What Would Be So Wrong About Just a Few Targeted Assassinations?

From the Desk of Timothy P. Carney

GOP Joins Obama in Embracing Crony Capitalism

Here's the state of Republican economic policy today: A $35 billion federal loan-guarantee program for wind and solar companies is scandalous "crony capitalism" that must be shut down and investigated - but a $100 billion federal loan guarantee program mostly benefiting Boeing and Caterpillar should be expanded by 40%.

The bad subsidies, according to Republican teaching, are President Obama's green energy initiatives, like the stimulus-created loan guarantee program that funded failed solar panel maker Solyndra. The "good subsidies," for Republicans, come from a federal agency called the Export-Import Bank, whose loans and loan guarantees subsidize U.S. exporters, with two-thirds of the loan guarantee dollars backing Boeing sales.

On Wednesday, a large majority of Republican congressmen voted to reauthorize Ex-Im (whose current charter expires later this month) and increase to $140 billion the legal limit on taxpayer exposure from Ex-Im financing.

The Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, Business Roundtable, American Petroleum Institute and most big businesses have lobbied to reauthorize the agency and raise the lending cap to $140 billion.

House Republicans sided with their business base over their conservative base - 147 House Republicans, including the entire leadership, voted for re-authorization, compared with 93 nays.

And, yes, folks... my own R.I.N.O Congresswoman - Nan Hayworth - representing New York's 19th Congressional District, voted with every single Democrat and 146 of her R.I.N.O. peers to stab conservatives in the back and further weaken America.

This year's 93 nays represent 38% of the House GOP caucus.

Notably, Paul Ryan voted against Ex-Im, and freshman Rep. Mike Pompeo, who has Boeing manufacturing in his district, also voted nay.

[Clearly, though, current] GOP leadership still isn't ready to wage war on corporate ...

By supporting Ex-Im, instead of trying to kill it, Republicans aren't merely calling into question the concept of free enterprise, they are passing up the chance to make President Obama's corporate welfare a central theme of the 2012 election.

The stage had been set, economically and politically, for the GOP to wage a free-market populist campaign against Obama.

Here are the relevant economics: U.S. corporations are sitting on record cash stockpiles and corporate profits are climbing. Meanwhile, median wages are stagnant. In other words, Big Business is getting rich, while regular Americans are getting poor. ... Americans increasingly feel the game is rigged, and that Washington is serving the special interests instead of the public interest.

Obama's closeness to subsidized industrial giants General Electric and Boeing (the CEOs of both of these companies are top advisers) and his ties to solar and wind companies (the top investor in Solyndra was an Obama campaign bundler) undermines Obama's anti-special-interest rhetoric and highlights how government intervention ends up benefiting the biggest and most connected companies.

Congressional Republicans have launched investigations into the Solyndra deal.

"Crony capitalism" has become a common phrase on the GOP campaign trail.

[Presumptive GOP Presidential candidate Mitt] Romney, after winning the Pennsylvania primary last month, pledged - through restoring free markets - to "stop the unfairness of politicians giving taxpayer money to their friends' businesses."

Republicans have hinted that they will run against the collusion of Big Business and Big Government.

So... Ex-Im, a naked example of corporate welfare mostly benefiting one giant corporation... presented a great opportunity for a Republican fight.

As President Obama campaigned hard for re-authorization of Ex-Im, free-market institutions in Washington called for abolition.

The Club for Growth announced it would include the re-authorization vote on its scorecard.

The Heritage Foundation followed suit.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page has twice opined against re-authorization.

The Cato Institute wants it abolished.

Against Government Waste this week joined the abolish-Ex-Im army.

So the Right is mostly agreed: Government shouldn't be running a subsidy bank.

But the business lobby is almost unanimously agreed in the opposite direction.

Currently, taxpayers are exposed to nearly $100 billion in Ex-Im loans and loan guarantees.