Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
President Obama was here in the Seattle area, causing me a bit of disturbance when a Secret Service (I'm guessing) helicopter kept buzzing the neighborhood where I live, near one of the fundraisers he attended. Not that I'm really complaining about that.
But anyway, earlier in the day he visited a Boeing plant and to announce an expanded role for the little known Export-Import Bank of the United States AKA 'Ex-Im.'
Ex-Im was created by executive order of FDR in the 1930's, and expanded by the US Congress in the 1940's. It uses taxpayer money to issue and guarantee loans to foreign buyers of American goods. Top recepients include foreign customers of GE, Bechtel, Halliburton. The perennial no. 1 beneficiary is Boeing. Pres. Obama now plans to expand this to include domestic customers as well.
Writer Tim Carney, lonely warrior against crony capitalism, has a very good chapter on Ex-Im in his book The Big Ripoff.
Carney details several Ex-Im loans, including one to Nauru, a tiny island whose chief export has been bird droppings. Air Nauru bought a Boeing 737, but due to 'profligacy and bad investment' was able to keep up payments. Since the loan was guaranteed by US taxpayers, Boeing was undamaged, and US taxpayers took posession of a jet they hadn't wanted.
Another details a deal involving GE shutting down a plant that made refrigerators in Indiana. Production was moved to Celaya, Mexico, financed by a loan guaranteed by Ex-Im, i.e. the US taxpayer. Joe Adams, VP of IBEW local 2249 lost his factory job in the move. "Well, that's just great. My taxes are paying to ship my job to Mexico," he said to Carney.
Didn't Obama just have the NLRB sue boeing? Now he's using em for votes in seattle? Kinda like the tax break he gave to corp private jets in the stimulous then started to vilify private jet owners for their corporate tax breaks. Anything to get the swooners to vote I guess.
White, black, red, blue do not matter here, let's not be dishonest with ourselves. The only color that matters here is green.
I wanted to quote this excellent closing paragraph from Carney's book about Ex-Im:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Carney
Whatever the benefits of Ex-Im, it is hard to see that they are worth all the costs. Ex-Im diverts money from more efficient sectors to politically favored sectors, dragging down the economy. The agency makes our taxes higher and our deficits greater. It often implicates the U.S. taxpayer in unsavory deals, such as the Chinese nuclear program and GE's exporting of jobs. It creates an opportunity for corruption...."
Well I am disappointed that none of the usual suspect OWS sympathizers saw fit to chime in on expanding this scheme to take from joe & jane taxpayer, and give to corporate interests.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
(or any other case)
