Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal:
You report that “President Barack Obama will announce Friday that the Export-Import Bank will match any financing by countries like China to ensure U.S. exporters can compete” (“Obama to Announce Matched Financing for Exporters,” Feb. 17).
In other words, Barack Obama – champion of the downtrodden – cannot tolerate the downward pressure that imports from China put on the prices that poor Americans pay for retail goods. Barack Obama – slayer of special interests – will force millions of American taxpayers to subsidize overseas sales by a handful of giant corporations. Barack Obama – man of reason – reasons that if Beijing distorts China’s market with subsidies, Washington should equally distort America’s market with subsidies.
No hopeful change here. This policy is nothing more than standard interest-group politics – served up (as such predations always are) with large doses of rank economic nonsense – designed to pick the pockets of the many in order to line the pockets of the few.
It’s disgusting.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
