One of government’s primary undertakings is transferring wealth, frequently from taxpayers to politically favored corporations. Sometimes these transfers are rightly called corporate welfare, but more frequently they are disguised with terms such as stimulus, bailout, or infrastructure investment. Government programs of this kind, whether financed with current taxpayer dollars, deficit spending, or promised via loan guarantee, divert resources from higher-value uses and reward firms that have invested in special interest lobbying rather than superior products and services. Subsidizing and bailing out private firms is a negative-sum exercise that destroys wealth and prevents the efficient redeployment of resources throughout the economy. 

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Ex-Im Update

Congress comes back from its annual August recess next week. One of the top items on its agenda is deciding the Export-Import Bank’s fate. Ex-Im…

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