taxpayer money is rigorously documented in Welfare for the Rich, along with the dirty details on the political action committees and special interest groups that keep this distorted system going.
- Initially there was a cut-off for Covid welfare, limiting it only to companies grossing less than 500 million dollars. What happened?
Answer: Politics happened. Lobbying happened.
- Tell us some more about your book, “Welfare for the Rich,” and where we may we buy a copy.
Answer: At Amazon.com and in bookstores.
Reference article: Chinese-owned companies received millions in PPP loans, analysis shows https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/chinese-owned-companies-received-millions-in-ppp-loans-analysis-shows
About the authors…
Lisa Conyers
Lisa Conyers is co-author, with Phil Harvey, of The Human Cost of Welfare, and their latest book “Welfare for the Rich—How Your Tax Dollars End Up in Millionaires’ Pockets—and What You can Do about it.”
She is a nonpartisan consultant to private clients and think tanks, focusing on economics and public policy issues. Her passion is explaining complex economic issues for the layman. Lisa also consults on films and documentaries on economics and free markets.
Her writing has been published in the New York Daily News, the Los Angeles Times, and the Huffington Post, among other venues, and she has appeared frequently on radio and TV to discuss both economic and social issues. She holds an undergraduate degree in American Studies from George Mason University and a master’s degree in Management from the University of Maryland. She lives in California on her sailboat.
Phil Harvey
Phil Harvey is an entrepreneur who has founded a thriving business, a philanthropist who has created several important nonprofit organizations, and the author of five books, including his latest, “Welfare for the Rich—How Your Tax Dollars End Up in Millionaires’ Pockets—and What You can Do about it.”
As a philanthropist, and Harvey chairman of the mail order business Adam & Eve, Harvey became concerned about the problems of global hunger during a stint with the international charity CARE in India. Harvey used the profits from Adam & Eve to found DKT International, for which Mother Jones magazine dubbed Phil Harvey a “hardcore philanthropist.”
Phil Harvey was educated at Harvard, where he earned a degree in Slavic languages and literature in 1961. He also has a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina. He lives with his wife, Harriet Lesser, in Cabin John, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C.
CONTACT: Jerry McGlothlin at 919-437-0001 or jerry@specialguests.com
