Once again, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette holds the lower- and middle-class to a different standard from its owner, which would be WEHCO Media Inc. WEHCO is short for Walter E. Hussman Company, the publisher.
Today, the Democrat-Gazette’s lead editorial assails President Biden’s program to forgive some student loan debt as “cancel culture” and says the unpaid bills will amount to “Debt that we’ll all have to pay.”
Of course, the editorial writer failed to mention the millions of dollars Hussman’s companies got in the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic. It turns out Hussman’s companies got more than we first thought.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Inc. alone got a loan of $4,231,200. Counting interest, the government forgave the paper $4,278,331.
Nor did the editorial mention the $1,513,923 in loans, counting accumulated interest, that three WEHCO businesses saw forgiven in the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic.
Broken down, the $1.5 million sum includes $826,998 counting the interest that WEHCO Media Inc. won’t have to pay back, along with $558,427 WEHCO Video Inc. got a pass on and $128,498 WEHCO Digital Services saw forgiven.
I should note that I formerly worked for the Democrat-Gazette and won a few investigative-reporting awards while there. I later wrote a weekly opinion column for the paper, halted by an angry Hussman after just over a year. That said, I still subscribe to the paper. I read it, too, or I wouldn’t have seen today’s shameful editorial.
In fairness, The Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, my new employer, got two PPP loans. One for $286,679 including interest, was forgiven, as was one for $239,437, including interest.
The difference between WEHCO and us is that we’re not being hypocritical and attacking the student debt forgiveness plan as Hussman’s paper did in this statement: “People learn, especially young people in college. What does this action teach them? Besides that paying off loans is only optional, and if they sign enough loans then the government will just cancel them.”
And we surely aren’t branding elected leaders who want to help those who have struggled to pay off lingering student debts as the “Free Lunch Crowd” as Hussman’s paper did. Jesus handed out plenty of free lunches, and I seem to recall he was big on forgiveness, too.
You can track the PPP loans at this ProPublica site.
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