SunSentinel Mention

December 18, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Recently, Bloomberg reported water joined gold, oil and other commodities traded on Wall Street, highlighting worries that the life-sustaining natural resource may become scarce across more of the world. Farmers, hedge funds and municipalities alike are now able to hedge against (or bet on) future water availability in California, the biggest U.S. agriculture market and world’s fifth-largest economy. The futures are tied to the Nasdaq Veles California Water Index, which was started two years ago and measures the volume-weighted average price of water. The January 2021 contract that went live Dec. 7 had two trades. Is this in Florida’s future?

Looking ahead: When Congress passes a stimulus bill this weekend, next week or in the future, it really does need to include clarity related to the PPP Loan proceeds. As is, once the loan is forgiven, the expenses that were covered under the PPP are not allowed to be deducted from your taxes, essentially making the amount of your PPP taxable. Depending on the type of business, this could cost from 26.5% to 38% of the loan value. For engineering and related businesses, these expenses won’t go into our multiplier which will impact contracts for years. That isn’t business relief.