From commondreams.org by Rep Bernie Sanders 5/15/02
"The Import/Export Bank, Corporate Welfare at it's worst"
This country has a 6 trillion dollar national debt, a growing deficit and is borrowing money from the Social Security Trust Fund in order to fund government services.
We can no longer afford to provide over 125 billion dollars every year in corporate welfare---tax breaks, subsidies and other wasteful spending--that goes to some of the largest, most profitable corporations in America.
One of the most egregious forms of corporate welfare can be found at a little known federal agency called the "Export Import Bank", and institution that has a budget of 1 billion a year and the capability of putting at risk 15.5 billion in loan garuntees annually.
At a time when the government is underfunding veterans' needs, education, health care, housing and many other vital services, over 80% of the subsidies distributed by the Export Import Bank goes to Fortune 500 corporations.
Among the companies that receive TAXPAYER support from the EX IM are Enron, Boeing, AT&T, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, FedEx, General Motors, Raytheon, and United Technologies.
Needles to say, many of the same companies recieving TAXPAYER SUPPORT pay exorbitant salaries and benefits to their CEO's. IBM, for example, gave their former CEO Lou Gerstner over 260 million in stock options while they were lining up for their EX IM handouts.
The great irony of EX IM policy is not just that TAXPAYER SUPPORT goes to wealthy and profitable corporations that don't need it, but that in the name of "job creation" a substantial amount of federal funding goes to precisely those corporations that are eliminating hundreds of thousands of American jobs.
In other words, American workers are providing funding to the very companies that are shutting down the plants in which they work and are moving them to China, Mexico, Vietnam and wherever else they can find cheap labor.
General Electric has received over 2.5 billiion in direct loans from the EX IM bank. And what was the result? From 1975 to 1995, GE reduced it's workforce from 667,000 to 398,000.
General Motors has received over 500 million in direct loans from the EX IM. The result? GM has shrunk its US workforce from 559,000 to 314,000.
Motorola has received almost 500 million in direct loans from the EX IM bank. The result? A mere 56% of it's work force is actually located in the US.
And conservatives worry about mexicans coming HERE and stealing their jobs and they worry about the single mom on welfare getting handouts.
"The Import/Export Bank, Corporate Welfare at it's worst"
This country has a 6 trillion dollar national debt, a growing deficit and is borrowing money from the Social Security Trust Fund in order to fund government services.
We can no longer afford to provide over 125 billion dollars every year in corporate welfare---tax breaks, subsidies and other wasteful spending--that goes to some of the largest, most profitable corporations in America.
One of the most egregious forms of corporate welfare can be found at a little known federal agency called the "Export Import Bank", and institution that has a budget of 1 billion a year and the capability of putting at risk 15.5 billion in loan garuntees annually.
At a time when the government is underfunding veterans' needs, education, health care, housing and many other vital services, over 80% of the subsidies distributed by the Export Import Bank goes to Fortune 500 corporations.
Among the companies that receive TAXPAYER support from the EX IM are Enron, Boeing, AT&T, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, FedEx, General Motors, Raytheon, and United Technologies.
Needles to say, many of the same companies recieving TAXPAYER SUPPORT pay exorbitant salaries and benefits to their CEO's. IBM, for example, gave their former CEO Lou Gerstner over 260 million in stock options while they were lining up for their EX IM handouts.
The great irony of EX IM policy is not just that TAXPAYER SUPPORT goes to wealthy and profitable corporations that don't need it, but that in the name of "job creation" a substantial amount of federal funding goes to precisely those corporations that are eliminating hundreds of thousands of American jobs.
In other words, American workers are providing funding to the very companies that are shutting down the plants in which they work and are moving them to China, Mexico, Vietnam and wherever else they can find cheap labor.
General Electric has received over 2.5 billiion in direct loans from the EX IM bank. And what was the result? From 1975 to 1995, GE reduced it's workforce from 667,000 to 398,000.
General Motors has received over 500 million in direct loans from the EX IM. The result? GM has shrunk its US workforce from 559,000 to 314,000.
Motorola has received almost 500 million in direct loans from the EX IM bank. The result? A mere 56% of it's work force is actually located in the US.
And conservatives worry about mexicans coming HERE and stealing their jobs and they worry about the single mom on welfare getting handouts.
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