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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When solar tax incentives overheated, the residential solar market became scorched
Residential solar has long been sold as a win-win for consumers and the environment. It was marketed as an affordable way for homeowners to reduce…
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Obamacare’s subsidy cliff: How many enrollees are actually affected?
Democrats in Congress have put Obamacare front and center in their opposition to the Republicans’ temporary budget. One provision of the American Rescue Plan…
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Closing the window on public media funding
A door has closed, but windows remain open. Recently, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced that it would discontinue operations in light of…