The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
December 21, 2009

Report: White Businesses Received Vast Majority of Stimulus Loans
-----------------------------------------------------------------



An investigation by New American Media has found that loans handed out
to struggling small businesses as part of President Obama’s stimulus
package have largely shut out minority businesses—especially those owned
by African Americans and Latinos. Over 91 percent of the special small
business loans went to white-owned businesses. Three percent went to
Latino-owned businesses, just 1.5 percent to black-owned firms. Overall,
white-owned businesses received over $130 million in loans through the
program, while Hispanic-owned businesses got $4 million and black-owned
businesses less than $2 million. In five states—Alabama, Arkansas, New
Hampshire, South Dakota, and Wyoming—every single firm that received a
loan was white-owned. In eight other states, including Louisiana and
Nevada, all but one loan went to a white-owned firm.



.