≡ Menu

Double Standard

Here’s a letter to the Washington Post:

Robert Samuelson generally opposes the Export-Import Bank.  But he refuses to join the ranks of today’s Ex-Im opponents, in part because he believes that these opponents engage in “political theater” by “exaggerating Ex-Im’s importance” (“The misleading debate on the Export-Import Bank,” July 1).

Please.

Does Mr. Samuelson think that Ex-Im’s proponents are not political thespians?  Nearly every serious economist knows that subsidizing exports (that is, paying foreigners to consume our products) makes us poorer.  Yet the fictional and fanciful depiction – on Pennsylvania Avenue’s gaudiest stages – of government-engineered increases in exports as fonts of prosperity has drawn the adoring applause of generations of gullible audiences.

And does Mr. Samuelson suppose that Ex-Im’s proponents never exaggerate Ex-Im’s importance?  In fact, Boeing and other beneficiaries of Ex-Im largess lobby incessantly in support of Ex-Im with grandiose warnings that shuttering Ex-Im would significantly damage America’s economy.

If Mr. Samuelson truly is put off by outlandish political theater and ridiculous exaggeration, he ought to be absolutely disgusted, not by Ex-Im’s opponents, but instead by the never-ending absurd theatrics of Ex-Im’s proponents.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA  22030

Comments

Next post:

Previous post: