under current conditions mercantilism works – so this is exactly the moment when ending an export-support program really would cost jobs.
Pointer from Mark Thoma.
I say that the right time to kill it is any time you can.
If killing the Ex-Im bank is tea-party mischief, then I say let’s have more such mischief.
The AEI’s Tom Donnelly writes,
The worst thing about the defense loan program is that it only applies to our richest and best allies – NATO Europe, Israel, Japan, South Korea, the ones who can most afford to finance arms purchases on their own – and does nothing for real at-risk states in Africa, Latin America or the Middle East. The FMS-DELG duo has hampered, not helped the Pentagon’s security “partnering” efforts. In today’s environment, and particularly when China aims to replace Russia as the alternate, non-US source of front-line military equipment, the United States government needs a bigger, better and more aggressive export credit agency. The Congress should rejuvenate, not exterminate, the Ex-Im Bank.
His case for the Export-Import Bank speaks for (i.e., against) itself.