You don’t have to parse Dan Patrick’s words. We all heard what he told Tucker Carlson

Small businesses were big losers

The debacle surrounding the Paycheck Protection Program could have been avoided using a modicum of common sense. Every legitimate small business files a Form 941 that lists its total payroll, a metric that could have been used to define small businesses.

Instead, hedge funds and REITs received money based on the number of employees, not on the size of payrolls. The Treasury Department could simply have sent each small business a percentage of its payroll instead of using the esoteric process that required applications and subjective approvals.

Actual small businesses were shut out, and businesses with existing lending relationships and good accountants benefited. Once again, the rich got richer and Main Street got the shaft.

- William W. Thorburn, Benbrook

Patrick’s words were crystal clear

Why does Cynthia M. Allen believe it’s necessary to qualify Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s statements about sacrificing his life to open the economy? (April 24, 11A, “Dan Patrick was talking trade-offs, not killing seniors”)

She wrote, “I don’t think,” “I think” and “I believe that is what Patrick was trying to say.” He was pretty clear not once but twice when speaking to Tucker Carlson that he meant exactly what he said.

Don’t get me wrong: I think he’s a nut. His plan would overwhelm the health care system.

- S.R. DeWees, Alvarado

Hard decisions ahead for leaders

With many businesses closed, people are struggling to support themselves. This has a trickle-down effect on other businesses, such as real estate and finance. The final trickle-down will be to local governments, which depend on property and sales taxes for most of their money.

Anyone running for local office must be prepared to make tough decisions. Our property taxes are already too high. And no one wants to terminate employees.

Many local governments will have a hard time dealing with budget shortfalls.

- Travis Malone, Richland Hills

From his lips to my ears

To the Sunday letter writer concerned “media types” want to bring down the president: You don’t have to read anything or listen to the media to form an opinion regarding President Donald Trump. I form my opinion listening to what he says, word for word.

- Peggy Morrison, Fort Worth

Transparent media deflection

Richard Greene’s column Sunday praising Arlington for providing accurate coronavirus information was laudable, to a point. (5B, “Here’s a great source of local coronavirus info for Arlington”) Then he pivoted from praising locally provided information to warning of the “political bias” of national news.

Although few people would check national news for information specific to Arlington, Greene launched into a familiar diatribe about national media bias. Coincidentally, I suppose, President Donald Trump has made clear that the less people trust the “national news,” the better it is for him.

By slamming the national media in a column ostensibly praising locally generated information, Greene was fertilizing the seeds of doubt planted by Trump.

- Ermis Cliburn, Fort Worth

Time to end the lockdown

I disagree with continuing the near-total lockdown. We have a clearly defined population at risk — older people and those with underlying health conditions — who can be protected with targeted measures.

Nursing home residents should be already be protected from infected people, given that they live in confined places with restricted entry.

- Skip Powell, Fort Worth