One of the core businesses of the Ex-Im Bank is backing loans made to foreign customers of domestic companies. For the most part, both the clients getting the loans and the domestic firms being subsidized are large and successful companies with plenty of access to capital. On the domestic side, before Ex-Im lost a large portion of its lending authority in 2015 due to the lack of quorum on its board of directors (it needs three members to approve deals above $10 million), 65 percent of its activities benefited 10 very large and successful companies, like GE, Caterpillar, Applied Materials and the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.
When I reflect on the last two decades of the internet, I can only conclude that we live in a world of ingratitude. Stellar companies do a bang-up job, and “opinion leaders” – most of whom could barely design a webpage – desperately hunt for dark linings in the silver clouds of progress. Yes, even stellar companies aren’t perfect. But unlike pundits and politicians, they’ve earned our trust – and keep earning it every day. On the whole, I’m not just a satisfied customer. I’m an enthusiastic customer. You should be too.
Mike Munger busts the myth that the state is the only alternative to private, for-profit markets.
