Readers React: Why the U.S. needs the Export-Import Bank
To the editor: Saying that the Export-Import Bank is corporate welfare, as Andy Koenig and Marc Short do, misses the point. (“No Export-Import Bank? No problem,” op-ed, July 28)
Yes, it is corporate welfare, but it’s still important. It’s welfare that doesn’t cost us anything; in fact it turns us a profit. It allows companies like Boeing to compete with foreign corporations that receive similar financing from their governments. Then Americans get jobs, producing the products and stimulating our economy.
Most importantly, financing exports helps us overcome our negative balance of trade. We import much more than we export. In the long term, negative trade balance is far worse than government budget imbalance.
So if we get all those benefits from the Export-Import Bank, and it costs us nothing and makes a profit, we’d be nuts not to do it.
Jon Kaplan, Los Angeles
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