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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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…
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Sovereign wealth funds: Should governments invest in private businesses?
President Trump recently signed an executive order to study creating a sovereign wealth fund for the US government. If the proposal comes to pass,…
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Department of Education bails out of student loan bailout
For the second time in the past month, the Biden administration withdrew a proposed rule that CEI had opposed. The Department of Education has…