Posted on 05/27/2015 8:45:30 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Opposition to the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) is now at the point where the bank’s reauthorization is genuinely in doubt. Spurred by accusations of corporate welfare, crony capitalism and outright corruption, opponents believe the Ex-Im Bank’s palpable violation of free-market principles fully warrants its early demise.
The Ex-Im Bank’s critics have their economics entirely correct, but they have their geopolitics wrong. Their solution — simply terminating the bank — is appealing but counterproductive. What America should do, under a president with the wit to do it, is negotiate the global elimination of “export credits” (as these subsidies are generically known). This approach would eliminate the Ex-Im Bank’s market-distorting effects without harming U.S. political and economic interests in the wider world.
Whatever the bank’s flaws, and they are many, U.S. businesses do not operate in a free-market world. Outside our borders, mercantilism is rife, among both friends and adversaries. Undeterred by arguments that they are playing domestic favorites, redistributing wealth inequitably, or distorting job creation and capital investment, foreign governments use agencies like the Ex-Im Bank to make their own exports more attractive to international customers.
Their objective is plain: undercut the competition to gain market share and then squeeze out competitors going forward by garnering favorable political treatment. These tactics work because many sales in international markets involve foreign governments as purchasers, state-owned enterprises (where state equity or debt control comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes) or other “business” decisions susceptible to purchasing-country governmental “persuasion.” Foreign regimes don’t worry whether export credits make good economic sense, but are instead driven by strategic thinking internationally (like China or France) or powerful domestic pressures, such as protecting favored jobs or political allies (like the European Union generally).
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
PING!
Why would we want to stop corrupt foreign governments from subsidizing the things that I like to buy?
If you answered to protect American manufacturing jobs then that is something I will never care about.
Anybody else getting clobbered with spam on this link?
Or do I have mal-ware?
Other sites seeeeeeem OK, I think.
I tried my wife’s PC. Same crap. I advise you to stay away from the Washington Times online for awhile. I think they may have been hacked or something.
Just abolish it. It’s nothing but corporate welfare.
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