Posted on 07/17/2018 7:33:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Congress created the usual special interest frenzy with its latest iteration of the Farm Bill. Agricultural subsidies are one of the most important examples of corporate welfare, money handed out to businesses based on political connections.
Business plays a vital role in a free market. In real capitalism there are no guaranteed profits. But corporate welfare eliminates this handicap for the well-connected.
Business subsidies that allow politicians to channel economic resources toward their preferred ends distort investment and trade. Moreover, turning government into an engine of illicit profit encourages what economists call rent-seeking. Well-organized special interests usually triumph over the broader public and national interest.
Aid comes in many forms.
Agriculture has spawned a gaggle of sometimes bizarre subsidies. Like a dairy program which created milk surpluses, in turn encouraging state price fixing, generating massive cheese stockpiles, in turn triggering giveaways to the poor. Payments, loans, crop insurance, import quotas, and more underwrite farmers.
Money also goes to agricultural enterprises through the Rural Business-Cooperative Service, which supports "business development." The recently defeated Farm Bill even included $65 million in special health care subsidies for agricultural associations. Ironically, farm households enjoy higher median income and wealth than non-farm households.
The Market Access Program is one of several initiatives to subsidize agricultural exports. Other programs support general trade and investment.
For instance, the Export-Import Bank is known as Boeing's Bank. It provides cheap credit for foreign buyers of American products. Which, ironically, gives foreign firms an advantage over U.S. producers who must pay full fare. Ex-Im's biggest beneficiary in recent years has been China, especially its state-owned firms.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation underwrites U.S. investment in potentially unstable nations. If the project pays off, investors win. If not, the rest of us lose. Why should the public guarantee investor profits?
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
“Business subsidies that allow politicians to channel economic resources toward their preferred ends distort investment and trade.”
That does not happen with a drained Swamp.
A government as big and powerful as U.S. federal can only be a swamp. That’s the whole point of the monstrosity: to control and rob.
We absolutely MUST remove the Bush League Republicans from office and replace them with patriots.
We would not have needed Donald Trump to save US if they were on our side.
Flake, Corker, Hatch, Heller, Alexander, Graham, McCain, Murkowsky, Hoeven, Rubio, Tillis, Burr, Lankford, Gardner, Cornyn, Hyde-Smith, Collins, Sasse, Kennedy, Shelby, Ernst, Blunt, McConnell, Wicker, Portman, Isakson, Johnson, Toomey, Rounds, Capito, Thune, Gaines, Barasso and Enzi are all Bush League Republicans hell bent on making America into North Mexico.
CATO is damned near as bad the the MSM. After highlighting a few programs, they gratuitously equate Tarriffs with subsidies.
Debate is good, but honesty is required. Conflating disparate issues is confusing at best, and disingenuous at heart. Free traitors just can’t resist.
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