NRO:
In the little time she’s been in Congress, Senator Elizabeth Warren has made a name for herself as a populist who talks tough about Wall Street and other large corporations. But is she going to do more than just talk about it?
At the end of last week, Warren confirmed that she still supports the Ex-Im Bank — a government agency that hurts many U.S. employees of companies not lucky enough to benefit from it and consumers who face higher prices as a result of the subsidies, all for the sake of lining the pockets of the biggest corporations in the country. Here’s what her office told Bloomberg:
Senator Warren believes that the Export-Import Bank helps create American jobs and spur economic growth, but recognizes that there is room for improvement in the bank’s operations. She looks forward to reviewing re-authorization legislation if and when it is introduced.
Her position was confirmed when she turned down an invitation from the conservative group Heritage Action to talk about “ending the Export-Import Bank and the political favoritism it engenders.” But her misguided support for the Bank isn’t new. In 2012, she praised Fred Hochberg, the chairman of Ex-Im, repeating the canard that this agency focuses on helping American small businesses. Here’s some data for the senator:
Only 19 percent of the Bank’s activities benefits small businesses.
The Ex-Im Bank’s definition of a small business is a pretty big business — it includes firms with up to 1,500 employees earn up to $21 million in annual revenue.
In 2007 (the most recent year data is available), only 0.3 percent of all small business jobs& — as defined by Ex-Im — were supported by the bank.
Assuming that each Ex-Im small-business transaction went to a unique small business (it didn’t), only 0.04 percent of all small businesses were supported by Ex-Im that year.Warren’s support for the Ex-Im Bank is totally inconsistent with her otherwise populist stands, and it’s hurting the people she represents.
The biggest Ex-Im beneficiaries are U.S. giant corporations like Boeing, GE, and Caterpillar and their verywealthy foreign buyers. These companies don’t need the bank, but they love it. It allows a select number of U.S. exporters to increase their profits and transfer onto taxpayers risk that the companies should be shouldering. The foreign companies love it because, while they do have access to capital without the bank, Ex-Im loans come much cheaper, giving them a U.S. government-sponsored edge over their competitors — including all their American competitors.
Yep, the Warren fear is becoming obvious. First, it was the childish Hitler comparison and now the attacts lean towards something like “she’s so god awful that she does the same horrible things that we do”.
The ole gal does tend to make the Plutocrat’s heads explode doesn’t she?
Too funny!
Squaw talk with forked tongue.