Israel and Schumer both come from New York, highlighting one of Ex-Im’s other big clients besides Boeing and the big exporters — Wall Street. Ex-Im mostly subsidizes exports through loan guarantees. That means JPMorgan Chase lends money to a foreign airline, and if the foreign airline — say, Ethiopian Airlines — fails, the U.S. taxpayers eat JPMorgan’s loss.
There’s nothing new about the Left favoring corporate welfare in general, and Ex-Im in particular. Even under President George W. Bush, many more Republicans than Democrats opposed Ex-Im renewal in Congress: 50 House Republicans voted against Ex-Im in 2002, compared to only 26 Democrats.
What’s new is that there is a strong anti-corporatist streak on the Right and even within the upper reaches of the GOP.
When both parties were thoroughly corporatist, Democrats could sprinkle a few tax hikes into their policy stew of subsidies and mandates and claim the populist mantle—and the media would believe them.
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