President-elect Trump announced Wednesday that he will nominate economist Michael Faulkender to be deputy secretary of the Treasury, the second-highest position at the Treasury Department.
If confirmed, Faulkender will report to Scott Bessent, President Trump's nominee for Treasury secretary.
During Trump's first term, Faulkender at the Treasury Department implemented the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provided nearly $800 billion in loans to businesses to keep workers on payroll during the pandemic. It was an economic stimulus package, and almost all of it was waived.
Mr. Volkender is currently a professor of finance at the University of Maryland Business School. He is also the chief economist at the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank that is staffing much of the president-elect's new administration.
Mr. Volkender teaches Master of Business Administration classes at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business.
His research focuses on “corporate capital structure, risk management, corporate liquidity, and executive compensation,” according to the school's website.
“Mike is a distinguished economist and policy practitioner who will advance America First policies,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
The PPP has come under intense scrutiny for benefiting the wealthiest taxpayers. One study found that only 23% to 34% of PPP funds went directly to workers who would have lost their jobs during the pandemic.
“The program's accrual rate ends up being highly regressive, with about three-quarters of PPP funds accumulating in the top fifth of households,” said economist David Orter and co-authors. write in a 2022 study of the American Economic Association's program.
PPP loans are also susceptible to fraudulent claims, with researchers finding that about a tenth of forgiven loans, worth more than $64 billion, are “suspicious,” with the most suspicious activity occurring in the financial technology sector. I discovered that this is happening.
“In all, we found 1.41 million suspicious loans representing $64.2 billion in capital,” University of Texas economists wrote in 2022. “The share of the fintech market has increased significantly over time, with questionable loans by fintechs in 2021 being four times higher than the level at the start of the financial market,” the program said.
Questionable loans are overwhelmingly forgiven at interest rates similar to other loans. ”
Faulkender defended the program earlier this year, writing in a paper for the Treasury Department that “PPP saved 10.9 million jobs in businesses with fewer than 100 employees, and 14 million jobs overall. The average cost per job was approximately $33,200 to $37,600.
