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Ex-Im Bank Dead?
At midnight, there will no longer be an Ex-Im bank, channeling tax payer dollars to a handful of large corporations.
After 81 years of funneling taxpayer dollars to favored companies, projects, and geopolitical outcomes under the guise of advancing some vague conception of the “U.S. economic interest,” the Export-Import Bank of the United States will end its financing operations at midnight tonight.
….
It was won because of columnist/scholar Tim Carney’s persistence in focusing the public’s attention on the corruption bred of corporate welfare and because of the analytical contributions of Heritage’s Diane Katz, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Ryan Young, and others who continued to make compelling arguments for shuttering the Bank, despite steep odds against that outcome.
Read more here.
There is some momentum to revive it.
Proponents of the Bank have been regrouping and strategizing to move legislation to reauthorize the Bank at the soonest possible chance. In fact the White House is hosting a conference call for the purpose of advancing that outcome.
I sure hope we killed it dead.
Published in Economics
Same here.
I hope the Ex-Im Bank is buried at a crossroads with a stake in its heart, in a reinforced and blessed coffin, inside of a tomb that would scare off Indiana Jones.
The more I found out about the bank, the lower it sank in my opinion. By the time I started reading about its work in helping Rosatom gain Uranium control, I was in the full burn-it-down camp. And I’m not a libertarian.
Yet. :-D
Very good news, Barkha. Needed that today. And yes, we’ll need to be on the lookout for any zombies that attempt to arise from the dead.
Double Tap!!!
Embalm. Cremate. Bury At Sea. Take no chances. – Winston Churchill (I think)
I hope it is dead, too!
KILL IT WITH FIRE!
“Ding Dong!” as the Munchkins say.
Ding, dong …!!
Great minds, Eustace!
GE’s CEO’s threats to outsource tells me I’m on the right side of this. Good riddance!
Happy, Happy Fourth!
I am surprised so many people get the Ex-Im Bank problem, and that is great news!
Lord Obummer has a big agenda right now, and the Party appears to be working 24/7 to help him.
I bet it will be the first thing on their minds after the next false flag.
Chainsaw
Unfortunately, my senator, Kelly Ayotte, is in favor of the Ex-Im Bank because it “helps Granite Staters.”
It kind of feels like a 1% pay raise. Somewhere between an insult and a waste of time.
Like MacArthur, it shall return. Sorry.
I share Basil’s pessimism, but retain hope that the house will resist an Ex-Im resurrection.
Not that I am pro ExIm, but it does help a lot of small businesses obtain contracts overseas. ExIm provides basically an 80% guarantee on goods made in the U.S. from U.S. manufactured parts. European Union provides 90%.
A number of small manufacturers, and small design build engineering firms in TX and LA utilize the ExIm bank.
Kermit: Yeah, that’s Ayotte’s reasoning.
Guarantee of what? Like a tax-payer liable warranty?
Em-Im is corporate welfare and therefore will certainly be resurrected by the GOP establishment. Currently there is an advertising campaign underway by major corporations, if it were not going to be resurrected they would not be spending the money.
If the concern was for “small manufactures” a limit could be placed on the size of companies that can utilize it. The purpose however is to funnel government money to large corporations and this is just one method that is being used.
sounds like they are leaving all the infrastructure in place to turn the lights back on the moment they get refunded in some attachment to a “must pass” spending bill
I’m a government employee who works on regulatory compliance. If I became a libertarian, I would implode into a black hole.
Guarantee of payment. This is especially important for specifically engineered things such as modular GTL plants. Payment is not due until commissioned. Bridge financing from banks if here in the U.S. is easy, but to overseas locations, not so much.
From this day forward please let ExIm be exhibit A as to why 99.9% of what exits Congress must include a sunset clause.