Did Your Town Take Advantage Of PPP Loans? Check This Map to Learn

Image: James Kardatzke and Christopher Kardatzke

A brand-new map online is geographically mapping by state every recipient of a loan of over $150,000 made through the Income Defense Program, a $670 million loan program developed to save American companies from collapsing throughout COVID-19 pandemic.

Sibling James Kardatzke and Christopher Kardatzke, co-founders of Quiver Quantitative, began constructing the map on Monday using information released by the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration relating to the 4.9 million loans made by the federal government through PPP.

The release of data is an attempt to provide more transparency about the huge federal loan program developed to keep the United States labor force used throughout the coronavirus pandemic as part of the $2 trillion CARES Act passed this spring.

” I think this data is going to be truly illuminating for individuals and likewise offer some more openness in the process that these loans are distributed,” James Kardatzke said.

The information set consists of loan-level information for recipients of loans between $150,000 and $10 million. According to a statement by the Treasury Department, these loans account for nearly 75 percent of the loan dollars authorized through PPP.

In developing the map, James Kardatzke and Christopher Kardatzke used Python code to go through each line of the data spreadsheet to determine what geographic coordinates support each area, which was then utilized to map the recipient.

So far the map has ended up mapping 9 states, and James Kardatzke thinks the map should be finished by next week. He likewise stated he and his sibling began developing the map since they believe it can be of some public excellent.

” We’re hoping that once we get all the points mapped out, then we can go back and do some more high level analysis,” James Kardatzke said.

One example he gave on how the map could be used would be to do a county by county analysis of how the loans have actually been distributed, thus visualizing if some counties have actually been overrepresented in the circulation of the loans while others have been underrepresented.

The release of the data by the Treasury Department and SBA on Monday has actually already raised some eyebrows. Recipients of PPP loans have actually consisted of billionaires, country clubs, and personal jet business Kanye West’s clothing and sneaker brand Yeezy likewise got a loan through PPP worth in between $2 million and $5 million As reported by VICE in May, business making CBD gummies, vapes, and lubes have also gotten millions through PPP.