In Washington, people are having trouble coming to terms with the nation's numerous social and economic troubles. It is a bad idea for our government to leave our limited public resources to the hands of wealthy and politically well-connected corporations like the Export and Import Bank.
Those who are in favor of the current status argue that the bank benefits taxpayers because it protects jobs and promotes US exports. However, these are unsubstantiated arguments that will not stand up to further inquiry. As a matter of fact, less than 2 percent of US exports are supported by the bank yearly, and the usual beneficiaries are huge businesses like Caterpillar and Boeing.
Moreover, the bank's claim of supporting 205,000 jobs in 2013 was disputed by the Government Accounting Office, stating that the bank did not consider the number of jobs that would have been available if the bank had not been present among other arguments. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office reported that over the next decade, the bank is estimated to yield losses to taxpayers.
The real problem lies in Washington where many groups are ignored because of politician's personal interests to the activities of the Export Import Bank. Supporters of the bank are quick to boast of their successes, but are apprehensive to discuss the 98% statistic related to unsubsidized exports. The bank is harmful for firms export opportunities in several ways. This includes the difficulty for unsubsidized buyers to acquire their own financing.
Furthermore, capital market distortions have a ripple effect: the poor go out of business while the subsidized rich get richer. For unsubsidized employers, they operate with the possibility of laying off workers, not to mention the inability to raise wages. Most importantly, they cannot hire because they face Export Import Bank subsidized competition.
Therefore, it is important to take in the political privilege costs like higher prices, destroyed potential, job losses, misallocation of resources, and market distortion that are generally unseen. In the end, it is the ordinary taxpayer who is the victim of these million dollar transactions of the bank and all their affiliate corporations. It is time for someone to take the initiative in order to protect the interests of the regular taxpayer, without worrying about the well-funded and well-connected corporations.
3 Reasons to KILL the Export-Import Bank FOREVER