In the face of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the government launched the Paycheck Protection Program, a trillion-dollar effort to incentivize employers to retain their employees during the quarantine and maintain most of their compensation. The program was administered by the Small Business Association (SBA) and provided forgivable loans to eligible employers who keep their people on payroll. The idea was a good one, but the execution was terrible. There are millions of employees, self-employed people, independent contractors and small businesses who were excluded. Most of the money did not get to where it was intended.
A lot of companies are not open for business, and if the goal was for the money to get to workers, then the government should have avoided all the middlemen and funded the money directly to the employees. The entire economic relief package related to COVID-19 will end up costing about $6 Trillion. The government could have paid every worker in America $4000/mo for six months for only $2.4 Trillion. Think about it. PPP was not a total failure, but it has been too bureaucratic and way too many people who are important to our economy were left out.
There is no shortage of data showing the impact Latinos are having on the U.S. economy, from GDP and entrepreneurship to workforce participation and homeownership. So why hasn’t that growth translated into the kind of economic and political power our numbers suggest it should? In this episode, I focus on two things we can actually control: building wealth and owning our narrative. Cultural influence matters, but ownership is what turns influence into lasting power. And if we want the next generation to inherit more than momentum, we need a strategy for converting our work ethic, growth, and economic contributions into the institutions and assets that shape this country.
The World Cup reminded the world just how magnetic Hispanic and Latino culture can be. In this episode, I talk about why that popularity is more than a cultural victory—it is an economic opportunity hiding in plain sight. From music, food, sports, and fashion to the global appeal of our biggest stars, our culture already has the power to shape markets and influence how people see us. The question now is whether our business and political leaders are ready to turn that momentum into capital, representation, and lasting power. This is a moment we cannot afford to waste.
The World Cup gave Hispanics and Latinos an extraordinary global stage, but the opportunity goes far beyond sports. In this episode, I look at how cultural influence can shape perception, attract investment, and ultimately create economic power. South Korea understood this decades ago and built a global strategy around making its culture impossible to ignore. Now, the world has seen the energy, pride, and creativity of our community on its biggest stage. The question is whether we recognize the value of that moment and build something lasting from it.